'thirtieth biennial report 29 



of introducing this bill it was intended that it should become effective 

 on January 1, 1928, at the time the increased fee was to become 

 effective, but through an oversight the amendment did not specify the 

 effective date and consequently it became effective on July 29, 1927, 

 allowing commission on the sale of hunting and angling licenses which 

 were at that time $1, for only 5 per cent. The commission on the sale 

 of deer tags was allowed at only 5 per cent. When it was discovered 

 that the reduction in commission on the hunting and angling licenses 

 became effective on July 29, 1927, and the county clerks notified to 

 that effect, practically all of them complained bitterly and a good 

 many of them stated that they could not, on such a small commission, 

 assume the responsibility of the distribution of licenses in their counties 

 as they must pay all expenses necessary to the distribution and collec- 

 tion of money as well as at times assume any losses of licenses by 

 their agents. Since then a number of the county clerks have refused 

 to handle the licenses but the writer feels satisfied that satisfactory 

 distribution in these counties is being obtained by selling the licenses 

 direct to the agents, although quite a few of the agents have expressed 

 the opinion that they could not advance their money for only a 5 per 

 cent commission. 



At the present time over half of the sales on hunting, angling and 

 deer tag licenses are being made by the three offices of the Division 

 of Pish and Game. 



Due to the increased work in the three offices caused by the county 

 clerks not handling as many licenses and on account of the creation 

 of the deer tag license, the Work has increased considerably, making 

 it necessary to increase the office force in Sacramento by a messenger. 

 and Miss Dorothy Nash in the Los Angeles office, who accounts for a 

 very large part of the license sales, has a tremendous amount of 

 work to do and it will not be long before it will be necessary to give 

 her an assistant. Mr. J. J. Shannon in the San Francisco office, han- 

 dling license matters, finds it necessary likewise to have assistance. 



In a separate part of the biennial report there are statistical reports 

 showing the sale of the various kinds of licenses by years, and it will 

 be noted that the angling licenses in particular are showing a steady 

 increase year after year, while the total amount of sales for the hunting 

 licenses exceeds those of the angling licenses, but it should be borne 

 in mind that persons under the age of 18 years are privileged to 

 fish without a license, so it can be safely assumed that the actual 

 number of persons w T ho fish in the state is greater than the number 

 who hunt. 



It is the writer's opinion that it would be quite difficult to have 

 proper distribution on as large a number of denominations of licenses 

 as we now have and believes further that it would be just as well if the 

 $2 hunting license applied to persons 16 or 18 years of age and those 

 under that age be permitted to hunt without a license the same as 

 persons under 18 years of age are permitted to fish without a license. 

 It is the writer's opinion that boys under 16 years do not do any great 

 amount of damage if they are allowed to carry a gun or hunt without 

 a license, while it might be an incentive for more of them to go into 

 the field with a gun and thereby learn the use of the gun and be better 

 sportsmen as they grow older. It was evident in the last war that a 

 great many men in the army had had absolutely no experience with 

 firearms whatever, so if more of them were encouraged when boys to 

 carry a gun this country would be more prepared in cases of emer- 

 gency and so serve a double purpose. 



