254 EEPOET OF ONTARIO GAME No. 52 



that, in particular, for the Fishery Protective Service, knowledge of 

 the different fishes, experience in the handling of boats, knowledge of 

 the waters to be patrolled; and, in particular, for the Inland Service, 

 knowledge of the denizens of the woods, their characteristics and habits, 

 thorough expertness in the handling of a canoe, and experience in life 

 in the woods and woodcraft, should be considered indispensable attain- 

 ments. 



Your Commissioner is of the opinion that most of the harm done to 

 the fish, game, and fur-bearing animals of the Province is the work of a 

 comparatively small number of utterly unscrupulous and lawless indi- 

 viduals, for the most part well known in the districts in which they 

 operate, and especially so in the more sparsely settled regions. These 

 persons often terrorize the community to Buch an extent that informa- 

 tion as to their depredations is difficult to obtain ; and to expect officers, 

 paid the paltry sums at present given as wages to a large number of 

 the officials of the outside service, to run the risk of bodily injury at 

 the hands of these persons, is ridiculous. That open threats have been 

 made, and are being made, by individuals in regard to what they will 

 do if any attempt is made to interfere with their actions is well known ; 

 and your Commissioner would recall the fact that, even within the 

 sound of the bells of the City Hall of Torointo, and but three or four 

 years ago, shots were fired at an officer who was attempting to carry 

 out his duty in stopping illegal fishing in Toronto Bay. 



Mr. Oliver Adams, Vice-President of the Headquarters of the 

 Ontario Forest, Fish and Game Protective Association, who has done 

 so much in awakening public interest in fish and game protection 

 throughout the Province, and who took an active part in arousing the 

 citizens of Gananoque and vicinity to the importance of the protection 

 of game fish in the St. Lawrence Eiver, became a martyr to the cause 

 he espoused. When he commenced building operations on a fine resi- 

 dence on an island near Gananoque he was warned by many citizens 

 that he would probably have his house burned by the lawless element. 

 This warning proved to be no vain one, as shortly after he vacated his 

 summer home last year it was burned to the ground, clearly by incen- 

 diaries; and, so far, the perpetrators of this outrage have not been 

 brought to justice. The late Colonel Cautley, who expended a large 

 sum of money in erecting buildings, etc., for a summer resort on Minni- 

 coganashene Island, in Georgian Bay, in conversation with your Com- 

 missioner, stated that he had often seen illegal nets placed right across 

 the channel near his island as soon as the Government patrol boat had 

 passed, but that he dared not give any information, as he felt that, if 

 he did so, his property would be burned down in the winter. 



Many other instances, bearing out the same contention, have been 

 hrought to your Commissioner's attention during the tenure of his Com- 

 mission; but in each instance the information so given was on the con- 

 dition that the informant's name should not be published, for fear of 



