xchange for their fish and fur. But they do not enjoy even
the elementary right of protection from depredation committed by men who
have no claim on Canada at all. Let me add that by this I do not mean
for one moment to abuse my friends the Newfoundlanders. A kindlier
people I have never met. Nor do I mean to abuse the Americans and Nova
Scotians who sometimes slink inside the three-mile limit. But I do mean
to draw attention to the regrettable fact that the absence of all
wild-life conservation is becoming ruinous to everyone concerned--even
to the exterminating Newfoundlanders, who are now making our shores as
bleak a desert as they have made their own.

Of course the Canadian Labrador should help itself. Let it form a
"Neighbourhood Improvement Association" under the Commission. There are
good leaders in Dr Hare, the head of the medical mission; in the three
religious missions--Anglican, Presbyterian and Roman Catholic; and among
the principal fishermen, who are mostly Anglo- but partly
French-Canadian. What the coast needs is not coddling and charity but
conservation and protection against depredators from outside. The best
way to begin is to protect the seabirds. And the best body to do this is
the Commission of Conservation. The Province of Quebec has just put the
finishing touch to a great work by establishing an animal sanctuary in
the heart of the Laurentides National Park. It is also doing good work
by making the game laws more effective elsewhere. But, being dependently
human, it can hardly pass over the whole North Shore of voters in order
to give special protection to the little, voteless No-Man's-Land of the
Canadian Labrador; though immediate special protection is a very vital
concern to that most neglected part of Canada. The Dominion stops short
by water as decidedly as the Province does by land. So an ideal place is
left defenceless between the two, as if expressly made for the
Commission to conserve.

I know that the Commission cannot undertake any executive work of a
permanent character. But it can undertake an experimental investigation
for a term of years. And, here again, the Canadian Labrador offers a
perfect field. For if only five years' effective conservation is
extended to the bird life of that coast the whole situation will be
saved. I do not presume to lay down the law on the subject. But I would
venture to suggest that some such plan as the following would probably
be found quite effectiv