Report of Committee on Forest Fires. 579 



the North-West Mounted Police are ex-officio fire guardians. The 

 details of the organization are, however, left obscure as well as 

 the question of liability for damage or cost of fire fighting. 



British Columbia. The law makes the declaration of fire dis- 

 tricts a matter for an order in council. It makes it the duty of 

 various officials to prosecute contraventions, besides that of a 

 special officer or chief fire warden under the Chief Commissioner 

 of Lands. Such an officer may be appointed and rules and regu- 

 lations made by the Lieutenant Governor in Council. Divisional 

 and district or assistant fire wardens, and the cost of fire fighting 

 are also paid by the Province, although not mentioned in the Act. 



For the Dominion, with the exception of the Railway Act, 

 which prescribes requirements for preventive measures to be 

 adopted, the protection of forest reserves and other timber lands 

 is a matter of executive administration purely, and otherwise the 

 laws of the province prevail. 



All the laws have more or less specific regulations for preven- 

 tion of fire from locomotives, but as it is doubtful how far such 

 provincial laws apply to transcontinental or interprovincial rail- 

 ways, their effects cannot reach far. 



In almost all the provinces the setting of fires is permitted 

 under the futile injunction of caution ; only in Nova Scotia, Man- 

 itoba, and British Columbia does the requirements exist of a 

 permit from proper authority, at least for clearing fires. 



In the five provinces (Nova Scotia, New Brunswick, Manitoba, 

 Alberta and Saskatchewan) the fire guardians can call out any 

 able-bodied citizen for assistance. 



The principle of placing the burden of disproof as to responsi- 

 bility for a fire upon the accused is adopted, at least in part, in 

 Nova Scotia, New Brunswick, British Columbia, Alberta and 

 Saskatchewan. 



B. Generalities. 



1. It is evident from the experience of the past that legislation 

 is ineffective unless a thorough organization for the carrying out 

 of the law exists. Moreover, it should be realized that no half- 

 hearted or partial measures but only a supreme effort which in- 

 cludes a change of attitude on the part of the people at large will 

 ever stop the fire evil. Hence, besides legislation and enforcement 

 of law, special means for popular education are needed. 



2. It must be realized that the same methods which are efficient 

 in one section are not necessarily applicable and efficient in other 

 sections with different conditions. Hence, a general forest fire 

 law with details cannot be formulated. The excellent results of 

 the forest fire service of Nova Scotia are possible only because 

 the country is settled in all parts and the woodlands mostly in 

 possession of small resident owners, who have a personal inter- 

 est in their protection. In unsettled parts of the country, in the 



