65 



rivers to reproduce, When they were abundant in the 

 waters of the gulf, they passed up the St. Lawrence, 

 entering every stream on either side up into Lake Ontario ; 

 and were it not for the great barrier of Niagara Falls the 

 Salmon would be found in the upper springs of Lake 

 Superior. It was their instinct to go onward and onward 

 until they found a suitable spot for spawning, and they 

 would have passed into Lake Erie and Lake Superior, the 

 same as Lake Ontario, were it not for the Falls ; the con- 

 sequence was they entered into the smaller streams which 

 fed the lake and went back into Lake Ontario instead of 

 into the sea, where they had remained up to the present 

 time, as the true sea Salmon only acclimatized to fresh 

 water. Any gentleman in England who was desirous of 

 having land-locked Salmon, if he had a lake with a great 

 depth in the middle and small streams running into it, 

 into which the fish could go to breed, might produce land- 

 locked Salmon from the eggs of the Salmon of the sea. 



Mr. BIRKBECK, M.P., on behalf of the Executive Com- 

 mittee, desired to thank Sir James Maitland for his excel- 

 lent Paper, and also to thank Mr. Wilmot for his remarks 

 on the question of State aid to Fisheries. He thought the 

 advice he had given was most excellent, and only re- 

 gretted that the House of Commons was not more largely 

 represented. He could only hope that through the press 

 the members of the Legislature would be able to read, 

 mark, learn, and inwardly digest what had passed, and 

 would persuade the Government of the day to recognise 

 the importance of giving assistance to our fisheries. He 

 could not specify any one particular direction in which that 

 aid should be given, but he went on the principle that 

 inasmuch as State aid was given in foreign countries and 

 in our own colonies, the same assistance ought to be given 



in England. 



VOL. VI. C. F 



