108 EEPOET OP THE No. 3 



Against this total stands the fire tax collected from licensees. Geographically 

 the expenditure was approximately, thus : — 



Central Inspectorate 41 % 



Western Inspectorate 22 % 



Northern Inspectorate 21 % 



Southern Inspectorate 16 % 



100% 



(3) Fires. 



• The summer of 1919 was characterized by an unusually prolonged drought, 

 and the fire season was a bad one. The early part of May was wet, but after 

 that came three months which were abnormally dry. Under such conditions fires 

 became more numerous than usual, and also assumed much larger proportions. 

 This is seen in the number of fires reported for June, July and August — 414, 613, 

 and 377 fires respectively — as against 296, 141 and 193, the average for 1918 and 

 1917. 



The situation became serious first in the Clay Belt region. From the settlers' 

 point of view this season was more satisfactory than either 1918 or 1917 for land 

 clearing operations, because conditions were favourable to a " good burn." From 

 the nature of things the activity in land clearing increases as the weather, con- 

 ditions develop which render it more dangerous. Thus, almost as many permits 

 were issued in the first half of June as were granted during the whole of that 

 month last year. It must be kept in mind that the welfare of such new agri- 

 cultural settlements is bound up with land clearing by fire, and it is necessary 

 to adopt a considerable latitude of risk in order not to hamper pioneer farming 

 operations unduly. In an average year one counts on occasional showers which 

 help to extinguish the dying fires which are seldom absolutely out when the permit 

 expires. But this season it was otherwise. The situation developed rapidly, for 

 some 4,300 fires had been set out under permit, a large percentage of which had 

 not died out after the ordinary way. By June 21, existing permits had been 

 cancelled and the issuance of new ones stopped. No rain fell, however, till the 

 early part of August. The result was that old, clearing fires gradually enlarged 

 and met, and that sparks from these set fresh areas of slash on fire. Added to 

 these, of course, was a larger number than usual due to railways, campers, etc. 

 The situation was enlarged by certain persons taking advantage of the existing 

 confusion to defy the permit suspension order. In fact, the number of fires 

 reported from the Northern Inspectorate, despite the small area, reached almost 

 one-quarter of the number for the Province. The situation was aggressively faced 

 and fires fought vigorously everywhere. The long drought, however, made water 

 scarce in many regions, aiul even the peaty soil turned up in trenching around 

 fires at last became a case of merely adding more fuel. Considerable loss in build- 

 ings and crops occurred, but no loss of life. There is no doubt that the permit 

 system in enabling control of setting out fire averted a more serious result. 



The total area reported burned over in .the Northern division was 58,383 

 acres or 6.3 per cent, of the whole for the Province. Considerable of this acreage 

 had been previously l)urned in 1'916 and 1911. The largest fires were in th^ 

 Cochrane and Timmins ranger districts. Among the townships suffering most were 

 O'Brien, Shackleton, Calder, Leitch, Blount, Clute, Lamarche, Brower, Fox, New- 

 market, Dundonald, Matheson, Bristol, Ogden, Mountjoy and Tisdale. In the 



