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Canadian Forcsiru Journal, Fchnianj, 1918 



tion and their assistance counted 

 materially. The representations made 

 by the Commission of (Conservation on 

 the need of a Permit Law were also 

 efTective. Pressure was brought to 

 bear by our strong Western member- 

 ship so that many hundreds of letters 

 were written to legislative members 

 and ministers urging the passing of 

 the amendments. Week by week, 

 new articles were supplied to the 

 neswpapers and fresh information to 

 our members. The Government of 

 Manitoba and Saskatchewan finally 

 adopted the new^ bills and while the 

 provincial machinery for adminis- 

 tration is not yet complete the 

 legislation placed a very valuable 

 weapon in the hands of the forest 

 guarding forces. The Alberta Gov- 

 ernment was approached during the 

 latter months of 1917 and by aid of 

 the Dominion Forestry Branch, 

 amendments to the existing Prairie 

 and Forest Fires Act were submitted 

 to the Premier, Hon. Charles Stewart. 

 These amendments forbade the em- 

 ployment of fire for clearing land in 

 forested regions except by written 

 permit and under supervision of re- 

 sponsible officers of the Dominion 

 of Provincial governments. Twelve 

 Boards of Trade were appealed to 

 for co-operation and most of them 

 addressed the Government favorably 

 on the subject. Influential organ- 

 izations such as the United Grain 

 Growers, and many others supported 

 the Forestry Association and once 

 more our Alberta membership of 

 nearly seven hundred generously un- 

 derlood by letter and personal inter- 

 view to press the matter upon the 

 Provincial Government. The Al- 

 berta newspapers gave excellent aid 

 and were kept supplied with special 

 articles. As the session of the Legis- 

 lature opens on February 7th, we 

 have yet no means of knowing de- 

 finitely the Government's attitude to 

 our proposals. It is not anticipated 

 however, that Alberta will allow 

 itself to fall behind the sister pro- 

 vinces in a matter of such vital im- 

 portance. 



Political Patronage 

 Closely allied to the protection of 

 the western forests was the subject 

 of political patronage in Dominion 

 Forest Service appointments. The 

 handicap of political interference in 

 selecting rangers placed the Service 

 at a great disadvantage, w^asting 

 public money and nullifying discip- 

 line. At midsummer the Association 

 commenced a series of newspaper 

 articles representing the patronage 

 business as it affected the Dominion 

 Forestry Branch in its field manage- 

 ment. This developed a wide edi- 

 torial discussion demanding a cessa- 

 tion of the policy in which many of 

 the leading newspapers referred to 

 the subject repeatedly. It was grat- 

 ifying, therefore, to have the Domin- 

 ion Government place itself on record 

 as determined to remove the influence 

 of patronage committees in appoint- 

 ments to the w^hole of the Civil Ser- 

 vice and to take practical steps 

 through the Civil Service Commission 

 to implement that assurance. 



In New Brunswick 



Believing that the situation in New 

 Brunswick called for the Associa- 

 tion's assistance that field was given 

 special study and a part of the year 

 devoted mainly to educational and 

 propagandist campaigns. In this 

 enterprise w^e had most valued and 

 constant aid from Mr, Clyde Leavitt, 

 Chief Forester of the Commission of 

 Conservation, Mr. W. B. Snowball, 

 of Chatham, N.B., the Minister and | 

 staff of the New Brunswick Depart- ' 

 ment of Lands and Mines and our 

 New Brunswick members. , 



The institution of the Forest Sur- 1 

 vey by the provincial government 

 and the close sympathy of the 

 Minister of Lands and Mines with 

 the plans of the Forestry Division 

 gave ground for believing that a 

 re-organization of the Forest Service 

 and an extension of its authority to 

 the supervision of cutting and the 

 application of modern fire protection 

 was more than possible. To encour- 

 age these objects the Association 

 commenced a newspaper campaign 

 early in the summer discussing th 



