of the Fishery Board for Scotland. 



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prevent the scringers from landing their poached fish at the Oban quays 

 is, that the late Sheriff Cleghorn and Sir George Home, the Sheriff- 

 Substitute at Inveraray, when consulted by the Commissioners of Supply, 

 stated, at a county meeting in 18G9, that in their opinion it was necessary 

 for the prosecutor under the above-quoted 25th section of the Act of 

 1868, to prove the locus, where the sea-trout or salmon were caught — 

 a thing practically impossible to do ; and, in accordance with this opinion, 

 no steps have since been taken against the poachers, who arc allowed to 

 carry on their illegal fishing with impunity. I have already said, that 

 I think this was a wrong reading of the section ; but, if it was a right 

 one, it is to be hoped that, in the event of any future salmon fishery 

 legislation, the section will be so amended as to make it clear that the 

 onus shall rest on the scringers, to prove legal possession, and not on the 

 District Board or the police to prove the locus. 



The following "amendment of the clause would probably be found 

 sufficient. I put the additional words in italics : — 



And the possession of such salmon shall be held prima facie evidence of the 

 fact that the possessor has contravened the provisions of the said last-mentioned 

 Act ; that is to say, that the onus of proving that such salmon were taken outside 

 and beyond the limit of one-mile seaward from low-water mark, shall he upon every 

 person having such fish in his possession, and not having a legal right in his own 

 person or permission from the proprietor of a salmon fishery. 



SALMON FISHERY LEGISLATION. 



Such a provision as that contained in clause 45 of the Salmon Fisheries 

 Consolidation and Amendment Bill recently laid before Parliament would 

 probably be sufficient, if passed, either to put a stop to scringing, or, at 

 all events, greatly to diminish it. 



But that bill, which has now been withdrawn, was, to some extent, an 

 attempt to reconcile the almost irreconcilable claims and interests of 

 upper and lower proprietors ; and it, therefore, not unnaturally, excited 

 an amount of opposition which proved fatal to it. But there are many 

 provisions which would be unquestionable improvements to our Salmon 

 Fisheries in Scotland about which both upper and lower proprietors are 

 agreed. Might it not, therefore, be worth trying the experiment of 

 embodying these in a new bill, without touching upon those matters with 

 regard to which there is no chance of securing unanimity ? For example, 

 a bill providing for the following points would probably unite the suffrages 

 of upper and lower proprietors, and would have a good chance of passing 

 through Parliament. These points are the prohibition of the sale of 

 salmon caught during the extension of time for rod-fishing ; granting 

 additional powers of search and seizure to water-bailiffs, &c. ; provisions 

 for District Boards remaining in office until their successors are appointed ; 

 for removing diseased fish from rivers and waters ; for making obstructions 

 in rivers passable for salmon ; for effectually preventing the pollution of 

 rivers ; for prohibiting the use of the cleek for landing salmon until the 

 1st of May ; for fixing minimum as well as maximum penalties for 

 offences ; for the prevention of ' sniggling ; ' for fixing a close time and a 

 gauge, or both, for trout ; for smolt-guards in the case of turbine wheels 

 and similar engiues; for giving District Boards additional powers to rent, 

 lease, or purchase any salmon fishing, fixed engine, &c, for the benefit of 

 the fishings in their respective districts ; and for conferring powers on the 

 Fishery Board for Scotland to enforce the provisions of the Salmon 

 Fishery Acts in those districts where there are no District Boards. Such 

 a bill, it humbly seems to me, would have a fair chance of passing. 

 Whereas a bill providing for lengthening the annual and weekly close 

 times ; for regulating and restricting the working of draft nets ; for 



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