158 Canadian Forestry Journal. 



"which has assembled on the invitation of Mr. Hendry, repre- 

 senting the Lumbermen and Shingle Manufacturers of British 

 Columbia. This convention has been called together for the 

 purpose of considering what steps shall be taken to discover and 

 to apply to the forests of British Columbia the best methods of 

 forest management. At the beginning of this year, a similar 

 convention was held at Ottawa, under the presidency of the 

 Federal Prime Minister, Sir Wilfrid Laurier, who convened it. 

 I attended all the meetings of the convention, which lasted for 

 three days, and I can bear witness to the fact that from the be- 

 ginning to the end of that interesting convention, the papers and 

 discussions averaged a singularly high order of merit, and that 

 the interest of those attending the convention never flagged. 

 The reason for this continued and sustained interest was this: 

 We were dealing with a subject which all of us recognised to be 

 of vital importance to the well-being of Canada. (Applause). 

 We realised that the forests of Canada are the reservoirs that 

 feed the rivers, on the even and continuous flow of which the 

 agricultural prosperity of Canada depends. We realised that 

 the reckless and wanton deforestration of other lands had con- 

 verted territories at one time prosperous and populous, into 

 stretches of barren wilderness, and we also realised as we listened 

 to the papers and discussions, that in her forests Canada possesses 

 an asset of priceless value and that if we can only apply to their 

 management those principles and rnethods which have been 

 shown to give the best results in other countries, we may look 

 forward to deriving from our forests a continuous and increasing 

 revenue, without destroying our capital. (Applause). The 

 world's demand for timber is steadily increasing, the thoughtless 

 improvidence of other countries having depleted timber resources 

 which were considered almost as inexhaustible as those of British 

 Columbia itself. I cannot commend to you too strongly the 

 importance of studying now, before it is too late, those methods 

 and principles of forest management which the experience and 

 research of other nations may indicate to be the best. At Ottawa 

 we were very greatly assisted by Mr. Pinchot, the head of the 

 Forestry Department of Washington. I had hoped that Mr. 

 Pinchot, whose admirable primer on Forestry ought to be on the 

 bookshelf of everyone who cares about trees, might have been 

 present here to-day. President Roosevelt is a warm friend of 

 Canada, and takes a great deal of pleasure in helping Canadians 

 to promote the welfare of their own country. Mr. Pinchot has 

 kindly sent as his representative, Mr. Price, whom we are for- 

 tunate to have among us to-day, and I am sure that I am only 

 voicing your sentiments when I say that you are grateful to the 

 Government of the United States for sending Mr. Price to assist 

 us in the work of this convention." (Applause.) 



