jj OA OPOLT OF SALMON RIVERS. 417 



There is something to be said both for and against the 

 system of leasing rivers. Those in favour of it maintain 

 that it takes the burden of protecting rivers off the 

 shoulders of the Government, that by making the angling 

 private property the rivers are better cared for than they 

 could be by the Government, and finally that the rents are 

 a source of revenue. On the other hand it is maintained 

 that there is room enough and to spare for every fisher- 

 man in Canada on Canadian waters, but that under leases 

 a very limited number of rods monopolize hundreds of 

 miles of water ; that with angling licenses a much larger 

 revenue could be raised, and that anglers are the natural 

 protectors of the salmon, and that on rivers that flow 

 through a wild, unsettled country the more anglers that 

 are on the rivers, the less poaching there would be. The 

 inhabitants of those districts in which there are salmon 

 rivers are universally opposed to the leasing system ; they 

 say, and say with truth, that if the angling were open, 

 ten anglers would visit them for one that comes? now, 

 and ten times as much money would be spent. If angling 

 licenses were issued by the Fishery Department at $10, 

 $15, or $20 for the season, empowering holders to angle 

 anywhere within the Dominion, a much larger revenue, 

 even taking the smallest sum I have named, would accrue 

 to the country than under the present system, and the 

 protection of the rivers would be self-supporting, to say 

 the least of it. 



But although opinion is divided on the subject of leases 

 or no leases, there is, as I remarked elsewhere, general 

 and wide-spread discontent, not only among sportsmen 



2 E 



