of the Fishery Board for Scotland. 



21 



A board of conservators of any fishery district may, after giving three 

 calendar months' notice in writing to any other board or boards of conservators 

 affected by such alteration, or, in case there is no board, to the justices of the 

 peace of any county in quarter-sessions assembled, the whole or any part of 

 which shall be affected by such alteration, apply to the Secretary of State to 

 enlarge, reduce, or alter the limits of such district, or to combine two or more 

 districts or parts of districts ; and, after such notice has been previously 

 advertised for two successive weeks in one or more local newspapers, published 

 or circulating within the district or districts alt'ected by such alteration, the 

 Secretary of State may thereupon by his certificate enlarge, reduce, or alter 

 such district, either by uniting it with any other district or districts, or com- 

 bining it with any other part or parts of a district or districts, or by severing 

 any part from such district and forming it into a separate district, or uniting 

 it with any other district, or by adding to such district any place not yet 

 included in any district ; and the certificate of the Secretary of State embody- 

 ing all such alterations shall be granted in accordance with the provisions of 

 'The Salmon Fishery Act, 1865,' and shall transfer and apportion any 

 existing contracts, debts, mortgages, liabilities, and assets among such altered 

 boards. But no alteration of any district shall affect the power of any existing 

 board or boards until the new districts are fully constituted. 



The 8th subsection of the 23rd section of the Consolidation and 

 Amendment Act, recently before Parliament, empowers the Secretary for 

 Scotland 4 To amalgamate any district, or part of a district with any 

 ' other district, or to divide any district or districts into two or more 

 districts, and to fix the limits thereof.' 



RECONSTITUTION OF FISHERY DISTRICTS IN THE WEST 

 HIGHLANDS AND ISLANDS. 



A pretty accurate and extensive acquaintance with the salmon rivers 

 and fishery districts in the Western Highlands and Islands emboldens 

 me to make some suggestions for their reconstitution. In several of the 

 Hebrides, there are two or more separate districts in a single island — Mull, 

 for example, has three — and it would be better, in general, to have only one 

 Fishery District in each island. To the Clyde Fishery District, which at 

 present includes the Leven and the Eckaig, there might perhaps be added 

 the Ruel and the Coe ; the former falling into the head of Loch Ridden, 

 and the latter into the side of Loch Long. Then the Nell, Feochan, and 

 Euchar, and possibly the Creran, should be united to the district of the 

 River Awe. The Shiel, Moidart, Kinloch Aylort, and Morar districts 

 might be combined ; also those of the Inverie, Guseran, Arnisdale, 

 Glenbeg, and Glenelg ; and those of the Shiel (Loch Duich), the Luing, 

 and Elchaig, and the Carron. Going still farther north, the districts of 

 the Kishorn, the Applecross, the Balgy, the Torridon, the Kerry, and the 

 Badachro might likewise be amalgamated, and those of the Ewe, the 

 Gruinard and Little Gruinard, and the Broom. North of these last- 

 named streams, all the salmon rivers in Cromarty and Sutherland 

 belong to the Earl of Cromartie and the Duke of Sutherland. 



The list of rivers and districts given above, which it is proposed to 

 amalgamate, may be susceptible of modification and amendment. But, as 

 previously stated, it is quite certain that District Boards cannot be 

 supported, and can, therefore, scarcely be expected to be constituted, in 

 the poor and small fishery districts into which the Western Highlands 

 and Islands have been divided. 



NESS AND NAIRN. 



At Inverness, I found considerable diversity of opinion prevailing with 

 regard to the fishing season best suited for the Ness, which is undoubtedly 



