Henderson daily dispatch. (Henderson, N.C.) 1914-1995, 1940-05-07
Game Division Likely To
Be Center of Controversy
In Next General Assembly
Continued From Page Onel

lily almost all concerned, but there
were many die-hards who lefs
swearing to stop any future diver
sion by taking the game division
| out.
The Department officials who
think this likely say that control Of
| the funds derived from hunting and
fishing licenses would give Oppor-
tunity to set up pretty fair sort Of
political machine They point to the
| uncontroverted fact that more money
| is collected from these licenses than
is appropriated for all the other seven
or eight divisions of the Department
| combined.
It has been charged, by innuendo
if not directly, that the present Game
! Division head, John d. Chalk, APP
pears to be maneuvering with an eye
| to becoming head Of Il game setup
completely independent Of the De-
| partment.
| And so there seem quite sufficient
| grounds to look for an effort to take
the Game division away from the
| Conservation unit.
AS d sort of counter-stroke in re-
buttal to the alleged efforts to separ-
ate game and other units, there is a
suggestion that the 194l General As
sembly may eventually reach de-
cision that the best thing to do With
| the game and fish funds is to put
them directly into the general fund
and make appropriations for the
game division directly from these
general funds just as is done with
most state agencies.
The Conservation department isn't
| likely to recommend any such course
! Git is satisfied with the present setup
so long as the game division is one
of its subordinate units) and Of
course the division would be bitter
ly opposed, because it would there
by lose all the power conferred by
having money to diSburse and dis
pense.
The argument is that the pressure
on the legislators will be applied in
so many directions, that they will
eventually decide to take matti'S in
to their own hands and settle the dis
pute in summary fashion.
Veteran Raleigh news men have
told your reporter that is very much
what happened to the Department of
Agriculture in the matter of its funds.
There was q time when all moneys
for the Ag department were dis
bursed under its exclusive control
and jurisdiction; but year after year
there developed so many disputes
over what funds should be sacred
to what purposes and handled by
whom that the legislature eventually
got sick and tired of the mess and
put the whole thing under the budget
departments control - agricultural
money going into the general funds
and being disbursed under the same
conditions as other general funds.
So there will be that sort Of cross
current-the game division fighting
for more independence in the mat
ter of its finances, the Department
of Conservation and Development
unwilling to let the division get out
from under its wing.
Aside from this broad and rather
general controversy there now ap-
pears no more game legislation likely
to bob up except the perennial eff
forts of certain provincial-minded
legislators to break up the existing
statewide system of game control by
exempting their counties from pro-
visions of the act which do not meet
with complete approval in the local
tiles from which these law makers
come.
That happens every two years, but
Of late these attempts have been
beaten off without too much trouble.