1912 AND FISHERIES COMMISSION. 281 



and game, both as sources of food supply and as an attraction to the 

 tourist, by means of bulletins, such as published and circulated by the 

 Department of Agriculture at Washington, and by an amplification of 

 the lecture system, such as already conducted by Mr. C. W. Nash. 



3. Every encouragement be given to any corporation desirous of 

 assisting the Government in the enforcement of the game laws and fish- 

 ery regulations. 



Provincial Park Preserves. 



The Province of Ontario contains many thousands of acres of wild 

 and wooded lands, whose geological formation discloses no valuable 

 mineral resources, and forbids the possibilities of agriculture, but whose 

 natural beauty is a constant joy to those fortunate enough to visit 

 them, and Avhose peaceful sylvan recesses and rugged fastnesses 

 afford a luxurious home for the song, insectivorous, and game bird, as 

 well as for the moose, the deer, and the many smaller but valuable fur- 

 bearing animals. It has been said that nothing in nature exists without 

 a cause, and if a reason be sought for the existence of these wild and 

 beautiful lands, what nobler or grander one can be conceived than that 

 thej^ are designed to be the perpetual and unspoiled playground of a 

 great and populous nation, wherein its sons and daughters may seek 

 both health and recreation, and where bird and beast alike may exist 

 under adequate protection? 



The progress of modern civilization has entailed extravagant de- 

 mands on nature, and the blatant call of demand drowned the feeble 

 plaint of an ever-diminishing supply. Fortunately, however, a powerful 

 voice was raised in time, and the nations of the continent were made to 

 understand that it is easier to fell than to grow, easier to exterminate 

 than to create. It had long been realized that all wild life reproduces 

 itself more prolificly and healthfully under natural conditions, and it 

 required but the launching of the idea of Government-owned park pre- 

 serves for the principle to be cordially welcomed and accepted by all 

 classes of the community. Throughout this continent the adoption of 

 the principle has been remarkable both for its rapidity and for the variety 

 of its application. Sea-girt islands have been selected as breeding places 

 for the gulls, where no man may venture to shoot; ranges of Avild land 

 and hills have been assigned to the elk to make his home in, and others 

 to the moose or smaller forms of deer life and birds; hills and moun- 

 tains have been declared the Rancutary of the mountain sheep and goat, 

 and vast tracts of devastated timber lands have been set aside, to be 

 sown with the seed that will produce the lumber for generations yet to 

 come. 



Already the success that has attended the movement has been most 

 marked, and not only are certain species of birds and beasts, formerly 

 in danger of extinction, once again beginning to multiply in the pre- 



