of the Fishery Board for Scotland. 



101 



good water above. As usual, there are no hecks on the lade which 

 takes away the greater part of the water in the river. At Holestane, 

 the Duke of Buccleuch's farm-steading, about a mile and a half 

 above the saw-mill, there is another impassable obstruction on the 

 Carron, partly natural and partly artificial, and nearly 20 feet high. 

 There is a long deep pool below it. Here there is a heck at the 

 intake lade. Just above the junction of the Enterkin Burn with 

 the Nith, there is another impassable dam dike 10 feet high. There 

 is a heck at the intake, but none at the tail-lade. On the Menock, 

 a larger tributary, there is a wooden dam 12 feet high, which, of 

 course, forms a complete barrier to the upward progress of fish. 

 It shuts out five miles of spawning ground. 



The best salmon water on the Nith — a succession of fine streams 

 and pools — is situated between Nith Bridge, near Thornhill, and 

 the town of Sanquhar. Of this, the Duke of Buccleuch reserves 

 for himself the portion from Enterkin foot to Nith Bridge, or 

 about six miles of capital angling water. But, with praiseworthy 

 liberality, he gives the Angling Association of Upper Nithsdale, 

 whose head-quarters are at Sanquhar, permission to fish from 

 Enterkin foot up to the boundary of Dumfriesshire ; and he likewise 

 grants leave to the Mid-Nithsdale Angling Association, whose 

 head-quarters are at Thornhill, to fish in the Nith from Nith 

 Bridge down to the boundary of the Duke's estate, and also in 

 the Scaur, Cample, and Shinnel. 



On the Crawick water, a considerable stream which joins the 

 Nith near Sanquhar, there are a forge and spade manufactory, a 

 grain mill, and a blanket mill, all worked by lades from the 

 river. The b} r e-law with regard to hecks is not duly observed 

 in any of them, as, though there are hecks above the mill wheels, 

 there are none at the intake or tail-lades. Indeed, it may be said 

 that, throughout the Nith district, the bye-law with regard to 

 mill-dams, lades, and hecks, and the well-known case of Ken- 

 nedy v. Murray, 8th July 1869, which declared and established 

 the validity of that bye-law, are almost entirely ignored. In that 

 case the Court of Session held (1), That the Salmon Fishery Com- 

 missioners, acting under the Act of 1862, have power to make bye- 

 laws applicable to lades, dams, &c, whether in process of being 

 constructed or repaired or not ; (2), By a majority of the consulted 

 judges, that the Commissioners have also power to impose an 

 obligation on the owners or occupiers of mills to execute at their 

 own cost the works embraced in the bye-laws so made. This 

 decision has unquestionably greatly strengthened the hands of 

 District Boards ; and where such Boards exist, they ought to have 

 no difficulty in enforcing, and no excuse for not enforcing, the pro- 

 visions of the bye-law. 



In the Biver Nith and estuary, there are a great number of 

 Paidle nets, which have been already described, ostensibly set up 

 to take white fish, but which really do take a great number of 

 salmon. A list of these nets, in May 1883, will be found in 

 Appendix No. IV. 



From an examination of this list, it will be seen that there 

 are no fewer than 109 of these Paidle nets, fishing in the estuary 



