INFORMATION RELATING TO INSURANCE AND THRIFT 2/ 



tliey do break out. A more important and a really preventive measure 

 is to curtail the quantity of dry material on the forest floor, thus reducing 

 the danger of fire, and so diminishing the heat of such fires as do occur that 

 they cause less injury to the trees and soil. 



The lumbering " slash " makes such a hot fire as to render the outlook 

 for the next tree crop very poor. The tree seedlings and the uncut trees 

 are generally destroyed or very nmch damaged. A most important part 

 of forestry is to dispose of this " slash " as soon as possible after the lumber- 

 ing work is done. In tliis the lumber companies have been urged to co-op- 

 erate with the forest serv-ice. 



Many destructive fires have been caused by the careless methods of 

 settlers who burn the " slash " they produce while clearing land. The ad- 

 vice now give to them by fire rangers and the permit system have reduced 

 this danger. 



The protective work done by the railway companies, under regula- 

 tions issued by the Board of Railway Commissions, as to clearing rights of 

 way, constructing fire guards, patrolling the fine during the dry season, 

 etc., has been effective. This legislation requires the railway'- companies to 

 extinguish fires within 300 feet of the railway unless they can show that they 

 did not cause the fire. The principle is that the railway companies must 

 protect the public against damage by railwaj^ fires. 



The Ontario legislature has passed a law to preserve the forests of the 

 province against destruction by fire. It provides for the creation of fire 

 districts, and for a close season within which fires shall not be made in the 

 districts except under permit and under the^close supervision of anoflicial. 

 It also pro\ddes for the appointment of a provincial forester. 



Under the bill the northern country is to be divided into three fire 

 areas or districts and a supervisor appointed to have charge of each of these. 

 A fire chief and fire rangers are to be under him. 



A new departure has been made by the Land, Forest and IVIines Depart- 

 ment in entirely undertaking forest protection. It will be responsible for 

 the execution of the Act, and make a charge on the licensees and holders 

 of permits as a contribution towards the protection of their interests. 



The new Act is expected to prevent such disastrous fires as those of 

 1910, 1911 and 1916, in which many fives were sacrificed and many square 

 miles of timber razed. 



In Saskatchewan the sixth session of the third legislature modified an 

 earlier law on fires within the prairie zone, adding to it provision for forests 

 in accordance with the recommendations of the Canadian Forestry Associa- 

 tion. 



As regards burning the waste remaining after forest land has been cleared 

 whether for the purpose a of railway, a private road, a telegraph or a tele- 

 phone line, or of cultivation, the law dictates certain precautions. If waste 

 cannot be destroyed at once its destruction must take place between 

 the following 15 November and i April. Between i April and 15 

 November there can be no such burning, without a written permit from the 

 forest guard, within a radius of six miles of a Dominion forest reserve, nor 



