§ MR. J. SINCLAIR (Ayr Burghs)asked the Lord Advocate, Whether his attention has been called to the destruction of large numbers of salmon and trout in the Doon in the month of October last; and what steps he intends to take to prevent the wholesale poisoning of fish by the discharge of poisonous matter into the river?
§ THE LORD ADVOCATE (Mr. J. P. B. ROBERTSON) (Bute)I have inquired into this matter, and am informed that a number of salmon were found dead in the Doon in the months stated in the Question; but that the cause of death was the salmon disease, and not the discharge of poisonous matter into the river. The Salmon Fisheries Act of 1862 empowers District Boards to prosecute persons who knowingly put deleterious matters into a river, and prosecutions in these cases are not undertaken by the Crown.