10 Appendices to Twenty-seventh Annual Report 



the observance of the weekly close time which has prevailed in the 

 past under cloak of Sunday observance. The express enactment of 

 the Salmon Fisheries (Scotland) Act, 1868, as contained in Schedule D, 

 must now be respected, and if at the commencement of the statutory 

 weekly close time the performance of this duty is rendered 

 impossible, the duty must be carried out whenever the weather 

 moderates sufficiently to permit the " slapping " of the nets. 



With regard to pollutions in rivers, a subject which demands 

 increasing attention, complaints arise from several districts. In one 

 or two localities remedial works are now in progress. Through the 

 investigations and reports of the Sewage Disposal Commission it has 

 been clearly shown that not only domestic sewage, but all manner of 

 trade waste, can be satisfactorily treated, and that the extent to which 

 purification may be carried need be limited, for all practical purposes, 

 merely on grounds of expediency and expense. A very great amount 

 of uncertainty prevails, however, on the part of District Fishery 

 Boards, County and Municipal Authorities, as to the best methods of 

 treating the particular impurities which may prevail in this or that 

 locality. So long as this continues, and so long as advice on this highly 

 specialised subject can readily be obtained only from those com- 

 mercially interested in particular processes of purification, the natural 

 reluctance of authorities to deal seriously with this growing difficulty 

 in our rivers is likely to be evident, while, coupled with this, is the 

 proved weakness of existing statutes to cope with this evil. 



W. L. CALDERWOOD. 



