THE CANADIAN DEPARTMENT 



By Eivwooo WILSON 



Mr. R. H. Campbell, Director of the great difficulty. In the territory cov- 



Dominion Forest Service, has gone ered by the St. Maurice Forest Pro- 



abroad for a trip and will visit the dif- tective Association there were more 



ferent European countries, making a tires than during the previous season, 



study of administrative questions and but all but two were extinguished by 



forestry methods. the rangers. Settler's fires, which have 



usually been nearly half of the total 



Mr. G. C. Piche, head of the Quebec number, were reduced by over fifty per 



Forest School, is on his annual field cent, owing to the action taken by the 



trip with the students. The place Government in conjunction with the 



chosen this year is Mr. Piche's own Protective Association last season, 



estate of about 1,500 acres at Burrill's namely, warning the settlers at the be- 



siding, about thirty miles north of ginning of the season and then arrest- 



Three Rivers. ing promptly and fining all offenders 



against the regulations. This spring the 



The reorganization of the Fire Pro- settlers and their parish priests are join- 



tection work of the Canadian Pacific m S the Association in a petition to the 



Railway by which this work will be Government to make a law forbidding 



handled by the Forestry Department, is the setting of fires for clearing land at 



a most important change and will in- an y season without a written permit 



crease the efficiency of the work. from the nre-ranger of the district. 



_ Most of the fires this spring were set 



-. by river drivers employed by the com- 



The coming convention of the Cana- panies forming the Association, and 



dian Forestry Association to be held in str ingent measures are to be taken to 



Halifax, N. S., from the 1st to the Uth preveri t this next season. The Quebec 



of September, will be a very important & St Maurice Industrial Company have 



one. It is the first one ever held in not a n owe d their drivers to smoke this 



Nova Scotia, and the attendance prom- spr i n g, and this has proved a great 



ises to be large. Halifax is a beautiful preventive. One of the two fires men- 



city and contains much of historic in- tioned above was set by the sect i O n men 



of one of the railway contractors burn- 

 ing ties and spread over twenty-five 



Mr. J. E. Rothery, of the firm of square miles. The section men were 



Vitale & Rothery, of New York, has warned not to set fires, but their fore- 



just been elected to active membership man was ordered by their engineer to 



in the Canadian Society of Forest En- go ahead, and this was done although 



gineers. This election is the first of a the weather was extremely dry. Such 



non-resident of Canada, the restriction gross carelessness on the part of men 



of the membership to Canadian resi- who are well educated enough to know 



dents having been removed at the last better is inexcusable and shows the need 



meeting following the lead of the So- for education about fires for the gen- 



ciety of American Foresters. It is de- era ^ public. 

 sirable that the relations between these 



two professional societies should be as The Lower Ottawa Forest Protective 



close as possible. Association was formed too late this 



spring to allow for getting their field 



The long drought and cold weather work in proper shape, but in spite of 



which continued into June this spring this they did excellent work and demon- 



made the fire-protection situation one of strated the value of cooperative effort. 



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