POA CHERS. 73 



fish poachers, they will too often err on the 

 side of leniency. It is well known that the 

 game and other laws, for the preservation of 

 fur, feather, and scale for sporting purposes, 

 are distinctly unpopular with the lower classes. 

 Although prompted by the desire to secure 

 votes for political purposes, yet the policy of 

 awarding comparatively slight punishment to 

 those convicted of offences against these laws 

 is not to be commended. 



No thinking man would in the present age Receivers of 



, ... . . , poached fish. 



advocate any course likely to lead to an 

 increase in the numbers of the criminal classes 

 by committing to jail in cases where a small 

 fine would serve equally as a deterrent. It is, 

 however, needful in such cases to bring forcibly 

 home to the rustic mind that poaching, which 

 is practically nothing but theft pure and simple, 

 is to be as sternly put down by the adminis- 

 trators of the law as the picking of pockets. 

 It would be well, too, if some effective legisla- 

 tion could be devised to bring under penalties 

 those who purchase, whether for food or for 

 purposes of trade, poached game or fish. The 

 penalties, too, should be largely increased if the 

 offence is intensified by the fact of such game 

 or fish being out of season, and hence totally 

 unfit for human food. The offence of the 

 ignorant, half-starved villager who poaches is 



