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Appendices to Thirty-first Annual Report 



that in the upper reaches the great majority prefer the Lugar 

 tributary rather than the main stream. It may be recollected that in past 

 years I have been able to report the opening up of the weirs on the main 

 river at Oatrine. It would appear that with the increase of the stock of 

 salmon consequent upon the various improvements which have been 

 efiected, more attention must in future be given to the Lugar, which enters 

 the main river just above Barskimming weii'. The Lugar is a stream of 

 considerable size, draining 86 square miles of country, or only 10 miles less 

 than the whole drainage area of the neighbouring river Girvan. It rises 

 at ''The Martyr's Grave," about three quarters of a mile south of the 

 junction of the Greenock Water with the Ayr, and describes a crescent- 

 shaped course past the villages of Lugar, Cumnock, and Ochiltree. From 

 the iron works at the fiist-named village it becomes rather badly polluted, 

 and many impurities are added to it at the other villages. 



The double weir at Haugh, the property of Ballochmyle, previously 

 referred tu, has now been provided with a salmon pass, which I trust will 

 work satisfactorily. The double arrangement of the weir has been retained, 

 so that a pool exists between the two sections, and each "rise" is 

 comparatively small. The total height is 6 feet 3 inches. The gap in the 

 upper weir, at the intake of the pass, is 6 inches.,, in conformity » with the 

 requirements of the Byelaw; the gap in the lower weir, from which water 

 is not drawn off to the mills, is 1 8 inches. In order to gain as easy a 

 gradient as possible, both passes have been projected upstream from the 

 respective sections of the weir. This plan was first adopted at Overmills 

 on this river, and has been found to answer well. 



With the increase in the number of fish ascending the river, the 

 difiiculty at the outlet of the Ayr Mill lade has become more marked. As 

 previously indicated, the new fish pass has a lead from only one side of the 

 river, and all fish which ascend by the left bank are unable to find the 

 entrance. They naturally swim towards the outflow which comes from 

 the mill lade. Here they lie in shallow water, and, when the lade sluices 

 are shut down, fall a rather easy prey to evil- disposed persons who, at Ayr, 

 are ever on the outlook for such a chance. 



The District Fishery Board have the matter under consideration. 



The Doon. 



Reference has been made more than once to the unsatisfactory 

 conditions which prevail at the mouth of this river, where, with a shifting 

 beach, the limits of the estuary are thrown out of proper relation to the 

 mouth of the river. The suggestion which I made that a bat-rier should 

 be erected so as to prevent the movement of gravel along the beach, and so 

 allow the river to maintain its normal course, was taken up by the District 

 Fishery Board, and plans were prepared and submitted to the Board of 

 Trade. 



The boundary of the Burgh of Ayr is the centre of the river Doon, and, 

 although the defining of the river channel would not have affected the 

 definition of the boundary of the Buigh, as I understand the matter, the 

 Burgh Engineer took the opposite view, and also stated in his report to 

 the Burgh Authorities that the proposed scheme would deprive the Ayr 

 shore of a large amount of the material brought down during floods, and 

 that gravel of benefit to the Burgh would be prevented from being washed 

 from the south. He argued that through the absence of this beach- 

 forming material the sea would make inroads upon the burgh shore, and 

 that costly works would be required to obviate this. He also recommended 

 that the outlet of the Slaphouse Burn, a very foul little stream which 

 enters close to the mouth of the river, should be thrown into the Doon. 

 The Committee of Proprietors combated these objections, but the engineer's 



