(Itmndiau Forest ri/ ./ouiikiI, March, 1917 



1039 



No Politics in B.C. Forest Service! 



The lumbermen of British (^ohim- 

 bia took an important step recently 

 when they appointed a deputation 

 of their members to wait upon Prem- 

 ier Brewster at Victoria and urge thai 

 the Forest Service of the province ]}e 

 so administered in future that politics 

 shall play no part in it. 



The deputation was composed of 

 Mr. C. D. McNab, president of the 

 Mountain Lumbermen's Association; 

 Messrs. H. R. MacMillan, Hugh 

 Davidson and R. H. H. Alexander, of 

 the Coast Lumber & Shingle Associa- 

 tion; and Messrs. Mark Rector and 

 W. B. W. Armstrong of the B. C. 

 Loggers' Association. In order that 

 the Forest Service might be taken en- 

 tirely out of politics these gentlemen 

 suggested to the Premier that all ap- 

 pointments be placed in the hands of 

 a Commission composed of five mem- 

 bers — two representatives of the 

 Mountain lumlDcr interests, two nam- 

 ed by the Coast lumbermen, and the 

 Minister of Lands. Premier BreVster 

 said that when taking office his 

 government had determined to make 

 efficiency their guiding principle when 

 making appointments, and believed 

 the objects aimed at by the lumber- 

 men would be fully safeguarded in 

 this way, but he was prepared to 

 promise very careful consideration of 

 the commission plan on the part of 

 himself and colleagues, their earnest 

 aim being to handle the forest re- 

 sources of the province in a way that 

 would yield the highest possible re- 

 venue while conserving the supply of 

 timber and guarding tjie future growth. 



The Victoria Colonist, in referring 

 to the request made by the lumber- 

 men, backs up the need of technically 

 trained men for the Forest Service 

 in the following words: 



"Ever since the former Chief Fores- 

 ter, Mr. H. R. MacMillan, inaugurat- 

 ed the Forest Branch of the Depart- 

 ment of Lands, it has been the aim 

 to have a professional service, that is, 

 a service composed of men who have 

 undergone training in the technical 

 side of the business. This practice is 



now being followed everywhere that 

 governments have control of forest 

 wealth. British Columbia took the 

 lead in Canada in that respect and 

 only recently Ontario, profiting by the 

 drastic experience it has had in the 

 tremendous waste of timber wealth 

 in northern Ontario through disas- 

 trous forest fires, has adopted the 

 most of British Colubmia's forest 

 protection methods. The fact, too, 

 that the provincial branch has been 

 co-operating in many material ways 

 with the federal authorities in forest 

 protection and that this joint work 

 has done great good in reducing the 

 timber loss from fires to a minimum 

 is indicative of the necessity that in 

 the future the efficiency of the service 

 should be maintained at the very 

 highest point. The present Chief 

 Forester, Mr. M. A. Grainger, is also 

 a strong advocate of ' a technically 

 trained service, and while, since the 

 war began, the service has lost 

 through enlistments some of its best 

 field men, it is his desire to keep the 

 service up to the previous standard." 



Douglas Fir on British Railways. 



As evidence of the remarkable 

 strength of Douglas fir, an ofTicial of. 

 one of the great British railways in a 

 letter to an official of the British Co- 

 lumbia forestry department, stated 

 that out of 616 railway ties of Doug-; 

 las fir laid down more than 16 years 

 ago, on a main line over which traffic 

 of fifteen million tons per annum 

 passed, only 23 had been renewed, 

 the remainder being still in good con- 

 dition. 



British Columbia possesses an in- 

 exhaustible supply of this magnificent 

 timber observes the Vancouver Sun, 

 and undoubtedly it will compete 

 successfully with other timber in the 

 markets for building timber which 

 will be opened in Europe when the 

 war ends. Present indications are 

 that Douglas fir will be a source of 

 immense wealth to this province at 

 the close of the war. 



