Canadian Forestry Journal, Jan.-Fcb., 1912. 



The president then called upon 

 Right Hon. Sir Wilfrid Laui'ier, 

 leader of the Opposition, to address 

 the convention. 



Sir AVilfrid opened with a refer- 

 ence to the 1906 Convention and to 

 the sympathy and co-operation he 

 then received from Mr. Borden. He 

 also gave a. word of welcome to those 

 present. 



'It has taken us a long time to real- 

 ize,' Sir Wilfrid went on, 'that the 

 forest is one of the greatest assets of 

 our country. Of course, we know 

 that one thousand acres under till- 

 age will support a larger population 

 than one thousand acres covered 

 with forest. But we have com- 

 menced to learn also that, unless cer- 

 tain portions of the country are cov- 

 ered with trees, remain under forest, 

 the soil as a whole will not be as pro- 

 ductive as it Avould be otherwise. 

 There are certain portions of the 

 earth's surface in every country, and 

 particularly in Canada, which were 

 designed and intended by nature to 

 remain in forest.' 



Sir AYilfrid then referred to the 

 destruction of the forest by the early 

 settlers, and the present awakening 

 to their value. 'In the nature of 

 things everything has an enemy.' he 

 continued, 'but besides these enemies 

 which attack the forest as part of 

 the work of nature, the forest has 

 three enemies of whom I desire to 

 say a word. These three enemies are 

 the settler, the railway and the pros- 

 pector. I repeat what I have just 

 said that there are certain parts of 

 the country which ought to remain 

 under trees. But the settler cannot 

 always appreciate that. If he sees 

 two hundred acres of land in a small 

 valley which he thinks suitable for 

 tillage, he very often does not care 

 though, by clearing the soil on that 

 two hundred acres, he destroys, per- 

 haps, a hundred thousand acres of 

 timber. I wish your convention 

 would give attention to the sugges- 

 tion made by my right honorable 

 friend the prime minister a moment 



ago when he suggested that there 

 should be a survey of the whole 

 country made to distinguish what is 

 forest land and what is tillable 

 soil. If tlie Conservation Commis- 

 sion which Avas appointed some 

 years ago. and which has been do- 

 ing some splendid work, were to ap- 

 ply itself to making a survey of the 

 whole country, to carefully point out 

 which part should remain in forest 

 and which should be given to the 

 settler, I am sure that the Prime 

 ^linister would not hesitate to put 

 an appropriation in the estimates in 

 order to have this map distributed 

 over the whole countrj^ so that every 

 man should know what land ought 

 to remain in forest and what could 

 be given over to the settler. I think 

 we are all agreed that the hillsides 

 and all the plateaux which are the 

 sources of rivers should be conserved 

 sacredly in forest, for. if these hill- 

 sides and plateaux are denuded of 

 their forests, the rivers will sutfer 

 and even the climate will be affected 

 . . . Then I Avould be prepared, 

 for my part, to join in an effort to 

 induce all governments and parlia- 

 ments and legislatures to have these 

 plateaux for ever reserved, and 

 never have the axe of the settler in 

 them, but only the axe of the lumber- 

 man. ' 



Sir "Wilfrid then referred to the 

 railways as the cause of forest fires. 

 AVhile giving them credit for their 

 efforts in this direction, he thought 

 nuich more could be done. 



'The third enemy of whom I have 

 spoken is the prospector,' Sir Wil- 

 frid continued. 'I am afraid he is 

 not always as careful as he ought to 

 be to put out his camp-fire. And this 

 may be particularly true of some 

 who realize that a forest fire un- 

 covers the rocks in which he is seek- 

 ing the find for which he so eagerly 

 searches. I am told (I have no per- 

 sonal information on the subject) 

 that the terrible fires of last season 

 were largely caused by the prospec- 

 tor.' 



