I wish to offer you my personal thanks for the effective way in which you have set forth the desirability of establishing wild-life refuges in Labrador, and I trust that what you have said will start a movement in Canada to carry out this good project. It has long interested me to know that your people and their officials seem much more farseeing than those on this side of the line, and Canada's show of national parks and reservations is far more creditable than that of her neighbour to the south.
Dr. H. Mather Hare, who does on the Canadian Labrador what Dr. Grenfell does on the Newfoundland or Atlantic Labrador, and whose headquarters are at Harrington, where the first coast sanctuary ought to be established at the earliest possible moment, says:
May I make a suggestion? The fishermen coming here from Nova Scotia and Newfoundland do not believe there is really a law against egging and shooting. They say it is a put-up job by the people living on the coast, because they want all the eggs and birds themselves. This being the case, would it not be a good idea to have a notice in several of the Nova Scotia and Newfoundland papers warning the fishermen against breaking the law, and in this way putting the interdiction on a legal footing; so they may understand that it is not a mere bluff on the part of the people living on the coast. So far there has been nothing but talk, and nothing official; no arrest made, etc., so one can hardly blame them for the position they take, especially as they have been doing the same thing for many years.
The notice should be very clear and penalties set forth plainly.
Mr. W.T. Lindsay, M.E., who has travelled thousands of miles through Labrador, writes:
I have spent two summers in the north eastern wilderness of Quebec and can fully appreciate your suggestions.
I take the liberty of sending you a copy of an "interview" by the _Montreal Witness_ upon my return in 1909, by which you will see that I am in accord with your views, _i.e._, unless the Government takes immediate steps to protect the wild animals in the Province of Quebec, many of them will become extinct....
I would suggest that the Commission of Conservation make a close investigation of the _ways and means_ of the fur traders along the north shore, and I believe that official, unbiassed and independent investigation will expose a very peculiar state of affairs in connection with the mal-conservation of game.