xxii 
Report on Salmon Fisheries. 
Salmon Fisheries on both sides of the Sol way Firth, with the view 
of placing them under uniform legislation. In the course of their 
in(|uiry they inspected the rivers on both sides of the Firth, and 
carefully examined the different kinds of nets used for the taking 
of salmon and white fish on the Scotch shore of the Firth. They 
also examined witnesses at Carlisle, Port Carlisle, Bo'ness, Lang- 
holm, Annan, Dumfries, Kirkcudbright, and Newton-Stewart, and 
in 1881 they published their Report. 
That part of it which relates to the Paidle-nets reconnnends that 
all such nets, eastward of a line drawn from Carse thorn of Arbig- 
land on the Scottish shore, to the hotel of Skinbemess on the 
English shore, should be declared illegal, or no Paidle-net should 
be used which, if it had a coop or cover, exceeded 4 feet in height ; 
but compliance with this regulation should not make any Paidle- 
net legal which would otherwise be illegal. The Commissioners 
likewise propose to 'repeal the Solway Act and Annan Act ; to 
extend the 25th section of ' The Salmon Fisheries (Scotland) 
* Act, 1868,' to the Scotch shores of the Solway, to which it does 
not at present apply ; and, in the event of farther legislation, 
to have a clause prohibiting unqualified persons from fishing in 
private waters, in place of the ninth clause of the Solway Act, which 
was so strongly objected to at the recent meeting at Dumfries. 
It is not the case that these Paidle-nets are the only means of 
taking white fish on the Scotch shore of the Solway. This has 
been often asserted, but the assertion is without foundation. There 
are no such nets used for the capture of white fish anywhere else 
in Scotland ; and even the rapid tide of the Solway does not neces- 
sitate their use. Mr Jones, Chief Constable of Dumfries, who has 
been for a long period of years at the head of the protection of the 
rivers, and who is thoroughly acquainted with the Solway fisheries, 
gave the following evidence to the Inspector of Salmon Fisheries 
in 1883 : — ' As it is almost wholly fiat fish, such as flounders, &c., 
which the fishei-men say they use these nets for, no pockets are 
' required, as it is principally with the ebb tide , when flounders 
' back ofi:' the feeding-grounds and are caught in these nets ; and 
' as these fish all swim close to the bottom, if a net of not more 
' than 3 feet high were erected in the form of a large without 
' any pocket, it would catch as many flounders, in proportion to the 
' quantity of nets used, as any paidle-net will do, and even that net 
* should only be allowed on banks or scaurs, not in runners or 
* channels. Further, two men, with a boat and flounder trawl-net, 
* will catch more flounders in one tide than all the paidle-nets on 
* the shore, and not a salmon could be caught in it ; therefore the 
' paidle-nets, as used, are not the proper or best mode of taking 
* white fish.' 
The whole subject of these Paidle-nets was thoroughly examined 
and sifted in the case of ' The Duke of Buccleuch and Others v. 
' Lord Herries and Others, 10th December 1886 and Lord Tray- 
lAer's interlocutor and observations throw so much light on the 
matter that it seems desirable to (juote them at length : — The Lord 
Ordinary, Lord Trayner, in giving judgment, read the following 
opinion : ' The pursuers claim that the nets licensed by the 
' defender Lord Herries, and used by the other defenders under 
