404 FIFTEENTH ANNUAL REPORT OF THE 



them to possession, and that the Legislature has the right to protect and 

 regulate the easement of the public to the unobstructed passage of fish 

 through the streams of the State, and that the Forest, Fish and Game 

 Commissioner acting under the statute has the power to order the placing of 

 a fishway in a -dam, is one of great importance and by it the right of the 

 public to regulate, control and protect the fish life in the waters of the State, 

 either public or private, firmly established. 



There are many instances where dams have been constructed at or 

 near the mouths of small streams, and which dams have prevented the 

 passage of fish up the stream and deprived the fish of their necessary, proper 

 and adequate spawning and feeding grounds, which can now be remedied 

 by the order of the Commissioner providing for the erection of fishways 

 therein. 



Domesticated Deer Litigation 



Charles F. Dieterich, who owned and maintained a private deer preserve 

 at Mill Brook in Dutchess county, which preserve was originally started by 

 the purchase of domesticated deer outside of the State of New York, in 

 1906 presented to the American Express Company at Mill Brook for trans- 

 portation to New York city several carcasses of deer and venison, marked 

 as deer and venison raised in confinement, and killed in his preserve. The 

 express company, upon the advice of the Forest, Fish and Game Commis- 

 sion that such transportation would be illegal, refused to receive and trans- 

 port the venison. 



Action was immediately commenced by Mr. Dieterich against the 

 American Express Company for an injunction restraining and enjoining 

 the express company from refusing to receive and transport the venison 

 from deer raised in confinement in his preserve. 



The defendant company demurred to the complaint and the Forest, 

 Fish and Game Commissioner was permitted to intervene as party defend- 

 ant, and the defense of the action was thereafter conducted by the Legal 

 Department of the Commission. The demurrer was sustained by the Trial 



