of the Fishery Board for Scotland. 



23 



&c., are all in the same position ; that is to say, they are all drawn up by 

 the Commissioners and approved by the Secretary of State, and all 

 equally form parts of the general Salmon Fishery Acts of 1862 and 1868. 

 If one set of these bye-laws may be subjected to alteration by an Act of 

 Parliament so may another ; as no one of the bye-laws is more a part 

 of the statute than another. The 9th section of the Act of 1868 

 empowers the Secretary of State, on the petition of a District Board, to 

 vary the bye-laws fixing the annual and weekly close-time, and the 

 regulations with regard to cruives and weirs, framed under the previous 

 Salmon Fisheries Act of 1862. There seems, therefore, no reason why, 

 if it should be deemed expedient, the Secretary for Scotland, who has 

 • come in place of the Secretary of State, should not be authorised to alter 

 and amend estuaries.* 



SALMON RIVERS ON THE NORTH AND WEST COASTS 

 OF SUTHERLAND. 



After leaving the Ness and Nairn, I proceeded to inspect the salmon 

 rivers on the north and west coasts of Sutherlandshire. 



LOCH SHIN. 



On my way north to Tongue, I stayed a short time at Lairg, which is 

 situated at the foot of Loch Shin, an extensive sheet of water, 16 J miles 

 long and averaging upwards of a mile in width. This spacious lake 

 receives, at its head, the waters from Loch Griam and Loch Merkland, 

 and, on its north-eastern side, the Fiag, which rises in the lofty Ben Hee, 

 and the more important stream of the Tirry, whose source is not far from 

 the hill known as Lord Reay's Green Table. Its waters are discharged 

 into the Kyle of Sutherland, through the channel of the Shin, one of 

 the largest and best angling rivers in the north of Scotland which has a 

 course of between 6 and 7 miles. March, April, and May are the best 

 months for salmon on the Shin, and June and July for grilse. 



Lairg Hotel is one of the principal localities in Sutherland where there 

 is free angling ; and there were twenty fishermen in it when I was there. 

 Fifteen miles distant, along the north-eastern shore of Loch Shin, is Over- 

 scaig Inn, another great angler's resort, from which Loch Griam and Loch 

 Merkland may be more conveniently fished than from Lairg. 



The following is an account of the fishing in this district during the 

 season of 1888 : — 



On the Overscaig Hotel waters, which include several lochs and tributaries 

 of the Shin, the fish caught by anglers between the 8th June and 14th Septem- 

 ber were as follows, viz. : — Loch Shin, which was fished on 66 separate days, 

 yielded 1 grilse of 4£ lbs.; 10 salmo ferox, 47 lbs. in all ; and 2786 trout, weigh- 

 ing 1276 lbs. Loch Merkland (fished 33 days), yielded 4 salmo ferox, 18 lbs.; 

 and 1298 trout, weighing 455| lbs. 



Loch Griam (fished 35 days) produced 1 salmo ferox of 3 lbs., and 943 trout, 

 * In the 'Remarks by the North Esk District Board on the Salmon Fisheries 

 ' Consolidation Bill,' a copy of which was sent to the Fishery Board for Scotland, it 

 is stated that ' this power of alteration is far too general, is not required, and will 

 ' be strenuously opposed ;' and the reasons for adhering to the existing estuary bye- 

 laws are given as follows : — '.All the bye-laws made and published by the three 

 ' Commissioners defining the limits of estuaries and determining other matters, have 

 m ' been declared by the Act of 1868 to be as valid and binding as if they had been 

 * ' expressly enacted in that Act. In the spirit of the Act of 1862, the existing limits 

 ' should, therefore, be held as "defined by statute" and should not be subject to 

 ' revision, and far less to extension, uuless it can be shown that some gross error 

 ' was committed in their definition by the original Commissioners, or that some 

 f important change has subsequently taken place. 



