q8 The President's Address: [ isf7a". 



Act — " An Act to enlarge the powers of the Department of 

 Agriculture, prohibit the transportation of inter-State commerce 

 of game in violation of local laws, and for other purposes." 

 This measure is the broadest and most comprehensive measure 

 ever introduced for the protection of wild birds and animals, and 

 contains three main divisions : — 



(i.) It places the preservation of birds under the jurisdiction 

 of the Department for Agriculture. 



(2.) Authorises the Secretary of Agriculture to regulate the 

 importation of foreign birds and animals ; and 



(3.) Prohibits inter-State traffic in birds killed in violation 

 of State laws. 

 Second, let us see how these laws have worked in practice. 

 For this information we must peruse Dr. T. S. Palmer's report 

 — " Federal Game Protection : a Five Years' Retrospect."* Dr. 

 Palmer is assistant in charge of Game Preservation, Biological 

 Survey, United States Department of Agriculture. It will 

 suffice if I mention only a few heads. 



Provisions of the Lacey Act. — This was intended to supplement 

 State laws, and to settle the vexed question as to jurisdiction 

 over imported game. In effect it was intended to form a 

 " federal capstone," resting on an uneven foundation of State 

 legislation, cemented as far as possible into one solid structure. 

 Its five sections were derived from dffiferent sources, and drawn 

 up for different purposes. Section i relates to the introduction 

 and propagation of game. Section 2 regulates importation of 

 all foreign species, and prohibits the introduction of those known 

 to be injurious, and was modelled after the law passed in 

 Western Australia, 1893. Section 3 relates to inter-State 

 commerce of game. Section 4 provides for the marking of 

 packages of game, while section 5 makes imported game subject 

 to State laws. 



Importation of Foreign Birds. — In attempting to regulate the 

 importation of foreign birds and animals, the United States of 

 America undertook a task of greater magnitude than that 

 attempted by any other nation. Cape Colony, New Zealand, 

 and some of our own States restrict the importation of pests, 

 but no country with such an extensive coast line has attempted 

 a supervision of all imported species in order to protect its 

 agricultural interests. In addition to accomplishing the main 

 object of preventing the importation of dangerous pests, this 

 simple system affords the means of collecting valuable and 

 interesting statistics concerning the trade in foreign birds. It 

 has already brought to light the extensive trade in Canaries from 

 Germany, Pheasants from Canada, and Quail from China, and 



* " Year-Book of United .States Department of Agriciiltme for 1905," pp. 541-562. 



