Kepori o7i So I'm mi MsheHes. 



ix 



disease has been very slight, but after ceasing in March it reap- 

 peared to some extent during July and August. In the Tay, 

 QaprolwfnicL appeared at the end of October, was worst about the 

 end of December, and the Clerks of the District Board report that 

 they are uncertain if it ever quite disappeared during the year. In 

 the Spey it appeared first on 30th October, and was worst in 

 January. 113 fish were removed from the river, of which number 

 62 were male grilse and 31 were male salmon. In the Forth 

 district the disease did not appear till December. It reached its 

 height in January and disappeared in April. It may be remarked 

 that in most of the rivers where disease appeared the condition of 

 the water level at the time is reported as being low ; whereas in 

 some rivers, such, as the Aberdeenshire Dee, the Nairn, and the 

 Balgay, where disease occasionally appears, the water ran high 

 during most of the spawning season, and no disease was seen. 

 Unfortunately in the returns dealing with the Lowland rivers 

 which had no disease present last year, no record is given of tue 

 height of the water either under the heading of " Disease " or of 

 " Spawning Season." 



Ill his annual tour of inspection, Mr. Calderwood visited the Inspections 

 rivers Tay, Earn, Lyon, Tummel, Ness, Moriston, Beauly, and <bmn £ 181H 

 Conon. with its tributaries of Orrin and Bran. Mr. Calderwood's 

 general report to the Board will be found appended. He also 

 inspected the river Ayr for the purpose of advising with regard to 

 the need for a salmon pass in the dam dyke at Overmills, and 

 also to inquire into the proper carrying out of the requirements of . i 

 the Salmon Fisheries (Scotland) Act, 1868, with regard to the 

 hecks at Overmills and the Nether or Ayr Mill. He also inspected 

 the lower section of the river Doon. At a later date he visited the 

 [sla and Ericht tributaries of the Tay, the Lochy and Spean, and 

 the Don and Ythan. The pollution of the Don has called for 

 action on the part of riparian proprietors, through the District ( ',[''■ ■ 

 Fishery Board. Mr. Calderwood, in his report on this river, refers " 

 with some detail to improvements necessary to allow salmon to 

 ascend the various artificial obstructions, the greatest of which is 

 the Mugiemoss Dam, and he also states that in order to restore the 

 river to its former condition, and to admit of the proper distribu- 

 tion of spawning fish, it seems necessary that the various large 

 millowners be required to abstract less water from the river than 

 they do at present. In Note III. will be found a report by Mr. p- 51. 

 Calderwood on the cruives of Scotland. He draws special 

 attention to the position of the cruive at. Craigforth, near 

 Stirling. With regard to the river Spey, it has been de- 

 cided by the First Division of the Court of Session that the Court of 

 pollution caused by the many distilleries which have now been Warding 

 erected in the district may legally be complained against. The pollution o 

 particular case which has been the means of establishing the Spey ' 

 position of riparian proprietors in this matter was that of the 

 Countess-Dowager of Seafield and others v. Kemp. The Lord 

 Ordinary (Kyllachy) found that until a period well within the 

 years of prescription the waters of the Pdngorm Burn (on which 

 Kemp's Macallan Distillery has long been situated), and also of the 

 river Spey, were substantially unaffected by artificial impurities, and 



