Canadia Forcsirii Journal, May, 1918 



iri99 



The Forests of Newfoundland 



(British RECoxsTRrcriox C.ommittee Report.) 



Newfoundland has considerable re- 

 serves of timber, which, though under 

 a separate Government, form part 

 of the same Imperial question. Thev 

 illustrate incidentally how rapidly 

 forests, which at first sight seem vast, 

 may be absorbed. The Newfound- 

 land woods cover 10,000 square miles, 

 but more than a third has been takeii 

 over by a single company. The pro- 

 duce from this area, nearly equal to 

 the whole woodlands of Great Britain, 

 feeds the pulp and paper mills of the 

 Anglo - Newfoundland Development 

 Company and supplies the require- 

 ments of four British newspapers. 

 Newfoundland has assisted the United 



Kingdom during the war with sup- 

 plies of pit wood from the three-mile 

 l)elt round the coast reserved by the 

 Colonial Government for the use 'f 

 the Colony and not ordinarily avail- 

 able for export except in the form ol" 

 pulp. Labrador, which is a depend- 

 ency of Newfoundland, is believed 

 to have considerable resources in tim- 

 ber suitable for pulpwood and pit- 

 wood. 



India, South Africa, Australia and 

 New Zealand are already importers 

 of soft woods, and no relief with re- 

 gard to future supplies, but rather the 

 contrary, may be expected from those 

 cpiarters. 



French Lecturers do Excellent Work 



The educational propaganda of the 

 Canadian Forestry Association this 

 year has taken an unusually practical 

 turn. The aim has been to carry the 

 educational work directly to the door 

 of the settler in timbered districts 

 in an effort to reduce the annual har- 

 vest of settlers' fires. It has been 

 proved abundantly that no system of 

 mechanical equipment such as patrol- 

 men, fire towers, telephone lines, etc., 

 is more than half complete in itself 

 and must fail in its objects if the 

 human material responsible for caus- 

 ing the fires is not brought into an 

 intelligent and sympathetic relation 

 towards the whole forest protection 

 enterprise. 



Mr. A. H. Beaubien, a talented 

 French speaker with personal know- 

 ledge of Quebec conditions in the tim- 

 bered areas, was engaged by the For- 

 estry Association to hold public meet- 

 ings covering three weeks in the ter- 

 ritory of the Ottawa River Forest 

 Protective Association which em- 

 braces twenty million acres. Mr. 

 Beaubien held his first meeting at 

 Ferme Neuve near Mont Laurier, 

 Quebec, on Tuesday, May 7th, il- 



lustrating his address with a large 

 number of excellent lantern slides. 

 Mr. Beaubien's route was confined 

 almost wholly to the country settle- 

 ments, particularly the newer par- 

 ishes where the greatest need exists 

 for educational activities. At all of 

 Mr Beaubien's meetings every au- 

 ditor is presented with reading mater- 

 ial which further emphasizes the 

 common sense of being careful with 

 clearing fires, Co-operation of the 

 parish priests and inlluential local 

 men was secured in advance, the 

 lectures being well advertised by 

 printed matter and by the announce- 

 ments at the church services. 



It is expected that two additional 

 French lecturers will be made avail- 

 able for Central and Eastern Quebec 

 through the co-operation of the De- 

 partment of Lands and Forests of 

 Quebec. 



Mr. J. A. Doucet concluded a three 

 weeks' tour of Northern New Bruns- 

 wick on behalf of the Canadian 

 Forestry Association, wdiere his pub- 

 lic lectures on forest protection were 

 a pronounced success. Large aud- 

 iences were secured, in one instance 



