2 The Canadian Forestry Journal. 



both agriculture and navigation depended, and they were stand- 

 ing nearly a unit for forest protection. His Excellency spoke of 

 the President's message lately published, where the awful con- 

 sequences of deforestation in China were described and illustrat- 

 ed, and suggested the publication of these pictures, especially 

 for use in the schools. "The teaching of the people how to care 

 for their forests is becoming the first object of the American 

 Government," concluded His Excellency. "I hope it will also 

 become the first object of the Canadian people. The forest area 

 in the Dominion is 3 54,000,000 acres. By far the greater part 

 of this is still Crown land, or in other words, belongs to the 

 people. The question for you to determine appears to me to be 

 this: Shall this great inheritance, of which you are the trustees, 

 be handed over to uncontrolled individuals to be misused, with- 

 out regard to the interests of posterity, or shall it be managed 

 under careful and well considered regulations on lines which will 

 increase the public revenues, at the same time that they will 

 ensure a steady advance in capital value?" 



His Honor Lieut. -Governor Gibson followed briefly, welcom- 

 ing the Association, especially the visitors from the other 

 provinces. He recalled the fact that it was under his regime 

 that the forest reserve policy of the Province of Ontario had been 

 inaugurated and the Eastern and Sibley Forest Reserves set 

 aside. A start had also been made toward setting aside the 

 Temagami Reserve. 



President Watson, of the Toronto Board of Trade, then 

 welcomed the Association on behalf of the Board of Trade, of 

 whose sympathy and co-operation he assured them for their 

 meeting. 



Hon. Sidney Fisher then was called upon. He referred to 

 the necessity of the conservation of forests as the basis of all 

 other resources. While Canada had not been so wasteful of her 

 resources as the United States had, it still had followed that 

 country's example to a large extent. Canadians had been in the 

 habit of trading too much on their supposed forest wealth; but 

 their estimate of their timberland — three hundred and fifty 

 million acres — was too large. It must be remembered that a 

 large proportion of this land was far to the north and the timber 

 thereon was of far less value, of lower quality and at present 

 almost inaccessible ; it was not to be compared with the valuable 

 pine limits of Ontario and Quebec. Hon. Mr. Fisher went on to 

 show the importance of the preservation of the forests to the 

 navigation of the Great Lakes and the St. Lawrence River. He 

 concluded with a reference to the International Conservation 

 Conference which was to take place in Washington in the follow- 

 ing week. 



