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KEPOBT. 



In the course of last spring I inspected the Salmon Eivers on 

 the East Coast of Scotland, from the Forth to the Kyle of 

 Sutherland, both inclusive, and gave in a Eeport upon them to 

 the Board ; and I have now the honour to lay before the Board my 

 Second Eeport, which includes the Salmon Eivers on the Scotch 

 side of the Solway Eirth and the Salmon Eivers of Ayrshire, 

 which I inspected in July and August last : — 



I.— SOLWAY SALMON" EIVEES. 



The Esk 



The Eiver Esk, which flows into the head of the Solway Firth, 

 is nearly 40 miles in length, and has a catchment basin of 431 

 square miles. Its principal tributary is the Liddle. It rises in the 

 parish of Eskdalemuir, and has its source in that lofty range of 

 mountains which divides Dumfriesshire from Selkirkshire. It 

 traverses Eskdale, enters England a few miles above Longtown, and 

 flows through English soil until its junction with the Solway. 309 

 square miles of its catchment basin are in Scotland and 122 in 

 England. It was originally included under the Solway Act of 

 1804 (44 Geo. III. cap. 45). But, by the 63rd section of the English 

 Salmon Fisheries Act of 1865, it is provided, that ' the Eiver Esk, 

 ' together with its banks and tributary streams up to their source, 

 ' shall be deemed to be within the limits of the Salmon Fishery 



* Acts, 1861 and 1865 ; provided that all offences against the said 



* Acts committed within Scotch jurisdiction shall be prosecuted and 



* punished in manner directed by the Salmon Fisheries (Scotland) 

 ' Act, 1862.' The Solway Act of 1804 was not expressly repealed 

 as regards the Scotch portions of the river ; but it seems to have 

 been the intention of the Legislature to replace it entirely by the 

 provisions of the English Acts. There is no Board of Conservators 

 on the Esk; but there is an influential body of anglers, well 

 known as ' The Esk and Liddle Fisheries Association,' which was 

 inaugurated on the 18th April 1863. The revenue of this Associa- 



