CONSERVATION COMMISSION. 



DIVISION OF FISH AND GAME. 



To the Conservation Commission: 



In transmitting the annual report of the Division of Fish and 

 Gtame I desire to direct attention to the effective work of the 

 Commission's protective force. During the present year the law 

 increased the number of game protectors from 95 to 125. The 

 number of violations prosecuted in 1911 was 1,485. The present 

 year shows an increase of 210 cases prosecuted, with a decrease 

 of $385 in the costs of recovery. It is worthy of comment that 

 a large number of these cases were handled by the regular pro- 

 tectors without legal assistance, thereby saving a substantial sum 

 in attorneys 7 fees. 



The codification of the game law during the present year, in 

 the interest of uniformity and simplification, and the elimination 

 from existing statutes of a mass of special provisions which have 

 heretofore added to the difficulties of enforcement, gave us a 

 statute which is generally regarded by sportsmen as the best game 

 law possessed by any State. A year's experience with the statute 

 in its present form has, as might be expected, suggested a number 

 of minor changes for the purpose of perfecting it, but the wisdom 

 of the work of codification, and its results, have been fully 

 justified. 



The law providing for the importation and sale of foreign 

 game, and the tagging of such species as may be legally sold, 

 continues to meet with the success which followed the first year 

 of its enactment. During the year 1912 the following imported 

 game was tagged : 



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