22 
PoP) 
rivers to reproduce. When they were abundant in the 
waters of the gulf, they passed up the St. Lawrence, 
entering every stream on either side up into Lake Ontario ; 
and were it not for the great barrier of Niagara Falls the 
Salmon would be found in the upper springs of Lake 
Superior. It was their instinct to go onward and onward 
until they found a suitable spot for spawning, and they 
would have passed into Lake Erie and Lake Superior, the 
same as Lake Ontario, were it not for the Falls; the con- 
sequence was they entered into the smaller streams which 
fed the lake and went back into Lake Ontario instead of 
into the sea, where they had remained up to the present 
time, as the true sea Salmon only acclimatized to fresh 
water. Any gentleman in England who was desirous of 
having land-locked Salmon, if he had a lake with a great 
depth in the middle and small streams running into it, 
into which the fish could go to breed, might produce land- 
locked Salmon from the eggs of the Salmon of the sea. 
Mr. BIRKBECK, M.P., on behalf of the Executive Com- 
mittee, desired to thank Sir James Maitland for his excel- 
lent Paper, and also to thank Mr. Wilmot for his remarks 
on the question of State aid to Fisheries. He thought the 
advice he had given was most excellent, and only re- 
gretted that the House of Commons was not more largely 
represented. He could only hope that through the press 
the members of the Legislature would be able to read, 
mark, learn, and inwardly digest what had passed, and 
would persuade the Government of the day to recognise 
the importance of giving assistance to our fisheries. He 
could not specify any one particular direction in which that 
aid should be given, but he went on the principle that 
inasmuch as State aid was given in foreign countries and 
in our own colonies, the same assistance ought to be given 
in England. 
D 
