Canadian Forestry Convention 13 



when it becomes necessary for the Government to ask the 

 Parliament of this great country — this ParHament which con- 

 centrates the intelHgence of Canada — for liberal appropriations 

 for the patrolling and protection of these forests the request is 

 likely to be closely queried as to where the reputation of this 

 Liberal Government for economy has evaporated to. There 

 is in that country a vast area of timbered land and that timber 

 has a value altogether beyond its commercial value. It is 

 being lost year after year to a stupendous extent and if it is 

 necessary to take active measures for the patrolling of these 

 forests to secure their preservation against fire I hope the re- 

 sults of this convention will be of such a nature and will have 

 such weight with Parliament that it will not be difficult to get 

 the money required to secure the protection of these very neces- 

 sary and valuable forests. 



Then, there is the great question of the creation of forests 

 or woods on the prairie. There are limitations in that direction 

 which people in this part of the country can scarcely appreciate. 

 Here you have to actually fight the timber to keep it from grow- 

 ing. I do not find fault so much — if I may be permitted to differ 

 from the Premier — with the instinct of those people in this part 

 of the country which prompted them if they saw a tree, to cut 

 it down, because it was either the people or the tree. If the 

 trees were here we would not be here. The trees had to be 

 destroyed in order that the people might live. But, in the North- 

 West it is different. There, it is difficult to grow trees. There 

 you have the Chinook to contend with and in speaking of the 

 growth of forests in the West I may sa}' that it is not the cold 

 of the winter in the west that prevents forest growth ; it is the 

 Chinook wind, the mild wind that changes the temperature dur- 

 ing the winter and produces conditions of dryness in the early 

 part of the summer which presents the greatest difficulty in the 

 growth of forests in the west. 



The Department is grappling with the question in a conser- 

 vative, yet in a progressive way; in fact, it has adopted a truly 

 liberal-conservative method of dealing with the question. We 

 have established a forestry station under the superintendance 

 of Mr. Stewart and under the management of Mr. Ross and I, 

 having recently had occasion to visit that locality, have been 

 credibly informed that the forestry station is doing good work, 

 that the work is being very highly appreciated by the people of 

 the country and that, as the result shows, very considerable pro- 

 gress is being made as the Premier has borne witness to in regard 

 to the growth of trees. I3ut, the greatest progress that is being 

 made is not in the number of trees that has been grown but it is 

 in the practical knowledge that has been acquired as to the growth 

 of these trees and when the knowledge has become well-estab- 



