RESULTS OF BEAVERS' WORK 155 



soon found themselves, as they thought, safe from 

 the continual dread of the steel trap, so that new 

 colonies established themselves and increased most 

 wonderfully. But the wretched beasts were lulled 

 into a false security, and what followed for obvious 

 reasons cannot be recounted here. Sufficient is it 

 to say that great numbers of beavers were killed 

 by authority, the number caught and killed in a 

 single year I dare not mention, but under the 

 clause which reads : " Upon the report of the 

 Minister that any species of fur-bearing or game 

 animal or bird has increased to such an extent that 

 its numbers may be lessened without detriment to 

 the Park, or the purposes for which the Park was 

 established, the Lieutenant- Governor in Council 

 may authorise the taking or killing of such animals 

 or birds not exceeding the number specified in 

 Order in Council under the direction and super- 

 vision of the Superintendent of the Park," and 

 further, in speaking of furs, skins, etc., " May be 

 sold by the Minister and the proceeds of the sales 

 shall be applied toward defraying the expenses of 

 the Park." The unfortunate and, I venture to 

 add, injudicious taking of beaver has continued. 

 The results are unsatisfactory from two points of 

 view. First, that the beaver has been captured in 

 the most accessible parts of the park, so that one of 

 the objects of the reserve is defeated. The under- 

 lying idea was that in protecting the wild animals, 

 and so bringing them to a condition of comparative 



