33 G 
FOREST AND STREAM. 
[March 4, 1911. 
North American Association. 
Quebec, Canada, Feb. 25 .—Editor Forest and 
Stream: The attendance at the eleventh annual 
convention of the North American Fish and 
Game Protective Association, held in Montreal 
last week, was even more influential than usual. 
It included Sir Lomer Gouin, president; Hon. 
Mr. Hazen, Premier of New Brunswick; Hon. 
Mr. Grimmer, Surveyor-General of the same 
Province, under whose department is placed 
the administration of the fish and game branch; 
General Butterfield, of the Vermont Legisla¬ 
ture; Dr. Bishop, of Boston, representing the 
chairman of the Maine Fish and Game Com¬ 
mission; Hon. L. A. Bergevin, Member of the 
Legislative Council of Quebec; Dr. Finnie, 
Member of the Legislative Assembly of Quebec; 
C. H. Wilson and C. F. Burhans, of Glens Falls, 
N. Y.; J. B. Townsend, Jr., of Philadelphia; W. 
H. Parker, of the Laurentian Fish and Game 
Club; L. O. Armstrong; H. R. Charlton; Mr. 
Maltby, president of the Province of Quebec 
Fish and Game Protective Association, and 
others. 
William Dutcher, president of the American 
Association of Audubon Societies, was pre¬ 
vented by illness from attending, Hon. Dr. 
Reaume was abroad, and Dr. Hornaday of 
New York, Professor Prince of Ottawa, Dr. 
Evermann of Washington and others who had 
expected to be present were prevented at the 
last moment, by press of business. 
Apart from the reading of a number of in¬ 
teresting papers and addresses, several import¬ 
ant resolutions were adopted. 
On motion of C. H. Wilson (New York), it 
was resolved that this association most respect¬ 
fully urges all States and Provinces to formu¬ 
late their legislation in matters of fish and 
game, in harmony with the International treaty 
between Great Britain and the United States. 
On motion of Hon. Mr. Grimmer, seconded 
by Hon. Mr. Hazen, it was resolved that this 
association approves of the action of the 
Provinces of Quebec and New Brunswick in 
endeavoring to have provision made by the 
Government of Canada for the electrification of 
the Grand Trunk Pacific Railway when it passes 
through the Crown Lands of said Provinces, 
and respectfully urges upon the Federal Gov¬ 
ernment the great importance and necessity of 
complying with the requests of said Provinces, 
with a view to the preservation of their forests. 
It was resolved on motion of L. O. Arm¬ 
strong that the association most earnestly 
recommends that the various Provinces and 
States should encourage fish farming in every 
possible manner, notably by the establishment 
of fish hatcheries and the publication and dis¬ 
tribution of bulletins and other educational 
matter. This work should be done in order 
primarily to add to the supply of fish food for 
the people. 
On division, it was resolved that it is the 
opinion of the association that leases of shoot¬ 
ing and hunting privileges, in all cases where 
the upkeep of the fish and game is entrusted 
to the lessee, should be made for a term long 
enough to make it for the interest of the lessee 
not only to maintain but to increase the existing 
stock of fish and game on the leased premises. 
We believe that long leases help conservation, 
while short leases encourage depletion. 
Perhaps the most important action taken by 
the association was the adoption of a resolu¬ 
tion appointing an influential committee em¬ 
powered to negotiate with the Federal Govern¬ 
ment for such legislation as would permit the 
service of a Provincial warrant in any of the 
other Provinces upon offenders against Provin¬ 
cial fish and game laws, and also for the en¬ 
actment, if possible, of an extradition treaty 
between Canada and the United States with the 
same objects in view. The members of this 
committee are the three cabinet ministers hav¬ 
ing under their respective control the enforce¬ 
ment of the fish and game laws of the Provinces 
of New Brunswick, Ontario and Quebec, 
Messrs. Grimmer, Reaume and Devlin. This 
important matter was brought to the attention 
of the association by a paper read by Mr. 
Townsend, of Philadelphia, on the subject of 
offenses against the laws of the State or 
Provinces, regulating forests, fisheries and the 
preservation and protection of game, where the 
offenders had fled the jurisdiction before it was 
possible to effect their arrest, and where, after 
the necessary informations were laid and war¬ 
rants of arrest issued, they had continued to 
absent themselves from the Province or State 
within whose, boundaries the offense was com¬ 
mitted, so that the writ could not be served or 
the just penalties meted out. 
In illustration of this condition of affairs the 
case of two residents of the State of New York 
was mentioned, who in contravention of the 
laws of the Province of Quebec, were guilty of 
killing three cow moose, though they did not 
make any use of either the skins or carcasses. 
