982 



Canadian Forestry Journal, February, 1917 



The Merit System. 



Two Special Committees present- 

 ed reports. For the committee of 

 three appointed last year to take up 

 with the Dominion Government the 

 matter of extending the scope of 

 the Civil Service Act to cover the 

 outside service of the Dominion For- 

 estry Branch, Mr. Ellwood Wilson, 

 convenor, stated that through cor- 

 respondence the views of the Associa- 

 tion on the merit system in public 

 appointments had been brought be- 

 fore the Government of British Co- 

 lumbia, the Premier of which, Hon. 

 Mr. Bi^^wster, had pledged himself 

 to build up the Forest Service with- 

 out regard to the old patronage plan 

 and had made an excellent com- 

 mencement by the appointment of 

 Mr. M. A. Grainger to the post of 

 Chief Forester. 



The Secretary reported for the 

 Committee of Ten, appointed to take 

 up with the Provincial Governments 

 of Eastern Canada the matter of 

 the collection and publication of uni- 

 form statistics of forest fire losses. 

 This committee, consisting of Messrs. 

 Leavitt, Goodeve, Prettie, Zavitz, 

 Piche, W. F. V. -Atkinson, Dwight, 

 R. B. Miller, Grainger and Finlayson, 

 had tried to stimulate the collection 

 of accurate statistics by the private 

 limit holders of Ontario, issuing a 

 special statistical form for that pur- 

 pose. A good deal of success was 

 secured and a fresh effort will be made 

 in 1917 to have the response more 

 general. 



Slash Disposal. 



Mr. Ellwood Wilson introduced to 

 the meeting a new field in which he 

 thought the Association ought to be 

 active. He advocated the formation 

 of a committee or committees on 

 slash disposal, also to encourage co- 

 operation between all those interested 

 in forestry. He thought slash dis- 

 posal w^as worth all its cost. The 

 benefits of co-operation of forestry 

 activities were so extejisive and so 

 practical that the Association mie^ht 

 well take the mat lei in land A 

 third avanue of investigation and 

 discussion w-as the taxation of forest- 

 planted lands. Mr. Wilson moved 



that a committee be appointed to 

 take action. 



Mr. Clyde Leavitt called attention 

 to an anomalous situation on licensed 

 timber berths in relation to the tech- 

 nical administration of Dominion 

 Crown Lands. Questions of diam- 

 eter limits, selection of seed trees, 

 and brush disposal were not being 

 given consideration as was emphatic- 

 ally necessary in the country's best 

 interests. 



Mr. W. B. Snowball said that his 

 forester, (Mr. J. R. Gareau) had re- 

 ported that he would experiment for 

 next season in slash disposal by es- 

 tablishing an experimental camp, 

 trying the burning of slash. At pres- 

 ent the lopping of boughs was the 

 general proceedure. 



Mr. P. Z. Caverhill, Forester of 

 New Brunswick, said that the stands 

 were lighter and brush disposal costs 

 heavier in New Brunswick than would 

 be true of some other parts of Can- 

 ada. Brush disposal would cost from 

 25 to 50 cents per thousand feet if 

 done in the winter months. 



Mr. Leavitt moved, steconded by 

 Mr. Pret!tie, that a committee of five 

 be appointed, with Mr. Ellwood Wil- 

 son as Chairman, and that the latter 

 select the other members of the com- 

 mittee subject to the consent of the 

 incoming president. Mr. Wilson's 

 committee was afterwards entered as 

 follows: Messrs. H. R. MacMillan, 

 R. D. Prettie, Clyde Leavitt, T. W^ 

 Dwight, Ellwood Wilson (Chairman). 



The Afternoon Addresses. 



A large audience attended the 

 afternoon meetings, attracted by a 

 group of addresses dealing with vital 

 questions. The excellent paper on 

 "The Control of White Pine Blister 

 Rust," by H. T. Gussow, Dominion 

 Botanist, which is reproduced, in part, 

 in this issue was supplemented by 

 papers from G. C. Piche, Chief For- 

 ester of Quebec, and E. J. Zavitz, 

 Chief Forester of Ontario. The lat- 

 ter speakers presented a thorough 

 review of the steps taken by the 

 Provinces of Quebec and Ontario to 

 locate the menace and i^revenl in- 

 fections from spreading. 



In the absence of Mr. T. J. Welsh 

 of Bemidji, Minnesota, who was. de- 



