304 Fortieth Annual Meeting 



money, because, so far as I can make out, we have no money 

 to spend, but with a view to enlisting the volunteer assistance 

 of different members of the Society in endeavoring to 

 interest the public in the question of the fisheries, I shall be 

 more than pleased. I find, as possibly do some of you who 

 take an interest in the creation of associations with a view 

 to awakening public opinion, that work is always more 

 effective in the country, in the back townships, in the moun- 

 tains, than in the cities. People in the cities have too much 

 to do, are too busy, have too many lines of amusement, too 

 many distractions, to get together for any lectures, but in the 

 smaller places it is quite easy to find audiences who are 

 appreciative and who often will come miles to hear a good 

 lecture. The people in the back townships and in the country 

 have votes, and in the past have, in many instances, used 

 those votes to initiate a policy of wide, if not national, im- 

 portance. 



Before sitting down I wish to compliment Mr. Meehan 

 on what he has accomplished and to say that it will be of the 

 greatest assistance to us in the Province of Ontario. You 

 must remember, in this question of the pollution of waters, 

 who has been at the back of us and whom we have to fight. 

 Where our main pillar of support is an apathetic public, and 

 where we are necessarily making it inconvenient for 

 entrenched capital, for large industries, if we are to accom- 

 plish our purpose it is only too evident that we have a hard 

 fight to make. That Mr. Meehan has succeeded in the State 

 of Pennsylvania to the degree that he has, is a most encour- 

 aging thing to me. If he will let me have the act as it is 

 written, and if he will give me a summary of its practical 

 results, it will, I am sure, prove most useful for my purpose. 

 I think, in fact, that it may enable us in the Province of 

 Ontario still further to improve our act governing the pollu- 

 tion of waters. Recollect that we have a general federal act 

 in Canada against the pollution of streams. We have al- 

 ways had it. But who has there been to enforce it? An 

 act may be on the statute book stating that such and such a 



