Mercier. — Protection in Quebec 7 



admirably served. In the incorporation of fish and game clubs, 

 it is the principal object for which the incorporation is granted, and 

 in all the leases of either fishing or hunting territories, the main 

 condition of the lease is the protection of fish and game and the 

 enforcement of the fish and game laws. It is in consideration of 

 this protective work that the valuable privileges of practically 

 exclusive fishing, hunting and camping are leased on liberal 

 terms to Fish and Game Protective Clubs and to individual 

 sportsmen. 



Some of the clubs have quite a large membership, and in addi- 

 tion to their club-houses, their territories can now boast the 

 existence, in various picturesque surroundings, of private camps 

 or bungalows or other summer homes. 



The Province has the benefit of the personal conservation work 

 of its lessees of fishing and hunting rights, and of members of fish 

 and game clubs, as well as of the 600 guardians employed by them, 

 and in their own interest they become protectors of the forest 

 as well as of the wild life of the woods. The importance of this 

 forest protection is kept carefully before sportsmen in all the 

 advertisements and other publications of the Department. 



There is also quite an army of fire and forest rangers under 

 control of the Department of Lands and Forests, and all of these 

 are also ex-ofhcio fish and game wardens. These men are almost 

 constantly in the woods, and are therefore in an excellent position 

 to detect infringements of the law. The members of the pro- 

 vincial Police and Detective Department are also fish and game 

 wardens ex-officio. 



This staff of wardens succeed in securing a fairly satisfactory 

 enforcement of the fish and game laws, and in prompt detection 

 and punishment of offenders. They have also the benefit of 

 the aid of fish and game protective associations in Montreal and 

 Quebec, composed of several hundred members each. These 

 associations also employ fish and game wardens appointed by 

 my Department, which gives an annual grant towards the payment 

 of their salaries and expenses. 



Our staff of wardens succeeded, between the 1st of January, 

 1916, and the 1st of July, 1917, in obtaining more than 350 con- 

 victions for violations of the law, involving fines to a very large 

 amount. Among those recently prosecuted for infringement 



