292 CONSERVATION OF CANADIAN WILD LIFE 



"In addition to the game laws, a large part is played in 

 Canadian game preservation by the hunting and fishing 

 clubs. These clubs have policed and now police many 

 thousands of square miles of wilderness, worthless for agri- 

 culture, and, in consequence of this policing, the wild crea- 

 tures of the wilderness have thriven and in some cases have 

 multiphed to an extraordinary degree on these club lands." 



An account has already been given of the manner in which 

 the co-operation of sportsmen is secured in the protection 

 of the wild life in the Laurentides Park, in Quebec, to which 

 the foregoing observation, no doubt, has particular reference. 

 In other parts of Quebec also game protection has been 

 undertaken by individuals and clubs as a result of the pro- 

 vision that is made in the Quebec Game Laws for such 

 projects. The Quebec Government is empowered to estab- 

 lish ''hunting territories," which may not exceed 200 square 

 miles, in pubhc lands remote from settlements. These hunt- 

 ing territories may be leased either by auction or private 

 agreement to one or more persons for not* more than ten 

 years for an annual sum of not less than three dollars per 

 square mile. The lessee is given the exclusive right to hunt 

 in such leased lands, and to prosecute in his own name. 

 Thus the area becomes a private game preserve. 



In many cases these game preserves are proving to be a 

 valuable means of protecting the wild Ufe in the districts 

 in which they are situated, and the fact that most of them 

 are owned by clubs is an assurance that the poUcy of leas- 

 ing such hunting territories will not result in the wide- 

 spread creation of a large number of private game preserves 

 controlled by a few persons, thereby defeating one of the 

 main objects we have in view in conserving our wild life, 

 namely, that all who wish may be able to enjoy it. 



On the majority of these game preserves the owners have 

 erected cabins or club-houses, and permanent guardians 

 are employed (Plate XVIII, 1). The owners of such pre- 



