Ontario Should Reforest. 



[The article which follows comprises a 

 number of excerpts from 'Ontario's True 

 National Policy in Eegard to Black and 

 White Coal', a pamphlet by Mr. W. K. Mc- 

 Naught, M.P.P., now a member of the On- 

 tario Hydro-electric Commission. In re- 

 gard to his views on reforestation, as well 

 as his emphasizing of the importance of 

 Ontario's water-powers which depend so 

 largely on her forests for their equaliza- 

 tion and maintenance, the pamphlet is of 

 much interest to foresters. — Ed.] 



It has been often asserted by the 

 opponents of the Ontario Govern- 

 ment's hydro-electric power policy 

 that, while it might perhaps be all 

 right for the manufacturer, it would 

 be of little or no value to the ordin- 

 ary citizen. 



I need not do more than point out 

 that, although the manufacturer 

 may primarily be the greatest gain- 

 er by this enterprise, it will also 

 beneficially affect every citizen re- 

 siding in any of the districts where 

 cheap hydro-electric energy is sup- 

 plied. 



The Coal Situation in Ontario. 



The Province of Ontario is unfor- 

 tunate in respect of its fuel sup- 

 ply. Although it has an almost il- 

 limitable supply of pulpwood and 

 other valuable timber, it is entirely 

 without any coal of its own. True, 

 Canada has magnificent coal beds in 

 the Maritime Provinces, as also in 

 the Western Provinces, but these 

 are of little or no value to the Prov- 

 ince of Ontario, inasmuch as the 

 charges for transportation would 

 practically put it beyond the reach 

 of our citizens, except as a make- 

 shift during a fuel famine. Prac- 

 tically every pound of coal used in 

 this province comes from the Penn- 

 sylvania coal mines, and, unfortun- 

 ately, the corporations that own the 



coal also own the railways over 

 which it has to be transported. With 

 this double-headed monopoly it is 

 self-evident that the citizens of both 

 the United States and Canada have 

 to pay all that the traffic will bear. 



The Future Looks Dark. 



But bad as is the presnt condition 

 of affairs in regard to the coal sit- 

 uation, it might be, and indeed it 

 will surely be, very much worse, un- 

 less we become alive to the situa- 

 tion and conserve our natural fuel 

 resources. 



As I have already pointed out, al- 

 though we have an almost inex- 

 haustible supply of pulpwood and 

 other valuable commercial timber^ 

 our supply of hard wood has been 

 wasted to such am extent that it 

 cannot be counted on in the older 

 settled portions of the Province ex- 

 cept as a ^dernier ressorV during a 

 period of fuel shortage, so that, 

 after all is said, the citizens of On- 

 tario are really dependent for their 

 fuel upon a foreign country, and 

 the supply of this vital necessity 

 may be cut off at any time from any 

 one of a number of causes. 



The U. S. Need All Their Coal. 



That the people of the United 

 States are becoming thoroughly 

 alive to the coal situation, is evir 

 denced from their appointment of a 

 Conservation Commission, which is 

 now making exhaustive enquiry in- 

 to the natural resources of the Un- 

 ited States and how they can best be 

 dealt with for the benefit of their 

 own people. 



But, says some one, if even what 

 you say were true, there is little 

 danger of an exhaustion of the coal 

 supply of the United States for 

 thousands of years to come. 



In this, however, I am afraid that 



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