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marks as much as possible, as I know your intentions are to hurry the work and 

 finish to-night. The special line of interest that I and the other members 

 of the committee of the St. Lawrence Anglers' Association present here are con- 

 cerned in, is to secure the co-operation of the Canadian government on the inter- 

 national waters of the St. Lawrence river, that by protection and, if necessary, 

 propagation, the fishing may be restored to its former superb condition. If you 

 desire me to say anything as to my personal knowledge of how the fishing has 

 been in years gone by and now, I think I am able to do so. 



I am a native of Canada, born in Brockville, Ont., nearly forty-seven years 

 ago, and have been a resident in the vicinity of the Thousand Islands nearly all 

 my life-time. My recollections as to the fishing extend back to the age of ten or 

 twelve years, when the fishing in the vicinity of the Thousand Islands was in- 

 finitely better than it is now. I fancy it is so. in almost all of the fishing dis- 

 tricts ; but my opinion is — whether endorsed by others or not — that the depletion 

 is largely due to negligence in enforcing laws that have been enacted ; and also in 

 permitting licensed fishing. For an illustration : Some years ago, at Gananoque, 

 Ont., the fish warden, seized a quantity of fish on the dock and arrested two parties 

 — relations — for violating the fish laws. (Please note that the father of one was a 

 government light-house keeper.) The officer laid his complaint before the magis- 

 trate at Gananoque. The prisoners, when asked to state their case (by the way, 

 I wish to say this was along in November, long after the time for angling), one 

 of them swore that he caught his barrel of fish with a spoon, and the other swore 

 that he bought his fish from an American spoi tsman, said to have been fishing 

 in Eel Bay. There are gentlemen here who know that these aflUdavits were base 

 fabrications, and so did the officers of the law ; but v/^:,at could they do in view 

 of such testimony ? This is only one of many illustrations that I could give you 

 of the most shameful violations of the Canadian fishery laws in the vicinity to 

 which I allude. 



One point more I desire to refer to, and I would be pleased if Mr. Stewart 

 would kindly note it. Since the organization of our association, I have made 

 efforts in Gananoque and Brockville to secure in some way the organization of 

 a co-operative association similiar to our Anglers' Association ; but I have been ' 

 met with the argument that we on the American side have been progressive 

 people ; that we have built cottages and improved our islands, and that we want 

 Canada to legislate in our behalf. That we have been progressive I do not deny ; 

 that our motive in securing co-operation upon this question is selfish I do deny. 

 Our interests are here identical. 



The Canadian government is now inviting this progressive spirit by plac- 

 ing its islands adjacent to ours upon the market, and I know that Mr. Grant, 

 Mr. Thompson and Mr. Folger will bear me out in the statement when I say that 

 these islands are being purchased largely by American gentlemen, with the ex- 

 pectation that the Canadian government will afford them the same protection in 

 all that goes to make them good fishing resorts, that they would be able to 

 secure on our side. And that, to me, seems a sufficient argument why the Cana- 

 dian government should interest itself, and prohibit the use of nets in the waters 

 surrounding these islands. 



I am sure that I can give abundant evidence that protection improves the 

 fishing upon the American side. 



During the past year the sportsmen who have been to the North Chan- 

 nel — Canadian waters, and once noted fishing grounds — state that they are un- 

 able to catch any fish larger than are able to pass through an ordinary gill net. 



