300 EEPORT OF ONTARIO GAME No. 52 



this fish is eaten in many loealities, and in some, indeed, is esteemed a 

 delicacy, and in view, therefore, of the fact that the catch of ling by tlie 

 Government officers on the Rideau Lake System was being given to the 

 farmers to feed to their pigs, your Commissioner entered into negotia- 

 tions with the Department of Game and Fisheries, and the William 

 Davies Co., with the result that the Company undertook to purchase a 

 certain quantity of this fish from the Government at one and a half cents 

 per pound, and to place them on the market at a price not exceeding 

 six cents per pound. The first consignment is already on the market 

 at a price of five cents per pound, and the William Davies Company 

 reports that the experiment is succeeding as well as could be expected, 

 and that already some second orders for this fish have been received 

 from those who have tried it. In this way your Commissioner hopes 

 that he has succeeded in opening a new channel of cheap food, but he 

 would point out that in the lakes where the ling abound there are also 

 to be found the bass, the pickerel and other sporting fish, which attract 

 the angler, and that the removal of the ling was undertaken by the 

 Department of Game and Fisheries entirely on its own initiative, as a 

 measure calculated to increase the numbers of the sporting fish in these 

 waters. 



To allow the Government officers to remove these harmful fish dur- 

 , ing the winter months when their duties are light seems eminently 

 desirable, and even profitable, if a reasonable market can be established 

 for the ling, but to lease such fishing to commercial fishermen, or to 

 allow others to engage in it, would, in the opinion of your Commis- 

 sioner, be a very grave mistake, as it would be admitting to these con- 

 fined waters the thin end of the wedge of general commercial fishing. 



Revenue and Expenditure. 



The question of conservation of the natural resources of the Prov- 

 ince is vital to the present, but more especially to the future, prosperity 

 of the community, and in consequence legislation dealing with it should 

 be framed on the broadest possible lines, comprehending alike the con- 

 ditions of to-day and the economic possibilities of years to come. If 

 the conception of a policy is correct, and its broad general lines be 

 adhered to, the details can be filled in, amplified and perfected as oppor- 

 tunity permits, and, even if a mistake in one of them should be made, 

 it will in no wise endanger the whole fabric. In pursuing his enquiry 

 and framing his recommendations, your Commissioner has had these 

 principles ever before him. 



In this interim report he has endeavoured to show the magnitude 

 of the issues at stake in the conservation of game, game fish, and fish- 

 eries, alike as a source of wealth to the community, through the upbuild- 

 ing of a great sportsman-tourist traffic, as for their intrinsic value as a 

 source of food supply, not only in support of the measures he recom- 



