of the Fishery Board for Scotland. 
37 
The powers of District Boards are regulated by the general Salmon 
Fishery Acts of 1862 and 1868, and the powers of each District Board 
are strictly confined to the Salmon Fisheries in the Fishery District of 
which it has the management; that is to say, the powers of District 
Boards are purely local. But the Fishery Board for Scotland seems to be 
in the position of a Central Board having the general superintendence of 
all the local Boards. If not, what is the reason or meaning of the words 
* general superintendence ? ' 
In the Report of 1860 by the Select Committee of the House of 
Lords, in connection with which so much valuable evidence was given 
respecting the Salmon Fisheries of Scotland, it is recommended ' 1st, 
' that a Central Board or Commission be appointed to regulate the 
' Salmon Fishings in Scotland. 2nd, That the Salmon Fishings be 
1 divided into districts by the Central Board. That a local Board of 
' Conservators for each district be elected by the proprietors, with powers 
' of assessment for payment of expenses, of appointing water-bailiffs and 
' making Bye-Laws ; the proceedings of the District Boards to he subject to 
' control by the Central Board.' 
The Fishery Board for Scotland seems to be very much in the 
position of the Central Board, recommended by the Select Committee of 
the House of Lords in 1860. The local management of the Fisheries is 
to be in the District Boards ; but the general superintendence and super- 
vision is to be in the Fishery Board for Scotland. 
There may possibly be some doubt as to the powers of the Fishery 
Board in those districts where District Boards exist. But where there 
are no District Boards— which is the rule and not the exception along the 
West Coast of Scotland and in the Inner and Outer Hebrides — the natural 
construction of the words 'general superintendence,' surely is that the 
Board may and should interfere to enforce the provisions of the Salmon 
Fishery Acts and to punish their infringement. If it is maintained that, 
under the provisions of the Act of 1882, the Fishery Board can neither 
interfere where there are District Boards nor where there are none ; then 
it follows that the words 1 general superintendence ' have no meaning or 
significance whatever, and might as well have been left out of the Act — a 
conclusion which should not be rashly arrived at. 
It remains to consider the meaning of the words 1 and shall have the 
' powers and duties of Commissioners under the Salmon Fishery Acts.' 
Having been one of the Commissioners of Scotch Salmon Fisheries 
from 1867 to 1882, I have had some experience of the duties which 
devolved upon them. They fixed districts and estuaries ; the commence- 
ment and termination of the annual close times ; reported on obstructions 
in rivers ; on the observance of the fishery Bye-Laws by millers and 
manufacturers ; and on other matters included under the scope of the 
Salmon Fishery Acts of 1862 and 1868. But all these things were 
done not on their own initiative, but under the direction and with the 
sanction of the Secretary of State for the Home Department, whose 
place is now occupied, as regards the fisheries, by the Secretary for 
Scotland. A full account of the work done by the Commissioners 
of Scotch Salmon Fisheries during the years 1867, 1868, 1869, 1870, 
1871 and part of 1872, will be found in a Parliamentary paper which 
I drew up in 1872, and which was ordered by the House of Commons to 
be printed 10th August 1872. 
I have the honour to be, 
Your obedient Servant, 
ARCH D . YOUNG. 
The Fishery Board for Scotland, 
Edinburgh, 26th May 1890. 
