1984 



Canadian Forestrij Journal, December, 1918 



fire season it has given excellent 

 results. 



Cutting out Politics. 



The Government early recognized 

 that without a permanent, properly 

 disciplined and efficient field staff 

 of Forest Rangers, unhampered by 

 the influence of politics, very little 

 could be accomplished by way of fire 

 protection and forest conservation, 

 consequently the 1918 Forest Act 

 was passed, providing for a Forestry 

 Advisory Commission of five mem- 

 bers, consisting of the Minister of 

 Lands and Mines, Deputy Minister, 

 Provincial Forester and two others, — 

 one elected by the Crown Land 

 licensees and one chosen by the 

 ^Iinister to represent the granted 

 forest land owners. This Advisory 

 Board has the power to make all 

 permanent appointments and to sup- 

 ervise all matters in relation to the 

 Forest Act. 



This Advisory Board has had 

 several meetings and the results 

 obtained have shown the wisdom of 

 its creation. The practical contribu- 

 tions to the deliberations of this Board 

 by the two representatives of the 

 lumbermen of the Province has been 

 invaluable. Among the Board's first 

 duties was the appointing of an exam- 

 ining committee to carry out the 

 Act in relation to the appointment of 

 rangers by competitive examination 

 on a merit basis. The rangers' duties 

 include forest fire protection, scaling 

 of the logs cut from Crown Lands, 

 and the protection of game. 



The Board of Examiners was made 

 up of three members, the Provincial 

 Forester as Chairman, an expert 

 scaler and a practical woodsman and 

 lumberman. The examination con- 

 sisted of a written test on Forest 

 Ranging, Fore Protection, Game Pro- 

 tection and Scaling, an oral test, and, 

 most important, an actual scale of a 

 large number of logs by the applicant. 

 The examination was modeled after 

 the U. S. Forest Service Examination 

 through the kindness of the U. S. 

 Civil Service Commissioners. 



It is very interesting to note that 

 of the 151 men examined only 76 

 qualified. The large number that 



failed to qualify was due to the fact 

 that many men lacked sufficient 

 experience as scalers. The Govern- 

 ment is entitled to great credit in 

 view of the fact that the appointment 

 of the Forest Rangers and Inspec- 

 tors has been practically com- 

 pleted from the pass lists on a merit 

 l3asis, irrespective of any political 

 influence or patronage. 



Through the continued co-opera- 

 tion of the New Brunswick Govern- 

 ment with the Railway Commission 

 of Canada, the work of fire protection 

 along railway right of ways was 

 continued with beneficial results, and 

 it is worthy to note that it was the 

 first year that systematic inspec- 

 tion of the fire protective appliances 

 on locomotives was carried out by 

 the Provincial Inspectors in New 

 Brunswick. 



Fewer Railway Fires. 



The co-operation between the New 

 Brunswick Government and the Can- 

 adian Government Railways in regard 

 to fire prevention has been consid- 

 erably extended. The concession of 

 the General Manager of this Railway 

 to the New Brunswick Government's 

 inspectors to examine their locomo- 

 tives for fire protective appliances, 

 the appointing by the railway of an 

 ex-locomotive engineer to devote his 

 whole time to locomotive inspec- 

 tion in New Brunswick, and the 

 issuing of a circular by the General 

 Manager to all employees of the C. 

 G.R., outlining their duties in regard 

 to forest fires long practically the 

 same lines as railways do under the 

 Railway Commission, resulted in con- 

 siderable improvement in. the fire 

 situation; nevertheless it is felt that 

 much better results can be obtained 

 if the Canadian Government Rail- 

 ways were placed under the juris- 

 diction of the Railway Commission 

 of Canada. Considerable improve- 

 ment in fire protection along private 

 railways in New Brunswick has been 

 secured by close inspection and con- 

 siderable pressure brought to bear 

 on their managers — one railroad was 

 forbidden to operate trains until 

 engines were properly equipped and 

 fire patrol established. 



