REPORT. 



Honorable R. W. Waterman, Governor of the State of California: 



Sir: As required by law, the State Board of Fish Commissioners here- 

 with present their report of the transactions and disbursements of the Com- 

 missioners during the thirty-eighth fiscal year, ending June 30, 1887, ami 

 the thirty-ninth fiscal year, ending June 30, 1888. 



Governor Washington Bartlett, on March 12, 1887, appointed Joseph 

 Routier a member of the Board to succeed R. H. Buckingham, term ex- 

 pired, and J. Downey Harvey to succeed A. B. Dibble, term expired, both 

 of whom were subsequently confirmed by the Senate. Messrs. Routier and 

 Harvey, together with T. J. Sherwood, constituting the State Board of Fish 

 Commissioners, organized on the twenty-fourth day of March, 1887, by 

 electing Joseph Routier. President, and T. J. Sherwood, Secretary and 

 Treasurer. The Board immediately entered upon a vigorous prosecution 

 of the work of the Commission. The various subordinate officers, necessary 

 to a discharge of the important duties of the Commission, were appointed, 

 and the members of the Board looked forward to the accomplishment of 

 many important results to the fishery interests of the State. 



The work of the Commission was progressing very satisfactorily, until 

 disturbed by the attempt on your part to reorganize the Commission by 

 placing thereon persons of your own selection. This attempted removal 

 of the members of the Commission (Routier and Harvey) discredited the 

 acts of the Commission, destroyed public confidence in the legality of their 

 official acts, and defeated all efforts to an efficient discharge of their duties. 

 That the legal status of the Board might be determined, Mr. J. D. Redding, 

 who had been appointed by you to succeed Commissioner Routier, obtained 

 the permission of the Attorney-General to bring an action in the name of 

 the people to oust Mr. Routier, but after suffering the action to remain in 

 the Courts for several months, he caused it to be dismissed. Subsequently, 

 the State Board of Examiners, moved by the clamor of claimants who had 

 furnished supplies, or rendered services to the State, agreed that the ques- 

 tion as to who were entitled to act as the State Board of Fish Commissioners 

 should be submitted to the Attorney-General, and that the opinion of that 

 officer should be binding upon the Board of Examiners until overruled by 

 the Courts. 



This course of the Board of Examiners was rendered necessary by the 

 action of Messrs. Redding and Orr claiming under a commission issued 

 by you, setting up a rival Board, and pretending to be the State Board of 

 Fish Commissioners, and assuming to discharge the duties of such Com- 

 missioners. These gentlemen were subsequently reinforced by Mr. Charles 

 Josselyn, appointed by you to succeed Commissioner T. J. Sherwood, re- 

 signed. 



The Attorney-General in due time filed his opinion with the State Board 

 of Examiners, affirming that the State Board of Fish Commissioners legally 

 consisted of Messrs. Joseph Routier, J. Downey Harvey, and Charles Jos- 

 selyn. Notwithstanding this opinion of the Attorney-General, and the 

 previous agreement between the Board of Examiners and the rival Boards, 



