REVIEWS 639 



The mining engineer of the Commission was detailed as adviser 

 to the War Purchasing Commission and to other committees having 

 under consideration increased mineral production to supply the needs 

 of the Empire, and in devising new processes of manufacture, several 

 bulletins on coal, nickel, and copper being the result, as well as the 

 installation of additional by-products coke ovens. 



In the branch having fish, game, and fur-bearing animals under 

 consideration, an investigation has disclosed the fact that large opera- 

 tions are being organized in the way of exploiting the fur trade of the 

 Northwest, which threaten the extermination of fur-bearing animals. 

 As a result of this finding, the appointment of an advisory board on 

 wild life protection by the Dominion Government has since then been 

 secured, to devise means of checking such an issue. 



The fisheries committee finds that some of the most valuable fish- 

 eries are in danger of extinction, a matter of serious import. Experi- 

 ments in the possible utilization of the waste of the fishing industry, 

 conducted through the committee, are promising practical results. 



An exhaustive report on the fire waste in Canada was prepared, 

 which reveals the fact that the Dominion has the greatest per capita 

 fire loss of any country in the world of which statistics are available, 

 and the loss is increasing. While from 1890 to 191J: the population 

 increased 67 per cent, the fire loss increased 290 per cent. In the latter 

 year the losses amounted to $21,500, 000, while for fire protection and 

 extinction $15,000,000 were spent. This loss is not due to lack of ap- 

 paratus, but to lack of building regulations or control. 



Still another direction in which the Commission is active through 

 a special agent is in town planning and in improvement of housing 

 conditions. This movement is stimulated by lectures, by organizing 

 civic improvement leagues, by securing the inauguration of town plan- 

 ning acts, and by actually furnishing plans. 



It will have appeared from this recital that the activities of the 

 Commission are indeed varied. The Commission is, however, only an 

 educational institution without executive function, and if any improve- 

 ment is to be inaugurated only its powers of persuasion with adminis- 

 trative authorities can bring it about. The real conservation of re- 

 sources under such circumstances is only slowly progressing and de- 

 pends largely on the activity of its influential chairman, who, unfortu- 

 nately, since the outbreak of the war has been domiciled in Great 

 Britain. 



B. E. F. 



