of the Fishery Board for Scotland. 
53 
difference since my first Keport to the Board is that the sloping wooden 
face mentioned in the third sentence of the quotation has not been replaced. 
The apron of the dam is now of stone, but still there is no pass or ladder 
of any kind. 
On the 13th March I inspected the three principal dams on the Lossie. Bishop's Mill. 
Owing to the melting of the snows, the river was a good deal swollen — 
about 18 inches, perhaps, above its average level. Bishop's Mill was the 
first I examined. The dam which supplies this mill had a mere fringe of 
black water flowing over its crest. All below was white, brokeu water, 
down to the very foot of the apron of the dam. A fish-pass, however, 
might easily be made. There is no heck on the intake-lade connected with 
this dam, which flows under several houses, and, in the absence of a heck 
to prevent the entrance of fish into it from the river, it affords exceptional 
facilities for poaching. After emerging from its subterranean course 
under the houses, the lade flows for a considerable distance through open 
ground. But there is no heck at the tail-lade where it joins the river — at 
which point the tail-lade is about 20 feet wide. When the river is low, I 
have no doubt that this lade draws off by far the larger part of the water; 
and, there being no heck at the tail-lade, any fish that may be running up 
naturally enters the tail-lade, where there is the chief run of water, instead 
of ascending the river. 
I next inspected Deanshaugh Mill. The dam here is not a serious Deanshaugh 
obstruction ; and, when I saw it, the water being high, fish might easily Ml11- 
have got up at one corner of the dyke. But when the river is low, this 
and the other dams are said to have no water flowing over them, almost 
all the water going to the mills. There are no hecks on the lade. 
The dam for the supply of this extensive mill is the highest and most Messrs 
obstructive on the river, and the lade connected with it draws off the Tweecl°Mm 
largest quantity of water. The dam cannot be less than 7 feet in height, 
and the apron is a very steep one. The water flowing over it was white 
and broken. There is no fish-pass. But it would neither be difficult 
nor expensive to make a subsidiary dam at the narrowest point of the 
river, about 20 yards below the main dam, which would enable salmon 
and sea- trout to ascend easily. There are no hecks on the lade connected 
with this mill ; and even in the high state of the river, there was as much 
water in the lade as in the river ; and after a long course of dry weather 
I have no doubt that the river bed between the foot of the dam and the 
tail-lade must be nearly dry. 
Captain Dunbar Brander is both a proprietor of salmon fishings in the Captain 
district of the Lossie and the lessee of all the salmon fishings in the river. Dunbar ^ 
But when he prosecuted for a breach of the provisions of the Bye-law ^prosecute ?or 
(Schedule G), ordering hecks to be placed on every intake and tail-lade, contravention 
the Sheriff found that he had no title to prosecute, and that such a ° a f ^ he Bye " 
prosecution could only be raised at the instance of the Clerk to a District 
Board. Captain Dunbar Brander states that as the other two proprietors 
on the Lossie decline to apply to the Sheriff of the county, in terms of the 
3rd section of the Salmon Fisheries Act of 1868, to have a District Board 
constituted, he is utterly helpless under the above decision, and can do 
nothing whatever to enforce the provisions of the Salmon Fishery Acts, 
which he would do at once, if he had the title to prosecute. 
The 28th section of the Salmon Fishery Act of 1862, and the 30th Sections of 
section of the Salmon Fishery Act of 1868, provide that ' all offences under th . e Salmon 
' this Act may be prosecuted, and all penalties under this Act may be SncSn!? 
'recovered, before any Sheriff, or any two or more Justices of the Peace title to prose 
* acting together and having jurisdiction in the place where the offence cute - 
* was committed, at the instance of the Clerk of any District Board, or of 
