1912 AND FISHERIES COMMISSION. 239 



protection during the important season of reproductive activity would 

 tend materially to increase the numbers of frogs to the advantage of the 

 frog hunters themselves and of those sections of the community who like 

 to eat them, to the better propagation of the ducks breeding in the 

 marshes, and to the improvement of the food isupply of ducks, black bass 

 and mascalonge. 



Recommendations. 



Your Commissioner would, therefore, recommend: — 

 That a close season for frogs be declared throughout the Province 

 extending from May 1 to June 30, both days inclusive. 



Publicity. 



In the Interim Report of this Commission and in various 'sections of 

 this report attention has been called to the value of the tourist traffic. 

 It has been established that the benefit derived from this traffic affects 

 all classes of the community in that the greater portion of the monies 

 expended by the tourists will remain to circulate in the Province, and 

 it has been shown that the presence of the tourist is calculated to lead 

 to the investment of capital and to the initiation of new and prosperous 

 enterprises in the Province. Undoubtedly the Province of Ontario is 

 exceptionally fortunate in the variety of attraction's which it possesses 

 for tourists. In addition to splendid cities and towns, there is an almost 

 unrivalled variety of beautiful scenery. In the winter ice-boating, 

 sleighing, skating, snowshoeing and other outdoor sports and amuse- 

 ments are well calculated to allure the inhabitant's of warmer climes; in 

 summer, facilities for canoeing, bathing, camping and a sojourn in the 

 woods in a bracing and healthy climate should afford a sufficient induce- 

 ment to the dwellers in cities and towns Avithout the Provincial borders 

 to take advantage of them ; while in addition to all these things there is 

 still to be secured angling for a number of popular fishes and hunting 

 of many species of feathered and larger game. Moreover, the location 

 of Ontario renders the Province peculiarl^^ accessible to the most popu- 

 lous area of the entire continent. With all these natural advantages for 

 the development of a great tourist traffic it would indeed seem most 

 Improvident for Ontario to refrain from attempting their adequate 

 exploitation. 



Other provinces and states have grasped the importance of this 

 matter. Maine, for instance, derives an enormous annual income from 

 the tourist, more particularly from the sporting tourist, traffic which has 

 been carefully souglit and cultivated for a considerable period of years. 

 British Columbia, proud of her magnificent trout streams and salmon 

 waters, conscious of the attractions afforded by her mountains, her 

 lakes and her forests, by her big and feathered game, has spared no effort 

 to attract visitors from outside, realizing that the monies expended by the 



