216 Sport and Life. 



Mr. Wilmot created, at the time, a great stir in British Columbia, 

 for it was said by those engaged in the business of canning that 

 Mr. Wilmot's qualifications to write such a report were of a meagre 

 kind. The following passage from the official annual report of the 

 British Columbian Board of Trade for 1890-1 throws so much light 

 upon the alleged nature of this report that it is worth quoting. 

 After tracing the falling off in the prices which the salmon cannery 

 owners were receiving for their canned salmon, owing to the 

 competition by Alaskan canners, who are " not hampered with 

 stringent and undesirable regulations in the pursuit of the industry 

 as are the British Columbian canners," the Board of Trade report 

 proceeds thus : 



In the last report of the Board of Trade it was pointed out that strong- 

 efforts had been made to induce the Minister of Marine and Fisheries 

 Department at Ottawa to visit the province with a view of a thorough 

 inquiry into the general working of the salmon industry and the regulations 

 in force, which have caused so much friction between the canners,. 

 fishermen, and the department. The Minister, while favourable to the 

 suggestion, did not find it convenient to carry it out, but instructed Mr. 

 Wilmot, who is connected with the Fisheries Department, to visit the 

 province, and give his views upon the question. These latter were 

 obtained during a visit of two days on the Fraser river, and were duly 

 communicated to the Minister in a report since published (the one referred 

 to), and which, owing to the few hours in which the observations were 

 made, was consequently full of inaccuracies, exaggerations, and statements 

 of a generally misleading character throughout, and was therefore of little 

 practical value. The indulgence in gratuitous and insulting reference to our 

 cannery proprietors is a marked and regrettable feature of Mr. Wilmot's 

 report. 



The following winter, which I happened to pass in Victoria, a 

 new Fishery Commission was sitting in Victoria, again under the 

 chairmanship of Mr. Wilmot, sent by the Dominion Government to 

 collect on the spot evidence bearing upon the framing of suitable 

 regulations to protect the rivers from over-fishing and from 

 other abuses. More contradictory evidence than was elicited 

 by this commission it would be difficult to invent. While one 



