312 SECTIONAL TRANSACTIONS.— A. 



At present exact knowledge is entirely lacking : calculations required for 

 vast hydro-electric schemes affecting important Scottish salmon rivers have 

 been based entirely on empirical formulEe. 



Series of accurate figures from gauge posts, maintained by many anglers, 

 could be easily obtained under the supervision of a central authority. 



The popular conception of the salmon fisheries of Scotland is as a sport : 

 the more important side is commercial fishing. The average annual value 

 of net-caught Scottish salmon recently has been almost ,(^500,000 ; 2,000 men 

 are engaged taking the fish, and many are employed as ghillies, in making 

 boats, ropes, nets, etc. Indirect benefit is derived from money spent by 

 anglers in rent and in localities which they visit. Salmon, sea trout and 

 brown trout fishing also provide recreation for people of humble means. 



Undue abstraction of water, or a low standard of dilution of pollutions, 

 may jeopardise, and even destroy, the valuable commercial asset and 

 recreational facilities. 



Maj. J. G. WiTHYCOMBE. 



Need for systematic survey of water resources and collection of data, 

 including rainfall statistics, maps, profiles, records of run-oflfand water levels, 

 power sites and storage accommodation, existing and potential. 



Catchment areas the best units. 



Catchment Area Boards under the Land Drainage Act. 



Danger of overlapping and duplication without some co-ordinating 

 organisation. 



Allocation of water : variety of competing interests ; potable supply ; 

 sewage disposal ; industrial supply ; power ;• land-drainage ; fisheries. 



The Water Resources Committee Report (1921): recommendations 

 regarding collection and recording of data, the establishment of a Water 

 Commission and Inter-Departmental Committee. 



Situation to-day compared with 1921 . 



Advantages of an Inter-Departmental Committee. 



Ministries of Health and Agriculture, Board of Trade, Electricity Com- 

 missioners, Department of Industrial and Scientific Research. 



Position of the Ordnance Survey. 



Pending Government action much could be done by a voluntary organisa- 

 tion, such as the Land Utilisation Survey. 



University Engineering and Geography Schools might co-operate, 

 especially by collecting data relating to low-fall rivers. 



Present neglect of low falls. 



Gauging methods : rating curves ; current meters, weirs. 



Recording systems : maps ; card indexes, folders. 



Importance of geology ; underground water. 



Period necessary to establish co-relation of rainfall and run-off. 



Study of typical rivers. 



Mr. D. Halton Thomson. 



The absence of a nationally organised water survey in this country is 

 a remarkable omission in the development of its natural resources. There 

 are a national land survey, a national geological survey, and a national 

 rainfall organisation, all of which have a bearing on the national water 

 resources, but there is no official organisation dealing directly with those 

 resources themselves. This omission is probably partly due to the in- 

 genuity of the civil engineer in deducing the data he requires by indirect 



