The Courier letters week concludes with correspondents discussing salmon and trout stocks, pay rates at Fife Council, rural public services, and Freemasonry.
Ban will protect Esk salmon stocks
Sir,-Eric McVicar (March 7) highlights the problems caused by mergansers, goosanders and cormorants to immature salmon and sea trout.
He seeks to lay the blame for this on the Esks Fisheries Board, of which he is a member. He has forgotten that the board applies for, and is given, a licence by the Scottish Government each year to cull a number of predators. These birds are protected by law and can only be controlled under licence.
Instead he suggests that the board spends too much time trying to “put small salmon netsmen out of business”. This is ludicrous as the board has no interest in putting people out of work.
His assertion stems from an application the board has had to put to the Scottish Government to curtail the killing of adult salmon in the spring and early summer.
We have a situation where the number of early-running salmon returning from the sea is diminishing and where all anglers on the South Esk have agreed not to kill any large salmon and sea trout.
The board has unfortunately been unable to persuade the netsmen to recognise that the very future of these iconic fish is threatened by excessive exploitation.
This is why the board has applied to the Scottish Government to give protection to these fish and stop the killing of them in May and June.
The board recognises that the netsmen will lose income during this period of restriction and has given an undertaking to compensate the netsmen for loss.
It has no wish nor intention of curtailing their catches during the remainder of the season while stocks remain strong.
Hugh A. Campbell Adamson.Chairman,Esks District Salmon Fisheries Board.
Council lacks accountability
Sir,-It is easy to agree with Fife Council’s depute leader who criticised those shameless comments from the Labour group leader on the breathtaking size of the the council’s wage bill. After all, previous Labour administrations laid the foundations for the overmanning and profligacy.
I note that one of our MSPs (March 8) thinks the size of the council wage bill is “baffling”. That reaction suggests she is too young or too ill informed to understand the extent of the scandal. Over the years, many people have offered more pertinent assessments of Fife Council’s financial illiteracy and have provided more pithy adjectives than “baffling”.
I see nothing extreme in registering scorn and contempt for so many self-serving people who have long lost sight of their accountability to their employers the taxpayers.
Jim Parker.9 Banchory Green,Collydean,Glenrothes.
Protecting country life
Sir,-As spending cuts start to bite, the Countryside Alliance has written to all local authorities in Scotland, England and Wales urging them to ensure that the needs of rural areas will not fall victim when the difficult financial decisions are taken. Our message is clear engage with local people and respond to what they need.
Any cuts should be subject to consultation. We would like to see a more intelligent approach to service provision. This could include sharing resources with neighbouring authorities and making it possible to access local government services through the Post Office network.
Vibrant communities are too precious to lose.
Alice Barnard.Countryside Alliance,367 Kennington Road,London.
No evidence of masonic bias
Sir,-I read with interest Mr Minogue’s opinions (March 8) as to Freemasonry. Material published 288 years ago is cited as proof that Freemasons today show bias in favour of other Freemasons. The fact that this was not produced for use in Scotland is not mentioned.
That aside, claims are made for which no evidence is provided. How many judges have been disciplined or lost their position for masonic bias? None. How many people have been charged with a crime because they are Freemasons? None.
Under the previous UK Government, a rule was introduced requiring anyone who was made a judge or a magistrate to declare whether or not they were a Freemason. This was not applied to Scotland but it is important to know what happened later.
On November 5, 2009, the then UK Justice Secretary Jack Straw cancelled that rule because in the 12 years it had been in force from 1997 there had been “no findings of impropriety in the conduct of the judiciary arising from membership of individual members of the judiciary of the Freemasons”.
Robert L. D. Cooper.Curator,The Grand Lodge of Scotland,Freemasons’ Hall96 George Street,Edinburgh.
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