1902-3.] Sawdust and Fish Life. 427 



" Provided always that the Minister shall have power to exempt from 

 the operation of this sub-section, wholly, or from any portion of the 

 same, any stream or streams in which he considers that its enforcement 

 is not requisite for the public interests." 



Evidently the promoters of this legislation either did not feel sure 

 that sawdust was poisonous, or they thought it just, in the interests 

 of the lumber industry, to exempt from the operations of the 

 Act certain large rivers in the maritime provinces, Quebec and 

 Ontario. Exemptions were continued by the minister from year to 

 year down to 1894, when they ceased by Act of Parliament. Parlia- 

 ment itself, however, extended these exemptions down to 1899. 



In 1873 an Act was passed making it illegal to throw mill refuse 

 into navigable rivers, on the ground that in some parts of the Dominion 

 rivers once navigable had ceased to be so on account of the accumula- 

 tion of mill rubbish. The Otonabee River in Ontario, and the La Have 

 in N.S., were two rivers which were obstructed in this way. 



Most of the Eastern United States have legislated against throwing 

 sawdust into streams containing protected fish; but so far as I have 

 been able to discover, the promoters of the legislation have never been 

 able to prove conclusively the poisonous action of sawdust. At any 

 rate, the scientists of the United States Fish Commission have not been 

 unanimous in their opinions regarding the matter. 



For example, in the Fish Commissioner's report for 1872-3, part i., 

 "Inquiry into the Decrease of Food Fishes," Mr. Milner, one of the 

 investigators, says (page 49) : " In a number of rivers entering into 

 Green Bay, the white fish was formerly taken in abundance in the spawn- 

 ing season. Saw mills are numerous on all these streams at the present 

 day, and the great quantity of sawdust in the streams is offensive to 

 the fish, and has caused them to abandon them. In one or two rivers 

 of the north shore (Michigan) they are still found in autumn." 



In this same report another scientist, Mr. Atkins, referring to the 

 Penobscot River, says (page 303): "The extensive deposits (of saw- 

 dust) have in some instances so altered the configuration of the bottom 

 as to interfere with the success of certain Jis/itng stations ; but beyond 

 that I see no evidence that the discharge of the mill refuse into the river 

 has had any injurious effect on the salmon. It does not appear to deter 

 them from ascending, and being thrown in below all the spawning 

 grounds it cannot affect the latter." 



