24 DAYS AND NIGHTS OF SALMON FISHING 



" By your present bill I know not how far the 

 local Scotch Acts may be repealed ; but I take the 

 liberty of suggesting that it would be for the public 

 benefit if the usage of a pout net in close time were 

 made punishable by a fine. The inhabitants of 

 almost every cottage have these nets, which are taken 

 out under pretence of catching Trout, which no one 

 but a proprietor has a right to do in such a way. I 

 have heard that above a thousand Salmon have 

 been taken in a small space of the Tweed by these 

 nets during close time. They are most destructive 

 below the backs of caulds, where the fish collect in 

 order to ascend. 



" I should have mentioned before, that what we 

 call the Parr in the Tweed goes by various other 

 names in the different rivers of Great Britain, which 

 is a material circumstance to note. 



" If you are desirous of any further information 

 on this subject, I shall most readily give you such as 

 may be in my power. What I have already said is 

 of a nature that cannot make me be suspected of 

 having any private or party view to answer. 



" I have the honour to be," etc. etc. 



The above being the first draught, I omitted to 

 put a date to it ; but it was written many years 

 before Mr. Shaw's experiments. For Mr. Kennedy's 

 bill, to which my letter alludes, was brought in on 

 the 1 5th of April, 1825, and thrown out on the 

 second reading. 



I received a very obliging answer from that gentle- 

 man, the purport of which was to say, that as his bill 



