The Canadian Forestry Association. 5 



dresses, by petitions to the Government, they sought to bring 

 the matter to the attention of the pubHc, but the time was not 

 ripe, and the pubHc indifference did not readily yield. "The 

 forests of Canada are inexhaustible" was the stock argument. 

 " Forestry is a fad" was the general opinion. And if any interest 

 was aroused, it was quickly lulled again by the absence of that 

 pressure of necessity which is the greatest incentive to action. 

 " The future may be allowed to look after itself." 



Progress was, however, being made. A great forestry con- 

 vention was held in Montreal in 1882, at which the American 

 Forest Congress was organized. This conference was attended 

 by large numbers from Canada and the United States, and the 

 papers and discussions aroused much attention at the time, and 

 while the effects were to a large extent ephemeral, still from that 

 time may be dated the first effective efforts to deal with forest 

 fires, and to make permanent reservations of timber lands, and 

 these are the two special directions in which Canadian forest 

 policy has made the greatest development. 



Fire is the most serious menace to the forest, and protection 

 from it must be at the basis of any system estabhshed. At first 

 consideration it might seem preposterous that the vast extent of 

 the Canadian forest could be effectively protected from fire, 

 but when it is reflected that the fires that result from natural 

 causes are comparatiyely few in number compared with those 

 that originate through the action of man, the matter does not 

 seem to be an utter impossibility. And that it is not so exper- 

 ience has already shown. The Dominion and Provincial 

 Governments, with the exception of British Columbia and Prince 

 Edward Island, have established special fire-ranging services, 

 commencing with that of Ontario in 1885, and these have been 

 effective in proportion to the thoroughness with which they have 

 been worked out. The more that has been spent on the service 

 the greater has been its effectiveness, and the results have been 

 the saving of much valuable timber. The smoke from forest 

 fires which was at one time the usual accompaniment of every 

 summer in the cities of Eastern Canada has given place to almost 

 complete immunity from such an unpleasant state of the atmos- 

 phere. A great deal still remains to be done in extending the 

 svstem and perfecting its operations, but the principle of a fire 

 ranging staff is justified beyond the possibiUty of hostile criti- 

 cism. The fire-ranging system is an established and unassail- 

 able feature of Canadian forest policy. It is a form of fire insur- 

 ance for the forest which is both cheap and effective. In the 

 Province of Ontario, which spends the largest amount upon this 

 service, the expenditure was $31,237 in 1903. and the revenue 

 received from woods and forests was $2,307,356. Although 

 this revenue was swollen beyond the usual proportions by bonuse? 



