MR. A. L. BROWN (Hawick, &c.)asked the Secretary to the Treasury, Whether his attention has been called to a Correspondence between the President of the Crieff District Fishing Law Reform Association and the Treasury, with reference to the sale of Crown salmon fishings in Scotland to private persons; whether the Commissioners of Woods and Forests have sold a salmon fishing on the River Earn to Mr. T. J. Graham Stirling for £100; also a fishing on the same river to the trustees of Sir Sidney James Dundas, baronet, for the same sum; whether these prices, compared with those of similar fishings in the same district, are in the one case four, and in the other case six, years' purchase; whether any, and, if so, what steps were taken by the Commissioners of Woods and Forests to ascertain the market value of these fishings; whether it is the practice of the Commissioners to give a preferential option of purchase of such Crown salmon fishings to the owners of land ex adverso of rivers and streams on which these fishings are; whether salmon fishings in Scotland are a Crown property entirely independent 175 of the land on which they happen to be; and, whether the Government will in future take steps to provide that the Crown may obtain the highest price for these fishings?
§ THE SECRETARY (Mr. JACKSON) (Leeds, N.)I am quite aware of the Correspondence referred to. The statements in the second paragraph of the Question are substantially correct. I went carefully into the question with the Commissioners of Woods, both personally and by letter, at the time of the Correspondence; and I saw no reason to doubt that proper care had been taken to obtain the fair market value under all the circumstances of the case.