§ CAPTAIN ARTHUR MURRAY (Kincardineshire)To ask the Prime Minister whether he is aware that the Woods and Forests Department is endeavouring to arrange to lease Crown salmon fishings in Scotland, hitherto open to the public, to private individuals; and whether, in view of the fact that these fishings are national property and that the Royal Commission of 1895 and 1896 recommended that such fishings should be administered by a district board in order that the public, on payment of a licence, should have the use of them, the Government would consider the propriety of withholding its sanction to the granting of such leases until such time as legislation on the lines recommended by the Commissioners be introduced.
(Answered by Mr. Hobhouse.) The Commissioners of Woods are bound to make the best revenue they can from the Crown property for the benefit of the 1337 general public. Payment of the full value is therefore necessary whether leases are taken by private individuals or the district board. Moreover the Royal Commission of 1902, recommended that the residential right of proprietors on the banks of the stream should be safeguarded. With a view to carrying this recommendation into effect, the Commissioners of Woods inform me that in the few cases where opportunity has been found to carry out the recommendation of the earlier Commission referred to in the Question it has been considered best to provide that licences to fish for salmon in Crown waters should be granted, on terms arranged by them, by means of a lease to the proprietor of the trout fishings and river banks where he is willing to take a lease on these conditions. In the case which no doubt the hon. and gallant Member has in mind the offer to lease a Crown fishing to a private
| Month. | Quantity imported. | |
| 1906–7. | 1907–8. | |
| Cwts. | Cwts. | |
| September | 9,032 | 9,603 |
| October | 23,092 | 24,290 |
| November | 50,847 | 29,065 |
| December | 30,847 | 19,625 |
| January | 28,827 | 34,980 |
| February | 24,346 | 24,978 |
| March | 13,811 | 33,279 |
| April | 11,476 | 57,521 |
| May | 5,789 | 9,815 |
| June | 6,232 | 9,577 |
| July | 16,247 | 4,779 |
| August | 13,013 | 4,018 |
| Total | 233,559 | 261,530 |
§ individual was made with a view to granting licences for salmon fishing under such an arrangement as I have described, should he be willing to agree to it, the lessee reserving to himself any portion that might appear to affect the amenities of his residence.