very time when our own and
other publics are beginning to appreciate the value of the appeal
which such haunts of Nature make to all the highest faculties of
civilized man?

The way can be made clear by scientific study. The laws can be drawn
up by any intelligent legislators, and enforced quite as efficiently
as other laws have been by the Mounted Police in the North West. The
expense will be small, the benefits great and widely felt. The only
real hitch is the uninformed and therefore apathetic state of public
opinion. If people only knew that Labrador contained a hundred
Saguenays, wild zoos, Thousand Islands, fiords, palisades, sea
mountains, canons, great lakes and waterfalls, if they only knew that
they could get the enjoyment of it for a song, and make it an heirloom
for no more trouble than letting it live, they might do all that is
needed to-morrow. But they don't know. And the three Governments
cannot do much without the support of public opinion. At present they
do practically nothing. The Ungavan Labrador has neither organization
nor laws. The Newfoundland Labrador has organization but no laws. And
the Quebec Labrador has laws but no observance of them.

However, Quebec has laws, which are something, legislators who have
made the laws, and leaders who have introduced them. The trouble is
that the public generally has no sense of responsibility in the matter
of enforcement. It still has a hazy idea that Nature has an
overflowing sanctuary of her own, somewhere or other, which will fill
up the gaps automatically. The result is that poaching is commonly
regarded as a venial offence, poachers taken red-handed are rarely
punished, and willing ears are always lent to the cry that rich
sportsmen are trying to take the bread out of the poor settler's
mouth. The poor settler does not reflect that he himself, and all
other classes alike, really have a common interest in the conservation
of any wild life that does not conflict with legitimate human
development. There is some just cause of complaint that the big-game
reserves are hampering the peasants in parts of India and the settlers
and natives in parts of Uganda. But no such complaint can be raised
against the Laurentide National Park, so wisely established by the
Quebec Government. The worst of it is that many of the richer people
set the example in law-breaking. The numbers of big game allowed are
exceeded, out-of-season shooting goes on, and both out-of-season