CAMPING OUT. 305 



at any season, whilst, in the absence of proprietors of 

 inland fisheries, the netting interests become so over- 

 whelming that it is not surprising that the law should be 

 boldly challenged to prevent the salmon being speared 

 and netted on their beds to the very end of the spawning 

 season. It is to assist in carrying out the protection 

 afforded by law that societies have sprung up in various 

 parts of British America within the above-mentioned 

 period of time — public associations of all members of the 

 community who are anxious to arrest the decline of fish 

 and game, and willing to pay a small annual subscription 

 to the funds of the society, binding themselves to bring 

 to its notice for prosecution all cases of infringement of 

 the law coming under their cognisance. The Canadian 

 fish and game clubs radiating through the country from 

 the parent society at Quebec, where the system com- 

 menced in 1857, have met with marked success, from the 

 spirit with which they have been conducted ; and now 

 the tributaries of the Saint Lawrence in the vicinity of 

 Quebec again afford excellent sport, and promise fairly to 

 return to their former importance as salmon rivers, where 

 for years before this fish had all but become extinct. 



The Nova Scotian Association before alluded to has 

 likewise similarly striven, and succeeded in enlisting a 

 large number of sympathising contributors to its support, 

 not only from the sporting community but amongst some 

 of the mill-owners themselves. To the willingness of this 

 class in many instances to open up the rivers, which their 

 mills and mill-dams at present obstruct, to the passage of 

 salmon and gaspereaux, I gladly bear witness. The one 

 uncompromising form of fish-ladder, however, which it 

 was first attempted by government to force upon them, 



