In reply to the hon. Member for Kilmarnock (Mr. Ross), the Bill does not seek to confer a right upon riparian farmers. For clarity, I repeat that there is the right for a riparian proprietor to take water for primary purposes. I have said that the abstraction of large quantities of water is open to doubt. I have not gone beyond that, because although farmers have in recent years used large quantities of water for spray irrigation, no one has challenged that right. There has been no case to enable us to know the law in this regard. All that I have said, therefore, is that the taking of large quantities of water is open to challenge, but that there is this basic right for riparian proprietors.

I must point out to the hon. Member for Central Ayrshire (Mr. Manuel) that it is visualised under the Bill that a system of measuring the water would be used when a licence had been issued.