241 



different State Commissions to designate one of their number to meet in Wash- 

 ington at some time designated ^t your present meeting or leave the time to some 

 committee to be appointed by you for the purpose. 



I very much fear that it is probable that neither myself or any of my col- 

 leagues will be able to be in attendance. It is unnecessary to give any assur- 

 ance of the interest of our Commission in your deliberations, and if it be not 

 asking too much, I would ask you to read the enclosed paper and to also communi- 

 cate to me at your leisure a resume of the deliberations of your meeting. 



I remain, very truly yours, 



(Signed) Philo Dunning, 



President Wisconsin Fish Com. 



Senator McNaughton : Mr. Chairman, I would like to ask if there is any 

 doubt about the power of the State to protect fishing along the lake and shore. 

 Chairman : The State has ample power and the Courts have so decided. 

 Mr. Stewart then spoke as follows : — 



M7\ Chairman : 



I am very glad indeed to be here to-day, and I have to apologize for the 

 absence of Dr, MacCallum, the chairman of our Ontario Game and Fish Commis- 

 sion. He was called, unfortunately, this morning to Toronto on important busi- 

 ness in connection with the Commission which I represent, and was unable to be 

 here ; and it has been left to me unfortunately, very unworthily to fill his place. 



The chairman has outlined to you very succinctly, the steps by which this 

 meeting came to be called. The establishment of our Fish and Game Commission 

 in Ontario was forced upon the Government by reason of public opinion, and the 

 representations made by sportsmen in Ontario to the effect that if something was 

 not done very quickly, the Fish and Game in our Province would be totally des- 

 troyed and eliminated, and what had been for years past the sportsmen's paradise, 

 known all over the world, and furnishing Fish and Game in abundance, supplying 

 cheap food for the fishermen, game for the sportsman, and bringing in a revenue 

 for the people, would soon be no more. The Government therefore appointed a 

 Commission of ten members, who sub-divided and went through the Province 

 making inquiries on the subjects of Fish and Game, with a view of recommending 

 to the local government at Toronto such measures as they thought fit, in conse- 

 quence of the inquiries made by them through its authority. We heard, fortu- 

 nately, that the Chairman and his colleagues had been appointed by the State of 

 New York to codify the fish laws, and we were not slow to put ourselves in com- 

 munication with them, in hope that a meeting might be arranged, and this, as the 

 Chairman says, is the outcome of our correspondence. I am sorry somewhat, to. 

 find that this meeting is going to confine itself solely to the Fish question, because 

 as I said, our Commission is a Game and Fish commission. However, the Fish 

 question, as a food supply, is so very important that perhaps it is just as well to 

 consider it alone and consider it thoroughly, and then take some other opportu- 

 nity to consider the Game question, 

 16 (c.) 



