CANADIAN FORESTRY ASSOCIATION. 13 



lands in Ontario than this, because it not only raises the question of the protection 

 of timber on Crown lands, but the more difficult one of the relations between the 

 timber licensees and the settlers. 



In the old days the only timber that had any great value to the licensees was the 

 pine, and as we kept settlers out of the pine territory the lumbermen were fairly well 

 satisfied. Now, however, the position is changed. Almost every tree that grows in 

 our forests has taken on a value, and consequently the settler is anxious to get hold 

 of a lot from which he may realize $300, $400 or $500 for the timber, to assist him in 

 making a start on his farm. If settlers were always bona fide in their intentions it 

 would not be so bad, but in many cases the desire appears to be to get hold of the 

 timber and dispose of it without any intention of making a permanent home. While 

 we have been exercising great care in connection with this aspect of affairs, we have 

 not been able to completely satisfy either the settlers or the lumbermen, and I suppose 

 it would be considered by some that this is an evidence that we have been doing what 

 is pretty nearly right. 



It seems to me that there ought to be some attempt made to draw- a line between 

 where the lands are unsuitable for settlement and it is impossible to carry on success- 

 ful farming, or build up a farming district, and the lands that are suitable for farm- 

 ing purposes, and to say, and stand firmly there, that we will not allow settlers to 

 go on lands that are not suitable for agricultural purposes. It is a mistaken kindness 

 to allow settlers to go into a country where they cannot hope to succeed as farmers, 

 but can only eke out a living for a few years by selling the timber, after which they 

 remove to some place else, leaving the debris on the ground behind them. I think it 

 would be a proper thing for this association to pass a resolution upon this matter, so 

 as to again bring it to the attention of the governments, that the question might be 

 considered by them. 



Then I wish to say something about the danger to the forests incident to railway 

 construction. This matter was referred to in the report of the board of directors, 

 and properly so, because we are about to build another transcontinental railway, which 

 will run through the forest for a long distance in the provinces of Ontario and Quebec. 

 We in Ontario have been building a railway from Lake Nipissing to Lake Temis- 

 caming, which is intended to be extended farther north until it joins the Grand Trunk 

 Pacific. The Canadian Pacific Company has been building a branch line from a 

 point near Sudbury down south through the Crown lands of Ontario to Byng Inlet. 

 In order to secure supervision and protection where railway construction is going on, 

 we have required, in Ontario, that any railway company building a line, as soon as 

 they commence the work of construction, must put on fire rangers, and we, that is the 

 Crown Lands Department, are to say how many rangers are to be put on and appoint 

 or remove them if they are not doing their work properly, but the railway company 

 has to pay their time and expenses. The Canadian Pacific Railway cheerfully 

 acceded to tibeae regulations, and we 'have had men upon their line of construction 

 during the past year, whose services were paid for by the railway. When the Grand 

 Trunk Pacific commences to be built, so far as it runs through the province of 

 Ontario, and I think from the policy of the Dominion government, in other parts of 

 Canada, an efficient system of fire-ranging will be put in force along that line, so that 



