THE EEPOET UPON No. 14 



iahlj and wickedly destroyed would result in more than doubling the present 

 supply of this much needed commodity. I venture to hope that in consequence of 

 tlie scarcity of animal food, and it's almost prohibitive price, that those to whom 

 the authority to have Nature's Laws enforced has been delegated will realize, in 

 the interest of the general public, the urgent necessity of so doing. Faddists with 

 absurd theories presume to ignore Nature's perfect plan of reproduction, and ad- 

 vocate therefor emanations from their foolish delusions. They make the absurd 

 statement that only about one per cent, of the spawn deposited by the fish on their 

 natural spawning grounds are fertilized or hatched. It will be apparent, even to 

 those not conversant with fishery matters, that if, as alleged by these illusionists, 

 this is the case, all waters not re-stocked by artificial means would have been desti- 

 tute of fish ages ago. These faddists allege that spawn taken to the hatcheries are 

 hatdied to the extent of seventy-five to eighty per cent. I am not prepared to 

 dispute this, but what means have they of knowing what becomes of the hatchery 

 fry after being consigned to polluted or other unsuitable waters? I have seen 

 fry deposited at the outlets of large sewers, miles from the waters which they 

 were intended to re-stock. I have also seen large consignments of fry placed in 

 lakes a few yards from the shore, the waters of which were infested with perch, and 

 the fry which were not destroyed by the perch were washed ashore by the waves. 

 With all due respect to what is alleged the hatcheries have accomplished, they are 

 a miserable excuse, and a most unsatisfactory substitute for close seasons, which 

 are in conformity with Nature's perfect plan of reproduction and perpetuation. 

 I have no objection to hatclieries as an adjunct to close seasons for the purpose of 

 aiding and assisting Nature's extensive, inexpensive, and complete system of per- 

 petuation. If, as is so often stated, the supply of fish is inadequate to meet the 

 demands of our somewhat limited population, what will be the result in the near 

 future, if the present wasteful and unnatural system of abolishing close seasons 

 continues. 



The Federal Grovernment of the United States have recently passed a most 

 etfective and far reaching measure for the protection and perpetuation of migratory 

 birds. Though no longer young, I hope to live to see our respective Federal Govern- 

 ments mutually enact an equally effective and much needed measure for the protec- 

 tion of the fish in our international waters when migrating to their spawning 

 grounds. I fail to see the sense of the wicked, unreasonable, foolishness in destroying 

 either fish or birds, as the case may be, when full of eggs en route to their breeding 

 grounds or Nature's hatcheries. 



Comparisons are often made by those who are not conversant with game pro- 

 tection in Britain between the immense quantity of game annually killed on their 

 restricted area and the amount killed in our Dominion. In Britain there is an 

 average of one gamekeeper or assistant to each square mile of protected estate. I 

 am afraid the time is far distant when our Province will be able to employ one man 

 for each hundred square miles, who will devote his whole time to the protection 

 of the fish and game. Gamekeepers in Britain are paid a bounty on each animal 

 or bird, killed by them, which is destructive to the game. Bounties are not paid 

 on foxes, they being preserved for the national sport of fox hunting; however, it 

 is well known that they are more destructive to game and poultry than any other 

 animal in Great Britain, one fox being known to bury about four dozen head of 

 poultry. Another instance of the immense destruction of game by foxes is recorded 

 — a vixen and her three cubs were dug out of her den, and in her larder beneath 

 her den were found thirty-two rabbits, two pheasants, two partridges, and a wild 



