§ MR. W. J. MAXWELL (Dumfriesshire)I beg to ask the Secretary for Scotland—(1) whether, under the reference to the Royal Commission on the Solway and Tweed Fisheries, the Commissioners will inquire into the laws applying to the white fisheries, as well as into those relating to the salmon fisheries of the Solway Firth; (2) whether they will inquire into the salmon and freshwater fisheries of Scotch rivers (including the Esk) comprised in the operation of the Solway Act, together with the laws applying to the said fisheries; (3) whether, in view of the repeal of the Solway Act, 1804, by 24 and 25 Vic., c. 109, so far as it applies to England, that portion of the Solway not now comprised in the operation of the Solway Act will come within the purview of their inquiry; and (4) whether, in terms of the reference, the Commissioners will be entitled to inquire into the validity of the titles by which the fixed engines in the Solway are now held?
§ MR. BRYCEThe reference to the Royal Commission on the Solway and Tweed Fisheries will include all the fisheries of the Solway Firth, but had not been intended to include the salmon and freshwater fisheries of the rivers which flow into the Firth. The Solway Act of 1804 is still in force, except so far as it applies to salmon in English waters, and its area, which includes the whole of the sea within a line drawn from the southernmost point of Cumberland to the Mull of Galloway, will be within the reference. As regards the fourth paragraph, I apprehend that questions of the title to private property such as would in ordinary course come before a Court of Law will hardly be 771 matter for the inquiry of the Commissioners.
§ MR. W. J. MAXWELLWill the right hon. Gentleman not extend the scope of the inquiry so as to include the whole question affecting fishing in the Solway?
§ MR. BRYCEI will consider the question, but I think, as at present advised, the inquiry will be found to be very large.
§ MR. W. J. MAXWELLI beg to ask the Secretary for Scotland, whether he has considered the Order of the Board of Trade for the creation of the Cumberland Sea Fisheries District; whether the Cumberland District Committee will have power to make bylaws regulating the white fisheries in the upper part of the Solway Firth where the fishing is mainly carried on by Scotch fishermen; and, whether, pending the inquiry by the Royal Commission into the Solway Fisheries, he will decline to create an administrative body with power to regulate the fisheries in that part of the Solway regarding which the inquiry is to be made?
§ MR. BRYCEAs regards the Order for the creation of the Cumberland Sea Fisheries District, the draft was communicated to my right hon. Friend the Secretary for Scotland in the first instance. The Order does not apply to any Scottish waters. I am not disposed to deprive the county of Cumberland of advantages which they desire, and which have been obtained upon nearly the entire coasts of England and Wales; but the application and working of the Sea Fisheries Regulation Acts in the area of the Solway will be within the reference to the Commission, and if, in consequence of any recommendation of the Commissioners, Legislation should ensue, any necessary adaptation of those Acts can be provided.