Furthermore, in addition to its responsibilities as a 

 forest-owner, the Federal Government, through its control 

 of all matters affecting Canada's external trade, is in a 

 position to regulate, to some extent, the rate at which our 

 forests in general are being consumed. It can do this 

 through the application of the tariff laws to exports of 

 timber if it so desires. There are thoughtful students of 

 economic conditions in Canada who believe that it would 

 be a wise and prudent course, and eventually a very bene- 

 ficial one, if an export duty were to be applied to all our 

 outgoing timber, particularly pulpwood. They argue 

 that such a tariff would help to preserve our forest resources, 

 stimulate the industries dependent upon them for existence 

 and enhance the value both of the wood and its products 

 in our foreign markets. 



The Eastern Provinces 



When it comes to the Eastern Provinces, more particu- 

 larly Ontario, Quebec and New Brunswick, a logical forest 

 policy would appear to be more easily definable. In these 

 provinces the Crown lands are controlled by the local 

 governments whether they are under license or not. These 

 provinces are in a position to adopt and apply whatever 

 progressive policies they please to their holdings. Some 

 of them have already made a good beginning. The foun- 

 dation of successful forestry, as of all successful enterprises, 

 is knowledge. What is needed in all of our provinces is 

 first of all, an accurate and complete survey of their forest 

 possessions. There is too much guesswork and too much 

 broad generalization at the present time, and no real pro- 

 gress can be expected until this vitally necessary work is, 

 accomplished. 



Next in line should come a strengthening of our forest 

 personnel. Canada, in comparison with Scandinavia, is 

 pitifully weak in this respect. Not so much in point of 

 quality, but in point of numbers. We have, without 

 question, some of the most capable foresters in the world, 

 men whose names carry authority in Europe as well as in 

 America, but their staffs are inadequately manned. They 

 are given insufficient support and are not permitted to 

 organize their work on the scale necessary to ensure the 

 best results. 



Co-related to the question of an adequate forest service 

 and perhaps preceding it in importance is that of forest 

 education. We haven't nearly enough nor capable enough 

 institutions for the training of forest engineers, rangers 

 and forest workers generally, and until we make it an 

 object for more of the right type of young men to adopt 

 forestry as a profession, we shall continue to lag behind 

 other countries. 



Given a knowledge of the fundamentals, an adequate 

 forest service and the proper means of training forest 

 workers, the other problems which confront us, such as fire 

 protection, the application of proper cutting restrictions and 

 the adoption of the best means for reforestation, would be 

 in a fair way of being solved. Rational cutting regulations, 

 upon which so much dependence is placed by the foresters 

 of Sweden and Norway, are a matter for provincial consid- 

 eration in each case. They certainly ought not to stop, 

 as they now do, at the mere fixing of an arbitrary diameter 

 limit for the felling of trees. They should take into account 

 other factors which go to make up the problem of how to 

 obtain a sustained yield from a given forest area. They 

 should be adopted only after joint consideration by the 

 authorities and by the licensees, and, once agreed upon, 

 they should be enforced with rigor and by the co-operative 

 effort of all. It is here that adequate forest service would 

 justify its cost. 



When it comes to the question of dealing with cut-over 

 woods and taking measures to ensure a regrowth, there is a 

 diversity of opinion even among experts as to the best 

 methods. It becomes, however, largely one of local con- 

 ditions, timber species, natural reactions, nature of soil, 

 etc. Artificial replanting may be advantageously applied 

 in some instances, while in others it may be unnecessary or 

 entirely impracticable, as in those cases where Nature can 

 be depended upon to do the work unaided. A properly 

 trained and adequately manned forest service should be 



able to deal with it, the adequacy of the service implying, 

 necessarily, the maintenance of nurseries, experimental 

 stations and other equipment on a reasonable scale. All 

 this, of course, would cost money. But it would be money 

 well invested and would give good returns. Instead of the 

 comparatively meagre provision they now make for forest 

 purposes, the province of Quebec, Ontario and New Bruns- 

 wick could well afford to set aside at least one-half of the 

 revenues they derive from the Crown lands for the purpose 

 of proper forest administration and development. In this 

 way they would not only go on increasing their revenues 

 from these sources indefinitely every year, but they would 

 be building for the future, creating new capital for the 

 State and contributing to the permanency of an industry 

 in which Canada has an opportunity of leading the world. 

 In respect to privately-owned forests, these observa- 

 tions are also nearly all applicable. There are private 

 forests in Scandinavia, particularly in Norway, which, as a 

 result of careful cultivation in years gone by and at present, 

 yield their owners a highly satisfactory income with all the 

 regularity of a coupon-bearing government bond and with- 

 out appreciable impairment of the original capital. Private 

 forests over there have been developed along the line of 

 securing a maximum annual yield from a given area with- 

 out diminishing the extent of the original stock and many 

 of the owners have achieved entire success. It costs money 

 to carry on the operations, of course, but in spite of the 

 heavy capital outlay the work is declared to be on an 

 economically sound basis. It is a fact, too, that in Scan- 

 dinavia the banking interests in extending credit are in- 

 clined to give more consideration to the forest possessions 

 back of an industrial plant and the way in which they are 

 being exploited than they are to the physical plant itself 

 or what may be the immediate demand for its products. 

 In other words, the Scandinavian forests have as great or 

 a greater potential credit value than buildings and plant, 

 which are looked upon in this country as more tangible 

 assets. 



Doing Progressive Work 



There are some Canadian companies, of course, that 

 have the right idea and are doing just as progressive work 

 as is being done abroad, although most of it is of more 

 recent origin. These are the companies which are carrying 

 on their own reforestation programmes, building up forest ' 

 reserves for the future and in as close proximity to their 

 industrial operations as it is possible to get them. It has 

 taken vision and much courage for these companies to 

 adopt and carry out such a policy in th; face of the prevail- 

 ing skepticism as to its economic soundness and of luke- 

 warmness on the part of the financial authorities. But I 

 am confident, from what I have seen abroad, that the future 

 will amply reward their enterprise. When those who, 

 having the opportunity, have made no provision for the 

 future, are faced with the necessity of going great distances 

 for their wood supplies and are obliged to pay famine prices 

 for them, these far-seeing companies I have mentioned 

 will be getting their wood at a cost and in such quantities 

 as will not only give them a tremendous advantage in the 

 competitive field but will yield them a handsome return 

 on what at present some regard as merely a severe drain 

 upon their resouces. 



Of course I am not suggesting that any company or 

 any individual can afford to restock the Crown limits. 

 That would be impractical and financially impossible. So 

 long as the Crown retains the title to the lands and the 

 power to dispose of them as it will, so long must the Crown 

 assure responsibility for the perpetuation of the forests on 

 them. This, however, does not bar co-operative effort on 

 the part of the Crown and the licensees to that end. 



Standardized Education 



It is true in Canada that East is East and 

 West is West, and that in a good many respects 

 an imaginary line divides the older and more 

 conservative Eastern Provinces from that newer 



sr 



