§ MR. EUGENE WASON (Clackmannan and Kinross)I beg to ask the Lord Advocate whether he is aware that thirty dead salmon, besides quantities of dead trout, were taken out of the River Girvan between Killochan Castle and Girvan on Wednesday, the 19th inst., and that the river was discoloured as far down as Girvan, and whether he will cause immediate inquiry to be made into the nature of the poisonous matter which has been introduced into the Girvan, and has resulted in the destruction of such a quantity of spawning salmon.
§ *THE LORD ADVOCATE (Mr. A. GRAHAM MURRAY, Buteshire)I am informed by the Fishery Board that the allegations made in the Question are substantially correct. With regard to the Question as to inquiry, I am informed that Mr. W. L. Calderwood, Inspector of Salmon Fisheries, has had sent to hfm for examination salmon, sea trout, and parr taken out of the Girvan, and he has found that the death of the fish examined has resulted from impossibility of respiration owing to the clogging of the gills by the densely polluted water. Mr. Calderwood states that the death of the fish appears to have been brought about by the pumping of grossly polluted water into a brook which enters the River Girvan near New Dailly from a coal pit which has been disused for a considerable time. The pit in question is the Dalquharran pit, which, it is understood, is joined under ground with the Bargany pit.