DEVELOPING BRITISH COLUMBIA 



HON. W. R. Ross, Minister of 

 Lands for British Columbia, 

 who during the past three 

 years has organized a business 

 administration and protection of the 

 forests of that Province, is now under- 

 taking the systematic development of 

 wider markets for British Colum- 

 bia forest products. The impor- 

 tance of this work to the 

 Province cannot be over esti- 

 mated. The annual value of 

 the forest products of British 

 Columbia in 1913 was nearly 

 $34,000,000. The forests of 

 the Province are so extensive as 

 to support in perpetuity five 

 times as great an industry, or 

 one worth $170,000,000. The 

 markets of British Columbia 

 lumber and other forests pro- 

 ducts must be found outside 

 British Columbia. Mr. Ross 

 has, therefore, been active in 

 securing the appointment of 

 the Chief Forester of the Prov- 

 ince as a special Commissioner 

 of the Dominion Government 

 to investigate the possibility of 

 shipping Canadian lumber to 

 all the important foreign lumber 

 markets of the world. He will 

 visit in particular the United 

 Kingdom, France, Italy, South 

 Africa, Australia, New Zealand, 

 India, China and Japan. The 

 information gained from this 

 investigation will form the basis 

 of the steps to be taken by 

 Mr. Ross in making it easier for 

 British Columbia manufacturers 

 to export to foreign markets. The Minis- 

 ter has also under consideration plans for 

 cooperating with the timber industries of 



creating 



a 



greater 



the Province in 

 demand for provincial lumber products 

 in the Canadian Prairie and Eastern 

 Canada. The problem of increasing 

 the British Columbia export trade in 

 forest products is one which means 

 millions of dollars to the people of the 



Hon. W. R. Ross 



MINISTER OF LANDS FOR BRITISH COLUMBIA 



Province, and for this reason it is 

 receiving careful consideration at the 

 hands of the Government. 



American Matchwood for Brazil 



American manufacturers of matchwood may find a market for their product in Brazil, if 

 a sample shipment now being arranged by the U. S. Forest Service proves suitable to the Brazilian 

 match manufacturers whose ordinary supply of Russian aspen has been cut off by the European 

 war. 



644 



