10 American Fisheries Society 



good enough to come here. But before that larger and more 

 formal welcome is extended to you I want to extend a no less 

 sincere welcome on behalf of the Government of Canada and of 

 the Department of Marine and Fisheries. It was the hope of 

 the Minister of Marine and Fisheries that his public engage- 

 ments would enable him to be here to extend to you a wel- 

 come in person as a member of the Government and as Min- 

 ister of Marine and Fisheries. But, as so frequently happens 

 in the case of public men, public engagements have called him 

 elsewhere and the pleasure of extending in person a welcome 

 to you has been denied to him. 



I merely desire to say that the Government of Canada and 

 the Department of Marine and Fisheries are interested in the 

 work that you are performing. We are delighted that on this 

 fiftieth anniversary of your Society you have decided to hold 

 your meeting in this country. We trust that subsequent 

 meetings from time to time may be held here; we trust that 

 your stay, short though it may be, will be such as to induce 

 you to come again. We shall continue to watch the work 

 of your Society with very great interest. If in the practical 

 carrying out of your work you should stray into any of those 

 great stretches of international waterways in which we are 

 all commonly interested, and, perchance, come upon that in- 

 visible line which separates Canada from the United States 

 and the United States from Canada, we trust that you will 

 regard that particular line as a spot where cordial relations 

 shall in no way cease; that you will regard it, as we shall 

 endeavor in the future to regard it, as a place where new and 

 more enduring friendships will begin. 



I shall have an opportunity, I hope, during your meet- 

 ings here, to come in more direct contact with the various 

 members of your Society. I shall be anxious to make personal 

 acquaintance with as many of your members as I can. I shall 

 endeavor in every possible way to make your stay here pleas- 

 ant and successful, and if there is anything that the Depart- 

 ment over which I for the moment preside can do to make it 



