540 Forestry Quarterly 



should make some effort to keep down the timber damage resulting 

 from settlers' clearing fires. 



When it is considered that the limit holders' mutual associations 

 in Quebec Province have built up efficient systems of forest pro- 

 tection at a cost of about one third of a cent per acre for fire pro- 

 tection, an efficient system in Ontario would involve little, if any, 

 additional cost. A third of a cent an acre for protection makes a 

 very minute showing beside a magnificent pine forest reduced to 

 charcoal for lack of decent care. It has been estimated that forest 

 fires in Canada destroy more wealth than would pay the annual 

 interest on the last Dominion loan of 100 million dollars. 



This summer's forest fires in northern Ontario reported to have 

 been started by settlers' fires, which, as noted above, were terribly 

 destructive of life and property, in some cases wiping out whole 

 towns, should arouse the Provincial Government to their responsi- 

 bility in the matter of prevention of fires. We hope the Ontario 

 Boards of Trade and many other organizations also will seize this 

 opportimity to press home the urgent need of reform in the existing 

 legislation and its enforcement. 



During the last session of the Quebec legislature several amend- 

 ments were made to the fire act, calculated to add materially to its 

 strength and efficiency. 



One of these provisions requires that settlers engaged in clearing 

 operations must, between April 1 and November 15 of each year, 

 secure a burning permit from an authorized forest officer before 

 setting out clearing fires. A similar provision is urgently needed 

 in northern Ontario, where there is practically no control oj settlers' 

 clearing operations. 



Another amendment to the Quebec act provides that the debris 

 from settlers' clearing operations must, before burning, be piled in 

 heaps or rows at a distance of at least fifty feet from the forest. 



Holders of timber licenses on Crown lands are required to clear 

 away the debris on a depth of one hundred feet from railway rights 

 of way. This is an excellent provision, but should be made 

 applicable to privately owned lands as well. In many cases, the 

 efforts of railway companies in the direction of fire protection are 

 largely neutralized through the presence of large quantities of the 

 most inflammable debris on lands immediately adjacent to railway 

 rights of way. 



