4 



Appendices to Seventeenth Annual Report 



At a subsequent date 1 attended a meeting of the committee of the 

 Town Council and representatives of the District Fishery Board, for the 

 final adjustment of difficulties which had arisen in connection with the 

 proposed alteration of the dam dyke at Overmills. The Town Council 

 being embarrassed, however, by the attitude of the lessee of the mill, 

 the matter was carried before the Sheriff. The following extract from 

 a letter of the clerk of the District Board of Ayr shows clearly the 

 result, and may be instructive to those who may be similarly situated 

 in the future. Mr. Macrorie writes to me under date of 23rd March 

 1899 as follows :-" The Sheriff intimates to the Town Clerk that, after 

 considering all the authorities, he was clearly of opinion that the town 

 was bound to form the salmon ladder and put on proper hecks. In 

 consequence of that expression of opinion the town have now lodged a 

 minute consenting to an order being pronounced ordaining them forthwith 

 to form a salmon ladder and to put on hecks, the work to be done at 

 your sight and to your satisfaction, and the Sheriff has to-day granted 

 the order in terms of the minute. I have written the Town Clerk to 

 send you on at once a plan and specification of the proposed ladder for 

 your consideration. . . ." 



Doon. On visiting the river Doon on the occasion of my inspection in the 



Ayr river, I was able to instance a heck, built at the mouth of a, culvert 

 at the Dutch Mills, above the old Brig o' Doon, as constructed on a 

 plan suited to the culvert of the Nether or Ayr Mill, concerning which 

 difficulty had been raised. 



Forth. [ visited the cruive dyke at Craigfortb in the neighbourhood of 



Stirling, for the purpose of examining that structure. Special reference 

 to it will be found at the end of Note III. appended (p. 56). 



Earn, A scheme for the improvement of the salmon fisheries of the river 



Earn is at present under the consideration of the Tay District Fishery 

 Board. A memorandum, prepared by Sir Robert Moncreiffe, the 

 chairman, was first addressed to the various proprietors interested in 

 November 1897. A report on an inspection of the river Earn by my 



P- 4P. predecessor, Mr. Archer, will be found in Note II. In general terms 



the proposals are to lease for a period of years the net fishings and 

 cruive fishings of the river, and to erect suitable salmon passes in such 

 weirs as at present form obstructions to the passage of fish. There are 

 in all six weirs on the river Earn. 



In accordance with a decision of the Fishery Board for Scotland, by 

 which, as part of the annual tour of inspection, the obstructions referred 

 to should be examined, 1 visited the district during the second week of 

 October. 



The cruive dyke at Dupplin is, without doubt, the most serious 

 obstacle in the river. It is the first obstruction encountered by 

 ascending fish, and, except during floods, is a complete barrier. One 

 cruive-box exists, and all the water of the river during low levels is 

 compelled to find its way through the box. At the time of my visit 

 salmon and sea-trout had accumulated in great numbers below the 

 cruive, the latter being so closely packed in the shallow water at the 

 margins of the main current that they could be easily lifted out. The 

 rush of water through the cruive box was too great for any fish to 

 penetrate. A second cruive-dyke exists at Strathallan, a very steep if 

 comparatively low weir about eight miles up the river. In this case also 

 one cruive-box causes a very great rush of water. In the Eighth Annual 

 Report, Part II., Appendix, p. 57, the measurements of the weirs and 

 the cruive-boxes are given by Mr. Young. Further reference to cruives 

 will be found in Note III., p. 51. A short distance up stream another 

 obstruction is formed by Millearn Weir. The mill is now only used for 

 threshing purposes, previously it was a meal mill. The dyke is low, and 



