1908 DEPARTMENT OF LANDS, FORESTS' AND MINES xi. 



fire ranger appointed over each, whose duty it was to visit every fire ranger 

 as often as possible for the purpose of seeing that he was performing his 

 duty effectively and not engaged in any other work except fire ranging. 

 The Department is always pleased to receive suggestions as to the improve- 

 ment of this service, and to give consideration to whatever appears desirable 

 for that purpose. The only recent suggestions of any importance have been 

 tliat the ilumber of men should be increased, and that their pay should be 

 added to. The Department considers that the territory is pretty well guarded 

 now, except perhaps in a few dangerous localities, as to which special action 

 can be taken, and as to the increased remuneration, the Department feels that 

 it should be undertaken by the parties receiving the largest proportion of 

 benefit from the service, that is the timber licensees. 



Later on, when settlement had extended further back and railway con- 

 struction had assumed larger proportions and the discoveries of minerals 

 had sent an army of prospectors into the forest, it became expedient to. 

 appoint fire rangers on the unsold territory of the Crown. The railways we 

 found were the cause of great losses of timber by fire. In some instances, 

 the survey parties were careless and allowed fires to remain unextinguished 

 when moving, which spread and did serious damage. Then the disregard 

 of the Fire Act as to the proper appliance to be fixed to locomotives created 

 an additional danger. The Department tried the experiment of putting 

 rangers along a line of railway, which was under construction through a 

 densely timbered region, and became satisfied by that experiment that fires 

 need not occur in railway construction if proper care was exercised. So 

 legislation was obtained w^liich enabled the Department to put rangers .along 

 lines of railway through the back country wherever it deemed the same were 

 necessary, and to make the railway company pay the cost of the protection. 

 Even in districts where construction was completed and the railway was 

 runniu"- through a densely timbered region, the Department took the pre- 

 caution of placing rangers, supplying them with railway velocipedes so that 

 they could follow the trains from one section to another and so on, so that 

 if, a fire started from sparks or the dropping of coals by the locomotive, it 

 might be put out before it assumed large proportions. 



Of course, forest fires have occurred in spite of all the care and efforts 

 we have made to prevent them. It is impossible to watch every one. of the 

 thousands of people who are wandering through, the forest during the dry 

 period, many of them reckless and careless as to the danger of leaving fires 

 burning when they move camp, etc., etc. The ideal state would be to 

 keep every body out of the forest, allowing no burning by settlers for clear- 

 ing land during the summer months, etc., and that is what some people 

 think should be done. Practically, this cannot be done; in the very nature 

 of things, it would stop the clearing up of the lands for farming, create bad 

 feeling and lead to the setting out of fires with malice, which can be easily 

 done without discovery in an immense forest area. The ideal state being 

 unattainable, practical efforts have been made to improve the situation, and 

 the belief of the Department is that a sound public opinion has been created 

 upon this question among the denizens of the forests, that consequentlv 

 forest fires are neither so frequent nor so disastrous as they used to be, and 

 that the situation is yearly improving. As before said, the system has never 

 been regarded as perfect, and we are consequently frequently inquiring of 

 those experienced in such matters as to suggestions whereby the system can 

 be made more effective. Last year we had some serious fires, but no great 

 losses took place; where the timber was damaged we were able to offer it for 

 sale before it became a loss. The report? we have received from timber 



