92 



Canadian Forestry Journal 



Removal, Thinning', etc., of Trees. 



Removal of Trees — The council of 

 a county, city, tOAvnship, town or 

 village may pass a by-law for caus- 

 ing a tree to be removed, if neces- 

 sary, but (a) it must give the owner 

 ten days notice and recompense him 

 for planting and protecting the tree 

 and (b) any such tree may not be 

 removed, even by the owner, without 

 the permission of the municipal 

 council. (Municipal Act, section 574, 

 sub-section 2). 



' The municipal corporation shall 

 not be liable to compensate the 

 owner of property in front of which 

 trees stand for their removal further 

 than provided for in the Municipal 

 Act, section 574, sub-section 2 (i. e., 

 for his planting and care of them), 

 provided the cutting and trimming 

 is done under by-law. (INIunicipal 

 Act, section 575.) 



City, town and village councils 

 may pass a by-law authorizing the 

 board of park management, park 

 commissioner or other officer or 

 three park directors to remove all 

 decayed trees and remove and trans- 

 plant trees and shrubs, after, giving 

 forty-eight hours' notice to the 

 owner, and shall not be liable to the 

 owner; but no live tree, unless 

 within thirty * feet of other trees 

 may be removed without the con- 

 sent of the owner of the property 

 in front of which the tree stands. 

 . (Municipal Act, section 574, sub-sec- 

 tion 5.) 



[There is another inconsistency 

 here. The following opinion as to 

 the point was received from the 

 Attorney-General of the province in 

 the letter referred to in the preced- 

 ing note : 



'As to the removal of trees, I think 

 the ten days notice would be con- 

 fined since 1903 to the case of a 

 township, as section 574, paragraph 

 4 gives power to cities, towns and 

 villages to authorize their officers to 

 move and cut down trees on forty- 



* Amended from 'twenty' by 6 Ed. VI, 

 cap. 34, sec. 22. 



eight hours notice. If you trace 

 the legislation back you will see 

 how the present condition has been 

 brought about. Paragraph 4 of sec- 

 tion 574 was originally confined to 

 cities over 40.000; paragraph 5 of 

 section 574 as enacted by 61 Vict., 

 cap. 23, sec. 19, was confined to a 

 city of over 100,000 inhabitants. In 

 the revision of 1903 the provisions 

 of both these paragraphs were ex- 

 tended to all cities, towns and vil- 

 lages with the effect above pointed 

 out'.] 



Trimming Trees — City, town and 

 village councils may pass a by-law 

 authorizing the board of park man- 

 agement, park commissioner or other 

 officer appointed, or three park di- 

 rectors to trim trees in parks, or 

 whose branches extend over streets, 

 and are not to be liable for injury 

 to the trees if reasonable care has 

 been exercised in the trimming. 

 (Municipal Act, section 574, sub-sec- 

 tion 4.) 



The trimming of trees and shrub- 

 bery along the highway may be pro- 

 vided for by special rate under the 

 local improvement system. (Local 

 Improvement Sections of the^ Muni- 

 cipal Act. New.^ Sec. 3h.) 



In cities where a board of park 

 management has been constituted, 

 the powers of the city council with 

 reference to the cutting down, re- 

 moving, transplanting and trimming 

 stret and park trees may be, by by- 

 law of the council, delegated to the 

 board of park management. (Muni- 

 cipal Act, sec. 74, sub-section 3.) 



Penalties for destroying or injuring 

 Trees. 



Any person destroying or injuring 

 (even tieing a horse to) a street tree 

 is liable to a fine not to exceed 

 twenty-five dollars ($25) and costs 

 or imprisonment for not more than 

 thirty days, half of the fine to go 

 to the informant. (Ontario Tree 

 Planting Act, section 6.) 



5 1 Geo. Y, chapter .58. 



