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Appendices to Second Annual Report 



1873, and in the Tweed Fisheries Act of 1857. The 62nd section 

 of the Tweed Act provides that ' Every person who shall shoot or 

 ' work any wear shot-net in the river within 30 yards of any other 

 ' wear shot-net already shot, or being worked in the river, before 

 e such last-mentioned net is fnlly drawn and landed, shall for every 

 ' such offence be liable in a penalty not exceeding £5.' I venture 

 to suggest that, in any future legislation, this clause should be 

 adopted, but instead of 30 yards it should be made 60. In the 

 English Act it is 100 yards. 



The Dilldawn Burn is one of the best spawning tributaries of the 

 Dee ; but, owing to a dam not far from its junction with the Dee, 

 in connection with some irrigation works, several miles of valuable 

 spawning ground are rendered almost entirely useless. This was 

 pointed out by Mr Buckland and myself when we inspected the 

 Dilldawn Burn in 1870. But no change for the better has since 

 taken place. The dam in 1883 remains as great a barrier, as it was 

 in 1870. The Dilldawn runs into the Dee about six miles above 

 Kirkcudbright. It is used for purposes of irrigation, and almost all 

 the water in it is carried off by a sluice on the right side of the dam, 

 which supplies water to about forty acres of grass land. In the 

 centre, and across the course of the burn, is the dam over which the 

 water passes into the natural bed of the stream. On the right of the 

 dam is the sluice through which the irrigation water is passed ; and 

 on the left is a narrow off-flow or bye-wash, commencing some dis- 

 tance above the dam and entering the burn below it. This can be 

 shut or opened by a sluice. The apron of the dam has a pretty 

 gradual slope. But a log of wood with a perpendicular face runs 

 along the crest of the dam, and in the log there is a cut about three 

 feet wide, but going only half way down the face of the log. I 

 recommend that this cut be carried right through the log down to 

 the stone facing of the dam, and that a plank be provided capable 

 of filling the cut, and fitting into grooves on each side, so that 

 it may be taken out or put in as required. Or if it be objected to 

 cutting right through the log down to the stonework of the dam, 

 that the part of the log not cut through be bevelled off so as to be 

 on the same slope as the apron of the dam. Immediately below 

 the sluice through which the irrigation water is passed, there is at 

 present a revolving cylinder of wire, with a wheel close below it, — 

 the object being, by the combined action of these two, to prevent 

 fish from being carried into the water-course which irrigates the 

 meadows below. It seems to me that a much simpler plan would be 

 to have a grating made of fine wire-netting, such as the smolt-proof 

 hecks in use in England and Ireland, fitting into a wooden frame, 

 and to fix this across the entrance into the irrigation water-course. 

 This might be fitted into grooves in the masonry on either side, so 

 as to be capable of being removed for the purpose of being cleaned 

 from leaves and other debris brought down in floods. I under- 

 stand that since my visit to the Dilldawn Burn in August last the 

 manager for the owner of the irrigation works has expressed to the 

 Clerk of the District Board his willingness to cut the beam on the 

 crest of the dam down to the level of the stonework of the weir, to 



