1912 AND FISHERIES COMMISSION. 153 



private citizens undertaking this duty, and it would, of course, be under- 

 stood that they themselves would acconipany any parties which they 

 deemed it necessity to send out. When, however, the occasion arose for 

 action, each man of the party should receive a reasonable wage from 

 the Province for each day of absence from his home, which expenditure 

 would plainly be more than compensated by the saving of the public 

 timber that would be effected by this means. It would obviouslj^ be 

 necessary to select thoroughly reliable persons to exercise this author- 

 ity, but it is not to be doubted that throughout the forest regions plenty 

 of such are to be found. In addition to this, moreover, it would seem 

 advisable that some equipment should be maintained at strategic points, 

 ready for use in an emergency, for numbers of men are of little avail if 

 the wherewithal with which to fight the fire is not in their possession. 

 Such equipment, comprising spades, buckets, axes and, perhaps, dyna- 

 mite, would entail but little cost to provide, but its presence at the 

 required time and at the right place might easily be the means of avert- 

 ing a terrible disaster. 



The Fire Ranging Service. 



It has already been pointed out that there remains vested in the 

 Crown an enormous acreage of forest lands in this Province, and that 

 to protect this great asset the Province annually expends considerable 

 sums of money. Some 20,000 odd miles are at present subject to license, 

 and the custom arose of placing rangers on the land licensed, half the 

 cost of whose maintenance was borne by the Crown and half by the 

 licensee. In 1910, however, it was decided by the administration that 

 in view of the increased value of stumpage and the small proportion 

 that accrued to the Crown, the licensees might properly be assessed for 

 the full cost of the maintenance of the fire rangers placed on their land, 

 and a measure to this effect was introduced, and is still in force. In 

 general the licensee is accorded the privilege of selecting his own ranger, 

 it being deemed that, as a rule, he will be in position and sufficiently 

 interested to select a properly qualified man for the purpose, but the 

 right is maintained by the Crown of removing such appointees for in- 

 competency or improper conduct and replacing them with others 

 nominated directly by tlie Crown. Where the licensees do not apply to 

 have rangers placed on tJieir limits, a suitable man is selected by the 

 D(»partment for that purpose, placed on the limit, and the expense is 

 duly charcjed to the licensee. In each district there is a supervising 

 ranger whose duty it is to see that the rangers are on their proper beats 

 and that the work is being properly carried out. Some 450 rangers are 

 thus employed. In addition to this rangers to the number of some 200 

 are maintained to take care of the forest reserves, at a cost to the Crown 

 of approximately |76,000, and further, along lines ot railways in the 

 forest areas, along rivers that are used as highways and in other ex- 



