178 FISHERIES OF THE PROVINCE OP QUEBEC 



ing rights in waters bounded by Crown Lands remaining in 

 their possession, and then, for the first time, the Province of 

 Quebec may be said to have come to her own in the matter 

 of her valuable fisheries. 



Hon. W. W. Lynch, under whose administration as Com- 

 missioner of Crown Lands of the Province of Quebec, the 



granting of leases of fishing rights 

 by the Government of the Province 

 was inaugurated, made his first offi- 

 cial reference to his department's 

 control of these rights in his annual 

 departmental report of the 17th 

 March, 1884, addressed to His 

 Honor the Lieutenant-Governor, 

 and in the following terms: 



"By a judgment of the Su- 

 preme Court, rendered the 28th. of 



April, 1882, it was finally decided 

 Hon. W. W. Lynch. that the Hght of fisMng in inland 



waters belongs to the owners of the lands in front 

 of or through which such waters flow. In virtue of 

 this judgment, our province became vested with such rights 

 wherever the land remained the property of the Crown. The 

 possession of these rights, which are likely soon to attain a 

 considerable degree of importance, involves some rather heavy 

 expenses of management. Nevertheless, the direct and in- 

 direct advantages to be derived from them are such that we 

 should not be justified in neglecting them. 



"Having been by the Act 46 Viet., chap. 8, charged 

 with the administration of these rights and privileges, I in- 

 stituted a new service for that purpose conjointly with the 

 conduct of affairs connected with mines; which I confided 

 to the immediate direction of Mr. D. C. Mackedie, one of the 

 older employes of my Department. 



"In the course of the year, after setting in operation the 

 organization appropriate to this service, Mr. Mackedie was 

 sent to inspect a number of the principal rivers of the Gasp*' 



