Canadian Forestry Journal, Juhj, 1918 



1773 



Riddance of Patronage a Great Gain 



Dominion Forest Service now Appoints Field 

 Staff on Merit Basis — Benefits to Soldiers. 



The bringing of api)oinlments to 

 the outside service of the ^Dominion 

 under the jurisdiction of the Civil- 

 Service Commission under the amend- 

 ments to the Civil Service Act passed 

 at the last session of Parliament has 

 been of great advantage already and 

 its good effects have been felt in the 

 forest service as well as elsewhere. 

 The fact that the appointments of 

 forest and fire rangers, permanent 

 and temporary, are made through the 

 Commission, which laid down the 

 qualifications that would be required, 

 placed the whole situation on a 

 different basis and forestalled the 

 efforts of men without qualifications 

 and their friends to get them appoint- 

 ed. It also impressed on those who 

 made a business of activity in inter- 

 fering with appointments that their 

 occupation was gone and their influ- 

 ence which was frequently exerted 

 to upset discipline and efficiency in 

 the service, has practically disappear- 

 ed. Thus even the announcement 

 , of the definite adoption of the prin- 

 ciple of Civil Service Reform has 

 had a wholesome effect and has 

 materially improved the spirit of 

 the service. 



UntV Rejected 

 The definite results of the adoption 

 of the Civil Service system has been 

 that in appointments of temporary 

 rangers or the filling of permanent 

 positions that had become vacant 

 only men who could show definite 

 qualifications for the positions were 

 considered and the appointment of 

 the absolutely unfit or inexperienced 

 was made impossible. In conse- 

 quence, ineffective rangers have been 

 largely eliminated from the temporary 

 staff. The supervising officei^s of the 

 forest service for the districts con- 

 cerned were consulted by the Com- 

 mission so as to get the benefit of 

 their experience and local knowledge 



of the men and the conditions under 

 which they were to work and full 

 weight was given to this evidence in 

 determining the selection of the can- 

 didates. The knowledge that their 

 judgment was to be given weight in 

 the selection of the staff they were 

 to supervise has given the supervising 

 officers a greater interest and a 

 better spirit in their work. The 

 feeling of cooperation between the 

 rangers and supervising officers has 

 been greatly strengthened as they 

 now are more thoroughly in sym- 

 pathy in their interest in their work 

 and their desire for efficiency. 



Course for Soldiers 

 One important result of the adop- 

 tion of the Civil Service system and 

 an indication of how results follow 

 one another is the establishment of a 

 forest ranger course for returned 

 soldiers at Vancouver in cooperation 

 with the Military Hospitals Commis- 

 sion. Consideration of the estab- 

 lishment of a course of training for 

 forest rangers was no new thing but 

 action had always been hindered by 

 the fact that even if men qualified 

 themselves for positions as rangers, 

 the existing system of appointment 

 gave no guarantee that the man who 

 spent his time and money qualifying 

 himself would get an appointment 

 even if there was a vacancy. Now, 

 however, with the changed conditions, 

 the establishment of such a course 

 was a logical step and as the desire was 

 to help "returned soldiers first of all 

 the Military Hospitals Commission 

 was approached by the officials of 

 the Forest Service on the subject, 

 and in cooperation a course was laid 

 out. 



The lectures were given by officers 

 of the Dominion forest service and by 

 other foresters and a good number of 

 returned soldiers who were found to 

 be phvsically fit and took the course 



