JAN. 20, 1906. ] 

the close seasons and to limit the catches of cer- 
tain varieties of fish, which are entirely within 
the province of the Federal authorities. It is 
fully understood, however, that the Hon. Mr. 
Prevost will endeavor to act upon the majority 
of the other recommendations made by the 
congress. — 
Destruction from the Lumber Camps. 
_ Of the different suggestions made to the Min- 
ister, none are perhaps of more importance to 
the preservation of fish and game than are those 
having reference to the destructiveness of the 
lumbermen. Rivers and lakes which swarmed 
with trout have been completely denuded of 
their fish in a season or two by the rapacity of 
the owners of lumber camps and the lawlessness 
of their employes. A harrowing tale of this 
work of destruction was told at the recent con- 
gress by Dr. Porter, of Bridgeport, the presi- 
dent of the Bostonnais Fish and Game Asso- 
ciation: “Upon the preserves of this Associa- 
tion,” said Dr. Porter, “a pulp company has 
been at work for four or five years. According 
to the stories told by the woodsmen, they have 
found fish from the water and game from the 
woods more plentiful and cheaper than meat 
from the pork barrel; they have caught fish and 
shot game’ in season and out of season; they 
have killed fish by set-lines and by dynamite; 
nor has this poaching been done only by the 
wood choppers. In open defiance of the law of 
the Province of Quebec, they have erected dams 
without fishways, and so constructed them that 
when their gates were open, the platform of the 
apron was so high that no trout could pass up 
stream. This violation of the law has been 
brought to the attention of the company; numer- 
ous protests have been lodged with the depart- 
ment, which has repeatedly notified the com- 
pany, whose officers, however, disregard, if they 
do not ridicule these official warnings.” 
I can cite many instances of the destruction 
wrought by similar companies, and knowing the 
difficulty which has been encountered in the 
past trom such sources, I threw up, only a 
couple of years ago, the lease of a beautiful 
fishing territory,.as soon as I found that lum- 
bering operations were about to be commenced 
there. I am.glad to be able to say, however, 
that better things are now to be expected, since 
it is the policy of the new minister to dismiss 
every provincial guardian who fails in the per- 
formance of his duty and in enforcing the laws 
in the district intrusted to his supervision. 
That there is urgent need for reform in this 
direction, in other portions of the province than 
that described by Dr. Porter, is evidenced by a 
letter which has just corfie. under my notice 
from the pen of an accomplished nature lover, 
who is one of the masters in the Montreal High 
School. Writing to Hon Mr. Prevost’s depart- 
ment, this gentleman says: “I have for several 
years past been spending all my summer in the 
Laurentians, and am fairly well acquainted with 
the country on both sides of the C. P. R. from 
St. Jerome to Labelle, having been to Lac 
Archambault on the east and to Arundel on the 
west, and in not one instance have I seen a 
fishway made at the various dams, although I 
believe the law requires it. I have, on the con- 
trary, seen the gates closed right on the fish in 
the spring runs, and literally hundreds of our 
beautiful brook trout crushed to death under 
them. Mill after mill can be seen on the North 
and Rouge rivers, filling those streams with 
sawdust, and a little investigation upon the 
many streams entering into the above-named 
rivers would show as many more., For the past 
three years I have been conducting a camp for 
boys on Lac St. Joseph, St. Adolphe de How- 
ard, and next year purpose going to Lac 
Archambault, county Montcalm. I have been 
doing my best with these boys to teach them to 
respect the fish and game laws of our province; 
but it is very difficult to successfully accomplish 
this, when so many of the people around us are 
openly violating them. Only this week a friend 
tells me of a sackful of trout being taken out of 
a lake near St. Adolphe. The two chief diffi- 
culties in the way of enforcing the law seems 
to be, first, that the remuneration of the game 
FOREST AND STREAM. 

LAKE FISHING. 
From “The Basses, Fresh-Water and Marine.” 
wardens is not sufficient to induce them to an- 
tagonize the people among whom they live; 
and, second, that the summer residents and fish 
and game clubs owning property in the vicinity 
of these violations of the law are afraid of the 
consequences if they prosecute or give evidence 
against the permanent residents.” 
How Ontario Enforces the Law. 
