16 



of Canada to Dr. Shepherd for his valuable services, which have been 

 rendered without remuneration, other than his travelling expenses, 

 and were rendered when his time was fully occupied with his work on 

 the Hospitals Commission. 



FORESTS 



At the present time we are expending more money upon the 

 investigation of our forests than upon any other resource. Bearing 

 in mind the important part that timber will play in the work of 

 reconstruction, it is peculiarly fitting that we plan to maintain and 

 to increase its economic importance. 



The importance of forests in the war is well known, 

 the^War^ but, only since the armistice, have we known that 



cutting in France had reached such a stage that 

 continuance of the war would have necessitated commencing opera- 

 tions in mountainous regions, heretofore considered inaccessible. In 

 Great Britain the end of the reserves of firs and pines, the trees in 

 greatest demand for military requirements, was in sight. To repair 

 the cutting during the war the British Government has appointed 

 an authority with power to make arrangements for developing 

 afforestation in the United Kingdom. This authority has power to 

 obtain seed, raise nursery stocks, train foresters, make surveys, and 

 initiate schemes of afforestation and replanting and to expend up 

 to $500,000 for these purposes. 



The operations of our Canadian Forestry corps in 

 Forestry Corps Great Britain and France are reported to have saved 



ocean tonnage sufficient to carry food for 15,000,000 

 people. In addition, these men will return to Canada with a new 

 viewpoint. The destruction of the forest by fire will no longer be 

 regarded as unimportant. They will return with a tremendously 

 increased realization of the importance of our forests. 



Statesmen and business men have repeatedly emphasized the 

 part that the further development of our natural resources must 

 play in reconstruction after the war. Any such programme must 

 take full account of the forest. Such increased development will 

 assist materially in providing against unemployment, through the 

 building up of new forest industries, in addition to the 5,000 wood- 

 using industries already in existence. It will be a large factor in 

 stabilizing economic conditions generally. 



^ ^ ^ A large export trade is particularly essential to 



Export Trade ., . , , , , , i i i 



in Timber v anada, to redress her unfavourable trade balance. 



In this direction, our forests hold a position of peculiar 



strategic importance, both actual and potential. In British Columbia, 



for example, it has been shown that the annual luml)er cut can be 



