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Appendices to Second Annual Report 



tion is about £300 a year from rod-tickets, besides what arises 

 from a voluntary assessment, which amounted, in 1879, to £209. 

 The Association has done, and continues to do, much good work in 

 preserving the river. In 1880, their Secretary stated to Mr Spencer 

 Walpole and myself, then engaged in an inquiry into the laws 

 affecting the Salmon Fisheries of the Solway Firth, that ' the mem- 

 ' bers of the Association do not think much change necessary in 

 ' the existing Salmon Acts ; their only grievance is the net-fishery.' 



The Annan. 



Unlike the Esk, the Annan is a purely Scotch river, its whole 

 course lying within the county of Dumfries. Its length is about 

 40 miles, and it has a drainage area of 350 square miles. Its chief 

 tributaries are the Evan, the Moffat Water, the Kinnel, the Ae, the 

 Dryfe, and the Milk. It rises in a mountain range on the borders 

 of Lanarkshire, Dumfriesshire and Peeblesshire, 1} 2 miles from 

 Tweed's Well, the source of the Tweed, and 3£ miles from Clyde's 

 Burn, the source of the Clyde. It falls into the Solway Firth 

 about a mile below the town of Annan. Its name is said 

 to be derived from a Gaelic word meaning slow-flowing. There 

 are several mill-dams on the Annan, most of which are easily 

 passable by salmon, when the river is in such a state as to 

 induce them to run. But scarcely any of the lades which supply 

 water to the various mills have hecks, and the bye-law 

 (Schedule G) is nearly a dead letter so far as the Annan District 

 is concerned, especially that part of it which provides that ' At the 



* intake of every lade there shall be placed and constantly kept a 

 ' heck or grating for each opening, or one embracing the whole 

 ' openings, the bars to be not more than 3 inches apart, if horizon- 

 ' tal, and not more than 2 inches if vertical. A similar heck or 

 ' grating shall be placed and constantly kept across the lade or 



* troughs immediately above the entrance to each mill wheel. A 

 ' similar heck or grating shall be placed and constantly kept across 

 ' the end of each tail lade at its entrance into the main river.' 

 After ascertaining by personal examination that this bye-law was 

 generally neglected in the Annan District, I drew the attention of 

 the District Board to the matter, and I have reason to believe that 

 steps will be taken by them to have its provisions enforced in the 

 future. The dam and lade at Newbie Mill, a mile above the burgh 

 of Annan, are not constructed and worked in terms of the bye-law 

 regulating * the construction and alteration of mill-dams, or lades or 



* water-wheels, so as to afford a reasonable means for the passage of 

 ' salmon,' in so far as hecks are concerned. At Bridekirk, about 3 

 miles above the town of Annan, there is a bridge across the river, 

 and a mill on each side. The lade conducting the water to the 

 mill on the left bank is a very long one, and in many places its 

 bottom consists of fine gravel suitable for spawning purposes. 

 But as there are no hecks, the lade is at present a perfect salmon 

 trap, offering great temptations and facilities to poachers. Bride- 



