Conservation Commission 19 



fairly be said that deliberate theft of State timber is a thing of 

 the past. Practically all trespasses now arise through honest 

 dispute over boundary lines. The day has gone by, let us hope 

 never to return, when private interests could make comfortable 

 arrangements with the State permitting them to cut off all the 

 valuable timber on condition that they should leave the State in 

 undisturbed possession of the denuded lands and the privilege of 

 paying taxes and upkeep thereon. 



A decision but lately made by the Court of Appeals in the 

 famous Santa Clara land case, which had been in litigation for 

 a decade, establishes the principle persistently asserted by this 

 Commission, that the State cannot be divested of title to its forest 

 lands save through the courts only; that no public official can 

 stipulate or barter or give away the State's rights of ownership 

 therein. This momentous decision should never be weakened, 

 cheapened or surrendered through official complaisance or popular 

 indifference or forgetfulness of the past. 



Protection of Fish and Game 



By chapter 312 of the Laws of 1912, a codification of the fish, 

 and game laws prepared by this Commission, the game protective 

 force of the State was materially enlarged and strengthened. The 

 total number of game protectors thereby provided was 125, an 

 increase of thirty. Last year the Conservation Law was further 

 amended so as to give twenty more game protectors, but the 

 Legislature failed to make appropriation for the new men. 



The reorganization made by this Commission has divided the 

 State into twelve protective divisions, the protectors in each dis- 

 trict to report to a division chief and he in turn, through the Chief 

 Game Protector, to the Commission. One hundred regular game 

 protectors and five fisheries protectors constitute the field force. 

 While inadequate to police such a State as New York against 

 violators of the Conservation Law, the protective field force has 

 rendered efficient service, as shown by the following comparative 

 figures : 



1911 1912 1913 1914 



Cases prosecuted by protectors 1485 1695 2622 2604 



Successful prosecutions 1321 1499 2333 2296 



