re ad 3 \ist ing rates at five year intervals on the oasis of 

 tlie unearned increment accruing to the stuinpage with safe- 

 guards to the operator against increases in the cost of 

 production, against sudden drops in the market and for a 

 reasonable operating profit during the life of the operation. 

 T 7hile this liills off any chance of competition "between Govern- 

 ment sales and private stumpa.ge as a speculative investment, 

 it offers an entirely nev: clement of attractiveness to a 

 class of investors we want to reach - that is a reasonable 

 profit reasonably safeguarded during a term of years. 



The result hi,s been immediate. Three such con- 

 tracts have "been signed covering terms from ten to twenty- 

 two years and a total stuinpage of one billion, seventy million 

 feet. OT "better proof could be aslied of the confidence of 

 the careful investor in the business ability and integrity 

 of the lorest Service. 



T .7e made a real step ahead in protection efficiency. 

 For the season we had only 2 fires lesc then the highest 

 number on record - or 795. Only 3$* of these did any real 

 damage. 40^ is the lowest record for Class C r s we ever 

 reached before , - and best of all only 6550 acres of Govern- 

 ment timber land - Just a little over ten sections - were 

 burnec. over. The best we have over done before was 18,800 

 acres, about three times as much. This, it strikes me, is the 

 real vital test of our organisation. The protection on pri- 

 vate lands, on lands outside the Torect boundaries, and on 



