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Show DESTRUCTION OF FISH AND GAME. We publish below the new territorial law relating to fish and game. There are many violations of this act in our county, and those who are interested will do well to read carefully and remember. The association whose aim is to enforce the provisions of this statute, give notice that hereafter, those violating the law must suffer the penalties prescribed. City authorities will do well to instruct their water-masters to comply strictly with its provisions. There must be a change in the conduct of our people on this subject and if legal proceedings and force are necessary, they will be applied. A peaceable adjustment of the difficulty would be better, and the easiest way to keep out of trouble is to avoid it. The society is not jesting, and those who suffer hereafter must bear the blame upon their own shoulders: Section 1.-Be it enacted by the Governor and Legislative Assembly of the Territory of Utah. That every person who, between the 15th day of March and the 15th day of August in each year wilfully takes, kills destroys, or offers for sale, quail partridges or grouse, or who, between the 15th day of April and the 15th day of August in each year, wilfully takes, kills destroys or offers for sale, any kind of wild ducks, or who robs the nests of any such birds, or who kills any beaver or otetr [otter], between the first day of April and the first day of November, in each year, or who sells or offers for sale the skins of said animals that have been killed within the above prohibited time, or who shall kill any imported quail or other imported birds or their progeny, for five years next ensuing the passage of this act, shall be deemed guilty of a misdemeanor. Section 2.-Every person who, between the 1st day of December and the 1st day of August following, takes, kills or destroys any elk, deer, mountain sheep or antelope, or who shall, at any time, take, kill or destroy any elk, deer, mountain sheep or antelope for their skins, shall be deemed guilty of a misdemeanor. Section 3.-Every person who buys, sells, or has in his possession any of the game enumerated in the two preceding sections within the time the taking thereof is prohibited, except such as are tamed or kept for show or curiosity, is guilty of a misdemeanor. Section 4.-Every person who at any time takes or catches any fish, except with a hook and line, and with seine, except as provided for in the following section shall be deemed guilty of a misdemeanor. Section 5.-Every person who takes, catches, or kills fish by the use of seines, gill or dip nets, baskets, traps, set-lines or any device whatever except as provided in this act, shall be deemed guilty of a misdemeanor; Provided, That seines not more than 200 yards long and twelve feet wide, with meshes not less than two inches square for fifty yards in the centre, and meshes not less than two and one-half inches square in the wings or ends thereof, may be used in Green River, Bear and Utah Lakes only, between the first day of September and the 15th day of March following, and that the use of minnow nets shall not be considered within the meaning of this section. Section 6.-Every person who puts into the waters of this Territory any poisonous or explosive substance, or anything that is injurious to fish, or that renders the water unfit for household purposes, is guilty of a misdemeanor. Section 7.-Indians taking fish or game for their own subsistence, are exempt from the penalties prescribed in this chapter. Section 8.-Every person who at any time within the next four years, shall take from any of the waters of this Territory any shad, salmon, black bass, white fish, silver eel or any other fish which has been or may be imported, or their progeny, or any oysters from any private oyster bed, without the consent of their owner, is guilty of a misdemeanor and shall be fined in any sum not exceeding four dollars for each fish or oyster so taken. Section 9.-Every person who shall construct or continue to keep any dam across any of the streams of water of this territory in which fish migrate, in in such a manner as to hinder or obstruct the migration of fish to or from their spawning grounds, without providing a fish-way and keeping it in repair as provided in the following section as guilty of a misdemeanor. Section 10.-The fish-way for the passage of fish in large streams of water in the preceding section must be made of plank, or other material equivalent thereto, in the form of a box, open at each end not less than four feet wide and three feet high and it must be fastened at the top of the dam and the other end must extend to and be fastened in the pool below the dam at an angle no exceeding thirty-five degrees. Inside this box, fastened at the bottom and at one end to the side of the box, there must be pieces of plank four feet apart, placed transversely so as to cause a ?? of not less than ten inches high. These pieces of plank must be thirty inches long, and so fastened, as to be at right angles with the sides of the box alternately fastened one at one side, the other at the other side of the box. Whenever the stream is small, the County court of the county in which the dam is, or is to be constructed, may permit the box to be made of less dimensions, the court taking good care to have suitable passage. Section 11.-The County Courts of the respective counties of this Territory shall, at the December term of each year, appoint a fish and game commissioner, whose term of office shall be for one year, and whose duty it shall be to see to the enforcement of the laws for the protection of fish and game, and one-half of all fines collected for the violation of said laws shall be paid to the informant, the other half shall be paid into the county treasury; and the said commissioner shall make an annual report to the County Court on or before the 31st day of December of each year. Section 12.-That any person, corporation or association, who has taken or may hereafter take out the waters of any stream or lake in this territory that contains fish, shall be required to place across the head of such canal or ditch a grating of horizontal bars not more than one inch apart sufficiently secured on the sides, top and bottom to prevent fish from escaping into said canal or ditch around said grating. Approved March 9th, 1882. Eli H. Murray Governor of the Territory. Utah Territory, Secretary's Office, SS. I, Arthur L. Thomas, Secretary of the Territory of Utah, do hereby certify that the above and foregoing is a true and correct copy of an act entitled "An Act for the Preservation of Fish and Game." Approved March 9th, 1882. SEAL Attest my hand and the Great Seal of this Territory, this 28th day of March, 1882. Arthur L. Thomas, Secretary. Section 17.-Except in cases where a different punishment is prescribed by this code, every offense declared to be a misdemeanor is punishable by imprisonment in a county jail not exceeding six months, or by fine not exceeding three hundred dollars, or by both. The Society desire to call the attention of those running saw-mills and ore reducing works to the fact that by a recent enactment of the Legislature, the permitting of sawdust and the washings from such works to go into the waters of this Territory is a misdemeanor, and the society intend to prosecute in all such cases. All persons are earnestly invited to give to the officers of the Utah Fish and Game Protective Society any information which will lead to convict any one of breaking any of the provisions of this law. The Salt Lake Herald of to-day contains the following article, relating to "the situation in Utah: "The people of Utah have feared just what the United States Senate has done and what it is more than probable the House of Representatives will concur in. Reference is made to the conferring upon the Governor of the Territory power to fill by appointment offices that became vacant by reason of the lapse of the election. This is just what a certain few have been playing for, and they believe that through this power they can soonest get control of the Territory. Fortunately there are not many of the really important offices that were to be filled at the election on Monday, so that if his excellency should receive the appointing power, and it should be decided that failure to elect a successor brings the term of office to an end, though the commission runs "until the successor is elected and qualified," the Governor will not capture much of Utah this year. It is hoped that before the date for the next registration the commission will find time to come to Utah and prepare for the election. Meantime, should Mr. Hoar's proposition become law, the people of Utah ought to unite as one and petition for the removal of the present Governor, and the appointment of a man who will be fair in the performance of the important duty of appointing men to office. The Governor's rank prejudice and extraordinary fanaticism make him a very dangerous person to be entrusted with so much power." |