14 GAME COMMISSIONS AND WARDENS. 



given power to search any refrigerator or other receptacle in any place 

 where gray squirrels, ruffed grouse, woodcock, or quail might be 

 sold, bought, or transported in violation of law, while fish wardens 

 were authorized to search any basket, bag, vehicle, or other place 

 where fish were kept or carried. The fish wardens were allowed the 

 same fees grand jurors received in criminal cases, and in addition one- 

 half of the fines recovered where the offenses were detected by them. 

 No compensation was provided for the game wardens. A peculiar 

 and somewhat anomalous provision of each act required the count}'^ 

 commissioners to furnish the names of the wardens upon request of 

 any citizen of the State. One effect of the fish-warden act was to take 

 away from the fish commissioners the power to appoint wardens con- 

 ferred upon them b}- the act of 1872. In 1893 the legislature declared 

 that in prosecutions relating to game the warden, deputy, or other 

 oflicer making the arrest should be entitled to a fee of $10 where convic- 

 tion was had, to be taxed as costs against the defendant. During the 

 same year an act was passed granting to the commissioners of fisheries 

 the right to appoint not more than three special deputies who should 

 perform in any county of the State the same duties and receive the 

 same compensation as the fish wardens authorized by the laws of 1889. 

 Another act of the same year, amending the act of 1889, authorized 

 the county fish warden to appoint not more than 10 deputies. Con- 

 solidation of fish and game interests took place in 1895, when the act 

 (ch. 46, p. 465) creating a commission of fisheries and game was 

 passed. It provided that on or before May 1 of that year and bien- 

 nially thereafter the governor should appoint three commissioners of 

 fisheries and game, to succeed the oflicers already existing and to 

 exercise the same powers. The compensation remained as before, but 

 the new commissioners were granted an allowance of $200 a year for 

 clerical expenses. Their duties included the supervision of fish hatch- 

 eries; introduction, distribution, and propagation of fish and game; 

 and enforcement of the laws, for which last-mentioned purpose they 

 were given the powers of other officers to arrest and prosecute offend- 

 ers. They were also empowered to appoint the necessary number of 

 special protectors, who could serve in any county and under the same 

 compensation allowed fish and game wardens. With some additional 

 power the present commission is substantially the same as that created 

 in 1895. 



A few States, while retaining the combined duties of enforcement 

 of fish and game laws in one oflice, have found it expedient to assign 

 the purely economic work of fish culture to another board; but New 

 York, Oregon, and Tennessee have not only continued to allow one 

 officer to perform the different duties, in spite of their growing impor- 

 tance, but have also committed forestry to his charge. In 8 States — 

 Florida, Georgia, Kentucky, Louisiana, Mississippi, Nevada, South 

 Dakota, and Virginia — the game laws are still administered b}^ county 



