Canadian Forestry Conventioti 2 1 



is problematical, there can be no doubt of its direct influence in 

 the regulation of flow and prevention of extreme floods, including 

 loss, damage and waste of water power. The water powers of our 

 country are second to none, their importance in view of the 

 developments that have been made in the transmission of electric 

 power is far reaching and this, with the great saving in cost of 

 electric power over power generated by steam, should, with our 

 enormous natural resources, place Canada in time in the front 

 rank as a manufacturing and exporting country. 



Mr. Thos. Southworth, formerly Director of Forestry for 

 Ontario, submitted a paper on "Forest Reserves and their 

 Management." After sketching the history of the forest re- 

 serves, which in Ontario are set apart on legislative authority, 

 Mr. Southworth estimated the area that should be kept per- 

 manently in timber at forty million acres, which at a return 

 of 150 feet, or 7Sc. to the acre, would mean a revenue of $30,000,- 

 000 per year. To achieve this result, something more than 

 harvesting the most valuable sorts of trees in the most economical 

 way is required. That system is converting Algonquin Park 

 from a mixed pine and hardwood forest to a hardwood one. 

 Working plans must be laid down covering a hundred years or 

 more, plans that will provide for harvesting the present crop of 

 various sorts of trees in such a manner as to secure the after 

 growth of the right kind of trees and to regulate the cutting so as 

 to secure evenness of supplies and of revenue. 



Mr. M. J. Butler, Deputy Minister of Railways and Canals 

 quoted from the Railway Gazette the instructions to drivers of 

 railway locomotives, requiring care in keeping equipment in 

 repair so that the escape of sparks may be prevented. The lead- 

 ing railways are using engines with extension fronts and screens 

 with a quarter-inch mesh, and compound engines, with a softer 

 exhaust, are being introduced. 



Mr. E. G. Joly de Lotbiniere, suggested as an additional pre- 

 caution, that it would be well to have a patrol along the line of 

 railway. 



Mr. Aubrey White, Deputy Commissioner of Lands and Mines 

 for Ontario, outlined the system on which the forest protection 

 service of Ontario is organized, and urged the necessity of 

 protecting the forest we now possess. In connection with the 

 building of railroads, the Canada Atlantic and the Temiscaming 

 railways were instanced as examples of what could be done in 

 the construction of such roads without destroying the forest 

 by fire. Mr. White made a strong declaration in favor of 

 reserving for timber production lands that are unfit for settle- 

 ment. 



Dr. B. E. Fernow pointed to the government as the great 

 sinner in connection with the administration of the forests, and 



