118 



Canadian Forestry Journal, Septeniher-Odober, 1912. 



What Fire has done in some British Columbia Forests. 



should be made upon merit. Reference 

 was made to British Columbia's great 

 timber wealth and to the new Forest Law. 

 Sir Richard McBride and Hon. W. R. 

 Ross were commended for their activity 

 in the matter of forest conservation and 

 development, and the delegates from other 

 provinces welcomed in coming to assist in 

 solving the forest problems not only of 

 British Columbia but of all Canada, as the 

 gathering would not lose sight of the na- 

 tional character of the Canadian Forestry 

 Association. 



HON. W. R. ROSS. 



The Minister of Lands, in preface to 

 his paper on 'The Guardianship of the 

 Forest Wealth of British Columl>ia,' re- 

 ferred to the premier's remarks the even- 

 ing before. Sir Richard, he said, had 

 made it plain that this ])rovince, so far 

 as the others are concerned, proposes to 

 take the lead in matters affecting the 

 modern policy of conservation of forests. 

 It was particularly fitting that the pres- 

 ent convention should be held in Victoria, 

 as it gave British Columbia an opportun- 

 ity to give firsthand notice to its friends 

 from other provinces that from now on it 

 would expect that for the latest word in 

 forest conservation all must come here. 



Mr. Ross, in his paper, traced briefly 

 but concisely what has been done in British 

 Columbia for the protection of the forests, 

 and explained fully the composition and 

 working of the forest branch of his de- 

 partment, starting his review from the ap- 

 pointment of the forestry commission, the 

 work of which he praised highly. In the 

 course of the paper he said:" 



Timber Reserves. 



'Since the end of 1907 no timber has 



been alienated by the government, and, 



while making provision for timber sales 



in the Forest Act last session, I was most 



anxious to avoid burdening the new staff 

 with much detail work of this descrip- 

 tion during the important organizing per- 

 iod of this year. The only sales we are 

 putting in hand at present are those of 

 small areas of timber that operators are 

 anxious to take out while working on ad- 

 joining land, there being no question as 

 to the desirability of disposing of these. 

 In Oj-der to continue our policy of encour- 

 agement to the paper and pulp industry, 

 we are conducting investigations of cer- 

 tain areas which are reported to be spe- 

 cially suitable for the production of pulp. 



'Another duty falling to the forest 

 branch is that of land classification. We 

 have such enormous areas in this province 

 that are extraordinarily fit — and fit only 

 — for the growing of timber that every 

 effort should be n-ade to cut out from our 

 timber reserves, as soon as possible, all 

 land suitable for agriculture. Forest as- 

 sistants with technical training have there- 

 fore been assigned to the examination of 

 cut-over timber limits and_ leases in order 

 that our departmental action may be based 

 on accurate inforn'ation. Fraudulent at- 

 temjits to secure timber lauds under cover 

 of the Land Act will be ball^od by similar 

 examinations. 



'In the short time at my (lis|iosal, 1 Imt 

 mention a few of tlie other matters tliat 

 are receiving attention, for instance, the 

 examination of certain regions in the in- 

 terior, where it is feared that the forest 

 is failing to reproduce itself; the special 

 study by trained men into the effects and 

 defects of the log scales in use in the ]iro- 

 vince; the nublishinff of reliable informa- 

 tion that will advertise our B. C. timbers 

 and our forest industries; the studv of 

 waste in all its forms; and the cartipaign 

 of publicity that we consider the most 

 valuable, in fact, the fundamental, means 

 of combating the public carelessness that 



