of the Fishery Board for Scotland. 
51 
these fishermen surrounded the cobles in which the bailiffs were, threw 
stones at them and struck them, and followed them to the steam-tug which 
came to their rescue. 
From what has been stated above, it seems clear that the position now 
taken up by the Tweed Commissioners is this. We have done all in our 
power — we have even overtaxed our resources and got into debt -in order 
effectually to enforce the provisions of the Tweed Fisheries Acts which 
we were created to carry into effect. In spite of this, however, we find 
ourselves unable to put down the organised system of salmon poaching 
which is carried on during the annual close time in the mouth of the 
river and along the sea-coast by large bodies of fishermen, who have shown 
that they are ready to resort to violence, if necessary, in order to prosecute 
their illegal calling. Under these circumstances, we call upon Her 
Majesty's Government to assist us in vindicating the law, which, in spite 
of all our efforts, we have found ourselves unable adequately to enforce. 
We think that the mere presence of one of Her Majesty's gunboats, 
stationed near the mouth of the Tweed, would be sufficient to overawe the 
law breakers, and we therefore earnestly request it. 
There is, it humbly seems to me, a good deal to be said in support of the 
position taken up by the Tweed Commissioners. It is their duty to en- 
force the Tweed Fishery Acts : and if the means at their disposal are too 
weak to put down organised and determined lawlessness, then Govern- 
ment, as the great protector of law and order, may legitimately step in and 
"upply the assistance needed. On the other hand, if the Tweed Fisheries 
Acts are unjust and oppressive, they ought to be repealed, but by 
legal and constitutional means, and they should certainly not be suffered to 
fall into abeyance in deference to organised violence and lawlessness. If 
Government declines to afford assistance to the Commissioners in the 
present critical position of affairs, it seems not at all unlikely that the 
result will be that the law breakers, having the larger force on their side, 
will succeed in violating the law with impunity, and so make the Tweed 
Acts and their local administrators practically useless. No doubt, if a 
gunboat were stationed on the Tweed, a collision might take place between 
her and the poachers, and serious consequences might ensue ; and the 
question to consider and decide is just this — Is it better to run the risk of 
such consequences, by enforcing the law, or to avoid all chance of such 
consequences by leaving the suppression of poaching entirely in the hands 
of the local authorities, who have publicly and repeatedly declared that 
they are unable to put it down ? 
About fifteen years ago, a gunboat was stationed in the Tweed for the 
protection of the fishings, and a collision took place between the poachers 
and some of her crew while engaged in assisting the water bailliffs, in 
which two of the former were wounded. Full details regarding this col- 
lision will be found in the second volume of the Eeport of 1875 on the 
operation of the Tweed Fishery Acts, by Mr Spencer Walpole and myself 
(pages 1 to 3), to which reference is made. 
It is, perhaps, proper to state, in conclusion, that the limits of the 
mouth of the Tweed, about which such complaints have been made on 
account of their extending five miles seawards, or beyond the limits of the 
territorial seas were first fixed, more than ninety years ago, by the third 
section of the Act of 1797, the preamble of which is especially worthy of 
attention, as it clearly sets forth the reasons which induced the Legislature 
to fix the five-mile limit seawards from low-water mark, to which the 
Berwick fishermen so strongly object. It is as follows : — 
Whereas, notwithstanding the provisions of the said Acts, idle and disorderly 
persons make a practice of fishing for salmon, grilses, salmon-trouts, and 
