1907 DEPARTMENT OF LANDS, FORESTS AND MINES. 273 



easterly boundaries of the Townships of Darling and Bagot to the north- 

 easterly angle of the Township of Bagot; thence southwesterly along the 

 northerly boundaries of the Townships of Bagot and Blithfield, to the 

 easterly boundary of the Township of Brougham; thence northwesterly 

 along the easterly boundaries of the Townships of Brougham, Grattan, Wil- 

 berf orce and Alice, to the waters of the Upper Allumette Lake ; thence north- 

 westerly, following the water's edge of said lake and the Ottawa River to 

 the head of Lake Temiscamingue ; thence due north along the boundary, 

 between the Province of Ontario and Quebec to the northern boundary of 

 the Province of Ontario ; thence westerly along the said northern boundary 

 to its intersection with the production northerly of Provincial Land Sur- 

 veyor Albert P. Salter's meridian line between the said ranges numbers 

 twenty-one and twenty-two west, and thence southerly along said meridian 

 line produced to the place of beginning. 



District No. 2. — All that part of the said Province lying west of Pro- 

 vincial Land Surveyor Albert P. Salter's meridian line between ranges 

 twenty-one and twenty-two west, near Bruce Mines, in the District of 

 Algoma, and west of the said meridian line produced to the northern 

 boundary of the Province, the said meridian line being the western boundary 

 of the Fire District established by the Proclamation of March 27th, 1878. 



It will be observed that this Act applies only to settled districts and 

 portions of the Province under process of settlement, while no provision 

 was made for protection of timber limits not under municipal government, 

 where the losses from fire were frequent and heavy, particularly after lum- 

 bering operations and the consequent inflammable debris covering the forest 

 floor. 



Fire Ranging System Proposed. 



In 1884 the great loss from fire becoming increasingly apparent, Mr. 

 Aubrey White, then chief clerk of the Woods and Forests Branch of the 

 Crown Lands Department, addressed the following memorandum to the Com- 

 missioner of Crown Lands. 



Toronto, March 30th, 1885 



Sir, — I take the liberty of drawing your attention to the great destruc- 

 tion of the timber wealth of this Province, which is caused mainly by the 

 careless setting out of fire at dangerous points in the forest during the heat 

 01 summer by settlers, lumbermen, hunters, explorers and others, which, 

 though of apparently small amount when started, have often become vast 

 conflagrations, laying waste miles of the forest, and destrojang untold mil- 

 lions worth of public property. 



I am well aware that this matter has for some time been a cause of 

 much anxious consideration to you, and it is not to dwell upon the necessity 

 for taking some action — as that is universally admitted — that I now address 

 you, but to submit for your consideration a plan or system under which 

 much may be done to prevent such numerous and extensive fires as we have 

 "witnessed in the past, by exercising some supervision over the public domain, 

 whereby, as far as possible, the starting of fires — ^except in cases of neces- 

 sity — may be prevented, and fires which are assuming dangerous propor- 

 tions may be controlled or extinguished, and generally taking such action 

 as will, with a reasonable expenditure of money, reduce to a minimum the 

 loss of timber by bush fires. 



The period of the year during which this supervision would be required 

 —which may be called the dangerous period— is included between the 1st 

 day of Mav and the Ist day of October, as between these dates the bu^h, as 

 -i rule, is dry and inflammable, and fire runs with great celerity — while dur- 