During the course of the discussion at the 
congress upon the necessity of enforcing the 
law concerning the erection of fishways, the 
Hon. Mr. Latchford, ex-Minister of Fisheries, 
told of one of the methods employed by his de- 
partment for providing free passageway for fish 
when obstructed by dams unprovided with fish- 
ways. It simply consisted in sending men to 
blow up the dam with dynamite. When the 
Government of the Province of Quebec has 
blown up a few dams with dynamite, or caused 
the imposition of the fines to be made effective, 
as provided by law, upon those who fail to com- 
ply with the provisions of the statutes for the 
erection of fishways, a good stride forward will 
have been taken toward the preservation of our 
beautiful game fish. I have good reason to be- 
lieve that there will be something very impor- 
tant doing in this matter by Mr. Prevost’s de- 
partment, immediately after the forthcoming 
session of the provincial legislature, and it will 
not be a day too soon, either. 
: E. T. D. CHAMBERS, 
Massachusetts Association. 
Boston, Mass., Jan. 13.—Editor Forest and 
Stream: The annual meeting of the State As- 
sociation at the Copley Square Hotel was at- 
tended by fifty members, several of whom had 
friends with them. President Hinman not being 
able to be present, Hon. George W. Wiggin, a 
former president, sat in the seat of honor. The 
secretary submitted a brief summary of the work 
of the year, stating that fourteen life members 
and 219 annual members had been added to the 
list—a record of increased membership that has 
never been surpassed in the history of the Asso- 
ciation, The treasurer's report showed that the 
sinking fund had been increased by something 
more than $400, and that about $1,000 is held in 
reserve for the purchase of quail, if they can be 
obtained, 
The list of officers herewith inclosed was un- 
animously elected: 
President—William Brewster. 
Vice-Presidents—William S. Hinman, James R. Reed, 
George W. Wiggin, Benjamin C. Clark, Benjamin Var- 
num Howe, Robert S. Gray, Alpheus R, Brown, George 
H. Payne, Salem D. Charles, Heber Bishop, J, N. Rob- 
erts, Rollin Jones, Frank Fallon, N.C. Nash, A. B. F. 
Kinney, Joseph T, Herrick, A. C. Sylvester, Cyrus A. 
Taft, Charles E, Stratton, George M. Poland, Arthur L, 
Walker, W. C. Woodward, H. A. Estabrook, Maurice H. 
Richardson, Charles M. Bryant. 
Librarian—Edward W. Branigan. 
Secretary-Treasurer—Henry Hastings Kimball. 
Executive Committee—Charles W. Dimick, M. A. 
Morris, Francis B. Crowninshield, Alfred A. Glasier, 
Williamy A. Morse, Heman S. Fay, John E. Thayer, 
Edwin De Merritte, John C. Phillips, Andrew Gray 
Weeks, Paul Butler, William A. Jeffries. 
Membership Committee—Thomas H. Hall, Richard V. 
Joyce, B. Varnum Howe. é 
Fund Committee—George W. Wiggin, 
Clark, Adelbert D. Thayer; : 
The officers above-named, elected Jan. 10, constitute . 
the Board of Managément for 1906. 
Benjamin C. 
Mt. William Lyman Underwood delivered 
his lecture on “A Strange Story of the 
North Woods,’ with a host of admirable 
illustrations. During its delivery manifestations 
of unqualified approval were frequent, and a 
more sympathetic audience would be hard to find. 
A vote of thanks was returned the lecturer. 
Everyone was greatly delighted with it. 
The annual banquet of the Megantic Club will 
be held at the Copley Square Hotel on Saturday 
evening, the 2oth inst., and among the speakers 
announced for the occasion is Mr. J. W. Tit- 
comb, of Washington, D. C., and Commissioner 
Carleton, of Maine. H. H. KiImMBaA tt, 
The Basses. 
COMPLEMENTING his book on the brook trout, 
Mr. Louis Rhead has edited and illustrated a vol- 
ume devoted to “The Basses.’”* The species dis- 
cussed comprise both the fresh water and the 
marine, the fresh water basses being treated by 
the late William C. Harris and the salt water fish 
by Dr. Tarleton H. Bean. The volume is a com- 
pendium of information respecting the life his- 
tory and habits of the fish, their favorite haunts 
and the methods of their capture. The informa- 
tion contained under these heads will be found 
very complete and satisfactory. 
The two species of black bass, the small-mouth 
*The Basses, Fresh-Water and Marine. By William 
C. Harris and Tarleton H. Bean. Edited and illustrated 
by Louis Rhead. Frederick Stokes Company: New 
York. 

