of the Fishery Board for Scotland. 



15 



of Powers Sub-Committee of the Reconstruction Committee, and 

 which contains valuable recommendations on the subject. (Cd. 8982.) 



In Scotland there is an analogy in the case of the Several Oyster 

 and Mussel Fishery Orders, these being now obtainable through the 

 good offices of the Secretary for Scotland at a very moderate charge, 

 seldom exceeding £10 to £15, including the expenses of an Inspector 

 in holding a local inquiry. 



(b) Designing of Fishery Harbours. — No problem in harbour engineer- 

 ing is more subtle or more difficult than the design of fishery harbours. 

 It can only be successfully dealt with by those who possess an 

 intimate personal experience in the design, construction, and main- 

 tenance of these harbours, and much of the trouble that has arisen 

 in connection with the fishery harbours of Scotland is traceable to a 

 want of appreciation of the peculiar conditions that have to be dealt 

 with. In the case of large commercial harbours, where the sea works 

 and the protected area within these are on a comparatively large 

 scale, the problem presents many difficulties which may be more or 

 less successfully overcome. When, however, a small harbour such as 

 those under review is considered, where the sea works and interior 

 accommodation are relatively on a small scale, but where the force 5 

 in operation are of the same magnitude as in the larger harbour, it 

 will be at once recognised that the problem is one that presents greater 

 difficulty for its proper solution. Only those engineers who have 

 spent many years in the study of the problem can fully appreciate 

 the difficulties that have to be met in providing a small harbour, 

 which will afford safe access in stormy weather, with safe berthing 

 accommodation within. It is essential therefore that engineers 

 employed to design the plans should be men who have specially 

 studied the problem. 



(c) Administration and Maintenance of Fishery Harbours. — Public 

 grants in aid of harbour improvements are at present made in Scot- 

 land by the Fishery Board for Scotland, the Development Com- 

 missioners, the Board of Agriculture for Scotland (in the case of West 

 Coast schemes), and the Harbour Committee of the Board of Trade, 

 while loans are obtainable for a similar purpose from the Development 

 Commissioners, the Public Works Loan Board, and the Harbour Com- 

 mittee of the Board of Trade, and until the Development Commission 

 was constituted some of the Departments concerned did not possess 

 an official with the necessary technical qualifications to secure that 

 the money granted was spent to the best advantage, nor indeed to see 

 that it was properly spent in accordance with the scheme approved. 



In regard to the proper disposal of the Harbour Revenues, pro- 

 vision is made under Provisional Orders and Private Bills that all 

 books and accounts are to be sent to the Board of Trade annually, 

 but no steps appear to have been taken to secure that a certain pro- 

 portion of the income was expended on the upkeep of the fabric, nor 

 indeed to see that the fabric was being regularly inspected and, if 

 necessary, repaired. 



In the case of those harbours which have benefited by State aid 

 under Parliamentary sanction and powers an obligation is placed upon 

 the Harbour Authority to maintain in good order the works that have 

 been constructed by the aid of State funds. There is, as already 

 stated, no machinery of any kind, however, for seeing that this condi- 



