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Appendices to Seventh Annual Report 



the 73rd clause of which contained stringent provisions with regard to the 

 removal of natural obstructions. That clause runs as follows : — 



If any natural obstruction shall exist in any river which prevents the free 

 passage of salmon, salmon-ladders shall be constructed, so as to permit and 

 allow' such passage at all times over, across, or through the same ; and if the 

 owner of the soil, land, or fishery, in or upon which such obstruction exists, 

 shall refuse or neglect to allow such salmon-ladder to be constructed, within 

 fourteen days of being thereunto required in writing by the Central Board or their 

 Secretary, or by the District Board or their Clerk, or by any surveyor or 

 inspector, it shall be lawful for the Central Board, or for the Sheriff within 

 whose jurisdiction the obstruction or cause of interruption is wholly or partially, 

 situated, upon the application or information of the Clerk of the District 

 Board respectively, to order and direct that such salmon-ladder shall be con- 

 structed by or under the inspection or direction of a proper person to be 

 appointed by the Central Board or District Board, or such Sheriff, and at the 

 expense of the District Board, in such manner as may sufficiently effect the 

 object intended with the least possible injury to the property of such owner. 



In 1871, in our Report ' On the Effects of Recent Legislation on the 

 Salmon Fisheries in Scotland,' the late Mr Frank Buckland and I wrote 

 as follows on page 19 : — 



The falls of Tummel keep the fish out from Loch Tummel, Loch Rannoch, 

 Loch Ericht, and Loch Lydoch, and from tributaries that extend as far as the 

 deer forest of the Black Mount, in all from about 100 miles of water. 



That the Fishery Board are in favour of further powers being conferred 

 on District Boards to open up such obstructions, or on such Boards and the 

 Fishery Board conjointly, is shown by the following resolution extracted 

 from their Second Report to Parliament, p. 62 : — 



The Board having considered the Report by Mr Young on the opening of 

 rivers and lochs now closed against salmon, by the existence of such obstruc- 

 tions as the Falls of Tummel, the Falls of Mounessie, and the Falls on the 

 Conon, approve of said Report ; and having regard to the extensive area of 

 spawning and angling water which could be opened in different districts of 

 Scotland by the removal of said obstructions and the introduction of an 

 efficient fishway, resolve to transmit a copy of said Report to the Secretary of 

 State, with a request that a short Act should be brought in by the Government, 

 giving District Boards the requisite compulsory powers, subject to such control 

 on the part of this Board or otherwise as may be considered just. 



In the Salmon Fisheries Bill laid before Parliament by the Secretary for 

 Scotland, during the autumn session of 1888, several sections are devoted 

 to the subject of the removal of obstructions. It is therein provided that 

 a District Board may apply for authority to make fish passes ; that 

 the Fishery Board shall thereupon direct a local inquiry to be held by 

 the Inspector of Salmon Fisheries, or by one or more of their number ; 

 that the Fishery Board may grant authority by an order to the District 

 Board to execute the works applied for ; that any such order shall be 

 submitted to the Secretary for Scotland for his confirmation ; and that 

 the proprietor or proprietors of such obstruction shall be entitled to claim 

 compensation. There is also a provision with regard to the expense to 

 be incurred in removing the obstruction, to the effect that, if it does not 

 exceed .£50, it shall be defrayed out of the general fishery assessment ; 

 but if it exceeds £50, it shall be defrayed by a special assessment, 

 additional to the general assessment, to be spread over a number of years 

 not exceeding fifteen, and the District Board are empowered to borrow 7 

 the amount necessary to defray such costs on the security of the general 

 assessment ; provided always that in no case shall the annual interest on 

 the sum so borrowed exceed one-fourth of the amount annually collected 

 under the said general assessment. 