Before warrants could issue, the offenders had 
made good their escape from the Province. 
Surveyor-General Grimmer, of New Bruns¬ 
wick, referred to the case of a New \ork 
banker named Grant, and also to one Stanton, 
of Philadelphia, and his three companions, who 
had violated the New Brunswick laws, while 
it is a common occurrence for poachers residing 
near the boundary line between the Provinces 
of Ontario and Quebec, and those of Quebec 
and New Brunswick to commit depredations in 
the neighboring Province and to escape the 
consequences of their offenses by hastily re¬ 
crossing the line to their homes. 
Mr. Townsend went very thoroughly into the 
question of State and Provincial legislation to 
show that there need be no difficulty between 
the different Provinces and States in exchang¬ 
ing offenders against the fish and game laws, 
but admitted that the establishment of any such 
relations between the Dominion and the United 
States Government would be a matter of far 
greater difficulty, and undoubtedly attended 
with a reformation of treaty rights. He elo¬ 
quently contended, however, amid the applause 
of the convention, that if the man who utters 
a forged check, no matter how insignificant the 
amount, can be brought back from Canada to 
stand trial in the States, a man who has sub¬ 
jected himself to the possibilities of imprison¬ 
ment or of fines, for the violation of the 
forestry, fish or game laws, running into hun¬ 
dreds or thousands of dollars, should likewise 
be compelled to suffer the proper punishment 
for his wrongful acts. “Call my idea utopian, 
if you will,” he said, “say that it is beneath the 
dignity of two adjoining governments to go to 
so m jch trouble to secure the punishment of the 
man who has killed his deer out of season, or 
who has dynamited fish, but, recollect, gentle¬ 
men, that if the present conditions are allowed 
to continue, and you carry the theory of im¬ 
munity from punishment for offenses of this 
character to its logical conclusion, that the laws 
relative to fisheries in the Great Lakes can be 
violated by the inhabitants of one territory in 
the waters of the other with absolute impunity, 
and that the man who wilfully and wantonly 
sets fire to standing timber, resulting in the loss 
perhaps of thousands of dollars, and escapes 
from the scene of his crime, is quite as immune 
from punishment as is the slayer of the cow 
moose, or the violator of the laws relative to 
close season.” 
The reports of fish and game legislation in 
the different States and Provinces furnished a 
great deal of interesting information and gave 
rise to considerable discussion. 
Most instructive and complete was G. H. 
Richards’ report of the Massachusetts legisla¬ 
tion. Mr. Richards is a strong advocate of 
game farming, and declares that his great hope 
of the future abundance of game in Massa¬ 
chusetts rests in the efforts of individuals in 
this direction. He referred to the recent six- 
day open season for deer in western Massa¬ 
chusetts, when over 1,300 deer were killed and 
some others wounded, and the comic side of 
the provision that a shotgun only could be used. 
The gun was generally loaded, he said, with 
ounce balls. In the course of the discussion 
on his paper, Mr. Richards said that it was 
suspected that some farmers made use of the 
excuse of damage being caused by deer to their 
crops, to justify the otherwise illegal killing of 
them, and that within the last few years, the 
damages claimed from the State for such 
alleged injuries to crops had increased from 
$1,000 to $7,000, some of them being both pre¬ 
posterous and absurd. 
General Butterfield reported the defeat of an 
ill-advised attempt of the Speaker of the Ver¬ 
mont Legislature to reduce the limit of size of 
trout that might be caught from six to five 
inches, the absurdity of which proposal was 
shown by the fact that fingerlings as large as 
five inches long, obtained from the State were 
actually being planted at the same time, so 
that had the bill passed, an angler might follow 
the men planting the fingerlings and take them 
out as soon as they had been put into the water. 
C. H. Wilson was enthusiastic over the work 
of tree planting and preservation done by the 
Boys’ Conservation League at Glens Falls, N. 
Y., and elsewhere, lauded the hatchery work of 
Dr. Bean, and said that the output of fry last 
year in the State was “the largest ever.” He 
referred to the pheasant farming of the State 
and rejoiced that the hounding of deer in New 
York was forever over. 
Remarkable stories of the abundance of moose 
in New Brunswick were told by Premier Hazen 
and Surveyor-General Grimmer of that Province. 
So abundant were they that the game depart¬ 
ment was flooded with demands from farmers 
for the payment of various sums for damages 
caused by moose and deer to growing crops. 
They declared that a moose head with a spread 
of fifty to sixty inches was nothing unusual in 
New Brunswick. 
The best moose story told, however, was un¬ 
doubtedly that of Hon. Mr. Grimmer, who, 
