FOREST, FISH AND GAME COMMISSIONER. 407 



report herewith submitted, amply justifies the change made in the method 

 of performance of this important work — the present method not only- 

 being more efficient but also less expensive to the State. 



Two hundred and sixty-three titles have been referred to Mr. Inman 

 for examination, involving offers aggregating 163,618 acres, for which the 

 agreed price was $963,401. Of this number 118 titles covering 190,161 

 acres of land; the purchase price agreed upon being $673,521 were approved, 

 9 titles rejected and 138 titles are still pending. 



This work has been performed at a cost to the State of certainly less 

 than 50 per cent, than it would have been under the local counsel system, 

 and a greater degree of care and precaution has been exercised in the approval 

 of titles. 



Upward of a hundred and fifty opinions have been rendered by this 

 Department to the Commissioner, Superintendent of Forests, Chief Game 

 Protector and others construing the various sections of the statute and 

 upon matters relating to their official powers and procedure. 



In the prosecution of the legal work of the Department, our experience 

 has demonstrated that the law, in order to be effective, must receive sub- 

 stantial and not too technical enforcement; that the protective measures 

 taken must be fair and reasonable in the scope of their operation and must 

 be consistent and consonant with the intent of the Legislature in order 

 to receive the support of moral sentiment and public opinion in favor of 

 its enforcement. 



Albany, N. Y., October 1, 1909. 



