THE CANADIAN DEPARTMENT 



149 



before the Society of Canadian Forest 

 Engineers on Organizing a Provincial 

 Forestry Service. 



The Canadian Forestry Association 

 will hold its Annual Meeting in Ottawa 

 on the 19th and 20th of January, as 

 will also the Society of Canadian 

 Forest Engineers. These two Socie- 

 ties usually meet in February but the 

 meetings will be held as above so as to 

 coincide with that of the Dominion 

 Consen'ation Commission. 



Mr. F. McVickar, of the Canadian 

 Society of Forest Engineers, is serving 

 in the British Army with the First 

 Canadian Contingent. 



Mr. Stetson, of the West Virginia Pulp 

 and Paper Company while on a visit to 

 Montreal last week, said that his 

 company now had a plant in operation 

 for making denatured ethyl alcohol 

 from sulphite waste liquor and that it 

 was a profitable commercial enterprise. 

 His company controls the patents for 

 the United States. 



The Ltimbermen and Members of the 

 wood working industries in the neighbor- 

 hood of Ottawa have formed a Safety 

 Association to prevent accidents to 

 their employees and will incorporate 

 under the Ontario Companies Act. 

 This is in accordance with the privileges 

 granted by the Ontario Workman's 

 Compensation Act. 



Sir Thomas Shinner, Governor of the 

 Hudson's Bay Company and a Director 

 of the Canadian Pacific Railway, has 

 become a Director of the Laurentide 

 Company, Ltd. 



The Forestry Department of the 

 Canadian Pacific Railway which has 

 been in charge of Eastern Lines, i. e., 

 from Lake Superior to the Atlantic 

 Coast, has been transferred from the 



Department of Natural Resources to 

 that of Operating and under the General 

 Manager, Mr. A. D. MacTier, has done 

 splendid work toward eliminating fires 

 along the right of way. The Forestry 

 work is in charge of Mr. B. W. Winegar 

 and is being conducted along liberal 

 and broad-minded lines. Damage 

 claims have been very niunerous in the 

 past and an effort will be made this 

 coming season to eliminate them en- 

 tirely. The C. P. R. has become a 

 member of the Kennebec Valley Fire 

 Protective Association in Maine. Their 

 claims for the past year totaled $600,000 

 and caused a great deal of trouble. The 

 following work is being done. All 

 section men must fight fires and all 

 train crews must report fires discovered 

 at the first station. During dangerous 

 times and along dangerous stretches 

 extra patrolmen are used. Help is 

 given to adjacent owners on the right- 

 of-way in extinguishing fires. The Rail- 

 way Commission's Fire Service is co- 

 operated with and also all Provincial 

 Agencies. After fires are extinguished, 

 crews of trained men are sent to assess 

 the damages, which are ascertained by 

 strip surveys, growth studies, careful 

 maps of the areas and so forth. They 

 then offer to settle on the basis of actual 

 damage. In this way a great deal of 

 money is saved and fraudulent claims 

 are eliminated. 



As showing what can be done along 

 these lines, the celebrated "Carter 

 Case" may be cited. This was a 

 claim for damage said to have been 

 caused by a fire originating on the 

 C. P. R. right-of-way, the amount asked 

 being $358,000. In the investigation 

 of this claim twenty-two men were 

 engaged for eight months and the area 

 burned was most carefully gone over 

 with the result that the damage was 

 determined to have been $2,500 and on 

 this amount the Company settled. One 

 of the investigating party, Mr. Porter 

 Shaw, was unfortunately drowned. 



