af the Fishery Hoard for Scotland, 
10 
of the falls of the Balgay, and it is this — Will salmon and sea-trout run 
right through Loch Damph to its feeders and the smaller lochs above, or 
will they remain for some time in the spacious waters of Loch Damph 1 
My own opinion is — though it is scarcely possible to speak with certainty 
on the subject — that if the falls were so dealt with as to offer but little 
obstruction to the passage of salmon, a good many of them would remain, 
for a time at least, in Loch Damph, especially in the earlier part of the 
season ; though, when the spawning time approached, their sexual instinct 
would naturally lead them to ascend to the upper waters. 
It is somewhat difficult to say, with any degree of certainty, whether 
or not salmon would take the fly or the minnow freely in Loch Damph, 
in the event of their having easy access to its waters. In Sutherland, there 
are some lochs to which salmon have easy access, but where they will 
take neither the fly nor the minnow; whereas in others in the same 
county, such as Loch Laxford, Loch Garbet-beg, Loch Achnahu, Loch 
Dionard, Loch Slam, and others, they take the fly freely ; and, in 
Caithness, Loch More is one of the best beats for fly-fishing on the 
Thurso, as many as twenty-one salmon having been killed on it in a single 
day. Then there are some lochs, such as Loch Tay, and Loch Shiel, which 
stretches for 24 miles between Inverness-shire and Argyllshire, where 
salmon take the minnow greedily, but will scarcely look at a fly. In short, 
this question is one that can only be answered by experience. 
Claims of the Croivn. — If the falls on the Balgay had been absolutely 
impassable, so that no salmon or sea-trout had ever ascended into Loch 
Damph and its tributary streams, and the proprietors interested had made 
them passable, and so created an absolutely new salmon fishery, there is 
little doubt that the Office of Woods and Forests, as representing the 
Crown, would have a claim on the new salmon fishery so created. But 
from what I heard when at Ben Damph in July last, it seems quite clear 
that no such claim could be legally made and maintained in the event of 
the falls of the Balgay being made perfectly accessible for salmon, as it 
can be shown and proved that sea-trout — which are included under 
' Salmon ' in the interpretation clause of " The Salmon Fisheries (Scotland ) 
'Act, 1862' — have been captured in Loch Damph and the smaller lochs 
above it, also that a kelt salmon was taken in Loch Damph, and that parr 
have frequently been seen in Loch Damph and its feeders. Any claim, 
therefore, made by the Crown consequent on the thorough opening up of 
the falls of the Balgay could not be sustained, because no new salmon 
fishery would be created, but only an already existing fishery would be 
greatly increased and developed. 
In the end of last July, by direction of the Board, I made an inspection Annan 
of the Fishery Districts of the rivers Annan and Mth. On the 24th and Nith 
July, along with Mr Johnstone Douglas, Chairman of the Annan District Districts. 
Board, I visited Newbie lade, a most objectionable lade more than half a- 
mile long and from 12 to 30 feet wide, the latter width being at the 
intake into which the chief stream of the river goes. There is no heck at 
the intake and none at the tail-lade, though there is one at the wheel. The 
tail-lade runs into the river, with a strong current occupying two-thirds of 
breadth of the bed, so that salmon would naturally take the tail-lade in 
preference to the comparatively still water of the river. In fact, Newbie 
lade is admirably calculated to act as a salmon trap, and to facilitate 
poaching. A heck should certainly be put on the tail-lade in terms 
of the Bye-law (Schedule G), and one should also be placed at the 
