1912 AND FISHERIES COMMISSION. 299 



would carry with it all the privileges obtained by the purchase of the 

 less expensive license. That such a license is beneficial as a deterrent 

 to the promiscuous carrying of firearms, and as a protection to fish and 

 game, your Commissioner has tried to show; that it would be a great 

 revenue producer is undeniable, and, in conclusion^ your Commissioner 

 would point out that, though considerable opposition should be expected 

 from the firearms interests, and from certain sections of the community, 

 who, humanlike, desire to continue getting for nothing that for which 

 they are not called to pay to-day, this revenue, if applied to conserva- 

 tion and propagation measures, would act directly in the best interests 

 of both classes, for the increased protection would mean more plentiful 

 game, to gladden the heart and provide sport for the genuine sportisman, 

 and to attract in ever-increasing numbers the sportsman tourist, whose 

 purchase of guns, ammunition and other similar supplies would swell 

 the receipts of the hardware merchants. 



Your Commissioner would, therefore, recommend that: 

 A resident hunting license of fl.lO (the 10 cents going to the offi- 

 cials or persons entrusted with the issuance of the licenses) be enacted 

 for the privilege of hunting game or game birds of all descriptions not 

 specifically provided for under the present Game Act, but that hona 

 fide farmers and settlers be exempt from the operation of such a license, 

 in so far as their own lands, or waters contiguous to same, are con- 

 cerned; and that the purchase of a hunting license for any special animal 

 or animals, if such license be of greater value than |1.10, carry with it 

 all the privileges extended through the fl.lO license. 



Ling. '•-.■■ - - ■ 



Attention has recently been called in the newspapers to the hign 

 cost of food, and without entering into a discussion of this most vexed 

 problem it can be stated broadly that in adopting measures that will 

 provide cheap food for the masses a Government is acting in the best 

 interests of the community. 



Owing to the non-promulgation of the International Fisheries 

 Treaty your Commissioner has decided not to include in this interim 

 report the result of his enquiries under this head as regards fish in gen- 

 eral, for the reason that the terms of the treaty may fairly be expected 

 to materially alter existing conditions. He is pleased, however, to be 

 able to report that, through his instrumentality, an experiment is now 

 being made to provide a really cheap and palatable fish food in the 

 shape of ling. The burbot, or ling, is our only fresh-water representative 

 of the cod family. It is a highly predaceous fish, very destructive to 

 other fish life, and, as will be seen from the Report of the Department 

 of Game and Fisheries for 1908, increasing rapidly in the waters of the 

 Rideau Lake System. 



On invei?tigation your Commissioner discovered that the flesh of 



24 F.G. 



