Canadian Foreslrii Journal, Februaiij, 1918 



1537 



heartily endorsed by the meeting, 

 electing Lieut. -Col. J. S. Dennis, Vice- 

 President of the Canadian Pacific 

 Railway Company, as President of 

 the Association for 1918 and Mr. J. A. 

 Gillies of Gillies Brothers, Lumber- 

 men, as Vice-President. Hon. Smea- 

 ton White, President of the Gazette 

 Printing Company, Montreal, was 

 made a Director in the place of the 

 late Denis Murphy. Hon. W. E. 

 Foster, Premier of New Brunswick 

 was made territorial Vice-President 

 for New Brunswick. According to 

 the usual precedent, Mr. Gordon C. 

 Edwards, Vice-Presdient for 1917, 

 would have assumed the Presidency 

 but for a special request made by 

 Mr. Edwards that, owing to matters 

 of health he was unable to assume 

 any new office this year. The report 

 of the Directors covering the main 

 activities of 1917 was read by the 

 Secretary, Mr. Robson Black, and 

 adopted by the meeting. This report 

 which appears elsewhere in this issue 

 of the Journal, shows that the Asso- 

 ciation has had a very active year 

 and that results of a most practical 

 and important character have result- 

 ed from the educational campaigns. 



Membership Doubled 



The membership of the Association 

 has more than doubled during the 

 period of the war, while the revenues 

 have multiplied to a similar extent. 

 The Directors voted to increase the 

 Secretary's salary by $200. 



The report of the Treasurer, Miss 

 M. Robinson, showed receipts of 

 $11,775.91 and expenditures of 

 $10,801.45, leaving a balance at Dec- 

 ember 31st of $974.46. 



Riddance of Patronage 



The resolutions presented the fol- 

 lowing resolutions which were carried 

 unanimously: 



"Whereas, the patronage system 

 of making appointments undoubtedly 

 constitutes the most serious obstacle 

 to forestry and lire protection on 

 Dominion lands in the West. 



"Resolved that, this Association 

 continue its efforts to secure the early 

 abolition of the patronage system of 



making appointments in the field ser- 

 vice of the Dominion Forestry Branch 

 as a part of the general reform to 

 which the I'nion Government is 

 pledged. 



The White Pine Menace 



"Whereas, the pine blister disease 

 undoubtedly constitutes a most ser- 

 ious menace to the white pine forests 

 of Eastern Canada, in which it is 

 already now firmly established. 



"Resolved, that this Association, 

 while recognizing what has already 

 been done in this direction, continue 

 to exert its inlluence upon the Dom- 

 inion and Provincial Governments 

 concerned, to the end that no prac- 

 ticable means be omitted to restrict 

 the further spread of this disease, so 

 far as humanly practicable." 



Fire Statistics 



The report of the special com- 

 mittee of ten members (T. W' . Dwight 

 convenor,) appointed by the Associa- 

 tion to take up with the Provincial 

 Government the matter of the col- 

 lection and publication of uniform 

 statistics of forest fire losses was 

 presented and showed that the com- 

 mittee had made an earnest effort to 

 encourage better methods of collect- 

 ing statistics and of securing their 

 publication. Copies of the report 

 forms in use by British Columbia, 

 Ontario, and the Dominion Forest 

 Services as well as the St. Maurice 

 Forest Protective Association, had 

 been sent to all members of the com- 

 mittee, who in turn had offered 

 numerous suggestions and criticisms 

 of undoubted value. The report 

 advocated better standardization of 

 the headings under which information 

 gathered is to be classified if uniform 

 summaries are to be made at the end 

 of the season and incorporated in a 

 general publication of hre losses for the 

 Dominion. Such a publication was 

 issued by the United States Forest 

 Service covering the tires in that 

 country. The Dominion- Forestry 

 Branch has prepared a summary of 

 the available fire statistics for 1914, 

 15, 16, covering the whole Dominion, 

 which is in course of publication. 



