Report on Salmon Fisheries. 
xix 
gentlemen of distinguished scientific attainments are of opinion 
that the burying of diseased fish, except at a great distance from 
the river, is of very doubtful utility, because rain filtering through 
the soil might carry the germs of infection back into the water. 
If this view be correct, cremation would be the only remedy. 
10. By the 33d -section of the Salmon Fisheries Act of 1868, the Minimum 
penalty for an offence under that Act or the Act of 1862 is to be Penaltie8 ' 
not less than half the greatest penalty that may be imposed on a 
conviction for a second offence, and the full penalty for a third or 
any subsequent offence. But, in practice, it not unfrequently 
happens that a mere illusory penalty, such as 2s. 6d. or 5s., is im- 
posed for a first offence. We venture to think that there should be 
a minimum, as well as a maximum, penalty, and that the former 
should be one-fourth of the latter (see section VI., sub-section a., 
of Summary Procedure Act, 1881). 
11. There are about 500 miles of rivers and 40,000 acres of lochs compulsory 
in Scotland barred against salmon by obstructions in the shape jj^ri^tBoards 
of impassable water- falls. In some of these cases, the cost of to make natural 
enabling salmon to surmount the obstruction would probably not ^g™^ 1 ^ 
be repaid by the increased value of the waters opened up. But, salmon. 6 ° r 
in the great majority of cases, the cost of opening up the barrier 
would be amply repaid. As the law at present stands, however, it 
is only by agreement with the proprietor of the obstruction that 
District Boards can get permission to make it passable. If the 
proprietors refuse, neither the District Board nor the Fishery 
Board for Scotland, nor the Secretary for Scotland, can do any- 
thing. They are utterly helpless. In a Salmon Fishery Bill 
brought in, in 1861, by Lord Advocate Moncreiff and the late Sir 
George Lewis, the following clause provided compulsory powers for 
making natural obstructions passable for salmon : — ' If any natural 
■ obstruction shall exist in any river which prevents the free 
' passage of salmon, salmon-ladders shall be constructed so as to 
' permit and allow such passage at all times over, across, or through 
' the same, and if the owner of the soil, land, or fishery, in or upon 
' which such obstruction exists, shall refuse or neglect to allow such 
' salmon-ladder to be constructed within fourteen days of being 
■ thereunto required in writing by the Central Board or their 
* Secretary, or by the District Board or their Clerk, or by any 
\ surveyor or inspector, it shall be lawful for the Central Board or 
' for the Sheriff within whose jurisdiction the obstruction or cause 
' of interruption is wholly or partially situated, upon the applica- 
' tion or information of the Clerk of the District Board respectively, 
• to order and direct that such salmon-ladders shall be constructed 
1 by, or under the inspection or direction of, a proper person to be 
' appointed by the Central Board or District Board or such Sheriff, 
\ and at the expense of the District Board, in such manner as may 
'sufficiently effect the object intended with the least possible 
{ injury to the property of such owner.' 
12. Under the 39th section of the English Salmon Fisheries Act Power to 
of 1873, Boards of Conservators have received pretty extensive jg? 
powers to make Bye-laws for the better protection, preservation, laws, 
and improvement of the Salmon Fisheries within their respective 
districts ; and of this power Mr Willis Bund remarks in his ' Law 
