432 Transactions of the Canadian Institute. [Vol. VII. 



threw the responsibility on the saw mills and the gill-net men. The 

 saw mills, they say, pollute the waters with sawdust and vegetable 

 refuse, and the gill-net men lose a great many nets, which with the fish 

 in them soon decay and become a putrid mass, which contaminates the 

 fishing grounds, and causes the fish to leave for other places." 



Comparing this with his report for 1887 it will be seen that Mr. 

 Smith refrains from asserting any ill effects from sawdust, and places 

 the responsibility for such statements upon the fishermen. A similar 

 remark applies to the International Fish Commissioner's report for 1893, 

 and to the report of Mr. Richard Rathbun in 1899 on the " Fisheries in 

 the Contiguous Waters of the State of Washington and British Colum- 

 bia." " Attention," he says, " has been especially called to the Skagit 

 river, on whose banks there are numerous shingle mills, from which a 

 very large amount of refuse is allowed to enter the water. According to 

 the statements of the fishermen in that region this practice has caused a 

 great deal of damage to the spawning grounds of the salmon and has 

 affected the fishery in other ways." 



Coming to 1899 we find a very important report from the Dominion 

 Fish Commissioner, Professor Prince, and one from the Deputy Com- 

 missioner for the Province of Ontario, Mr. Bastedo. Both reports 

 command attention from the fact that they take opposite sides upon the 

 sawdust question. Professor Prince says : " So far as our present knowl- 

 edge goes, sawdust pollution, if it does not affect the upper waters, the 

 shallow spawning and hatching grounds, appears to do little harm to the 

 adult fish in their passage up from the sea." ..." There is no case 

 on record of salmon, or shad, or any other healthy adult fish being found 

 choked with sawdust or in any way fatally injured by the floating 

 particles." 



Again, in summing up his conclusions upon all forms of pollutions : 

 " In the first place it is evident that circumstances modify the effects of 

 all forms of pollutions, so that waste matters which would be deadly in 

 one river will pass away and prove of little harm in another, where the 

 conditions are different. In the second place it shows how varied are 

 the effects of various waste products under the same conditions upon 

 different species offish. Salmon will survive unharmed where shad and 

 gasperaux would be killed off. Further, these notes indicate how little 

 is actually known of the effects upon fish life of these various pollutions 

 from accurate and thoroughly scientific experiments." 



Contrast with this Mr. Bastedo's opinion as published in his report 



