Canadian Forestry Journal, November, 1917 



1379 



politics and men appointed to the 

 service on grounds of efficiency and 

 necessity and not on purely political 

 grounds. 



"I am talking smcerely to you men 

 and women to-night and voicing the 

 opinions of every member of this new 

 government. We mean business." 



How The Commission Feels 



As an earnest of the Union Gov- 

 ernment's intentions, the Prime Min- 

 ister requested the Civil Service Com- 

 mission to prepare at once a plan 

 whereby the outside section of the 

 Civil Service can be brought forth- 

 with under sole control of the Com- 



missioners. A meeting of the deputy 

 ministers and heads of departm.ents 

 was called by Dr. M. C. La Rochelle 

 and an illuminating discussion re- 

 sulted: 



"You need not fear," observed Dr. 

 La Rochelle, "any bad will or obstin- 

 acy on the part of the Commissioners. 

 To the contrary'-, it is their earnest 

 desire to co-operate with you and to 

 do everything to facilitate the com- 

 ing period of transition. It is their 

 intention to frame a system of exam- 

 inations, where examinations can be 

 used, which will be submitted for 

 your approval and that of the Gov- 

 ernor-in-Council." 



Searching For Aeroplane Woods 



The extensive utilization of British 

 Columbia spruce for the manufacture 

 of aeroplanes has called into the 

 service of the Imperial Munitions 

 Board a special staff of technical 

 foresters, among whom are Mr. H. 

 R. MacMillan and Mr. Roland D. 

 Craig, the latter being "loaned" by 

 the Commission of Conservation for 

 an indefinite period. 



The President of the Canadian 

 Aeroplane Company, virtually a Brit- 

 ish Government creation, when at 

 the coast recently made a thorough 

 investigation of the possibilities. He 

 said that there were great tracts of 

 spruce in the province which would 

 exactly meet the required conditions 

 for aeroplane construction. The sup- 

 ply of spruce in eastern Canada was 

 very limited and the manufacturers 

 were compelled to look to the Pacific 

 Coast. Considerable of the material 

 now used comes from Washington, 

 but the preliminary reports as to a 

 supply from .'British Columbia as well 

 as the suitability of the shipments 

 already made were causing all aero- 

 plane manufacturers to look toward 

 British Columbia. Greater length 

 and greater diameter than is now 

 being supplied is what is sought in 

 spruce for aeroplanes. One British 

 Columbia district from which good 

 reports as to a field of supply had been 

 received was in the northern section 



in the Queen Charlottes and around 

 Swanson Bay. 



The Italian government is pro- 

 posing to use fir as a substitute for 

 spruce in aeroplane manufacture ow- 

 ing to the difficulty of securing spruce 

 of proper size and quality. It is re- 

 ported that a contract for 25,000,000 

 feet has been made with Washington 

 lumbermen. 



B. C.'S TRADE POSITION 



British Columbia mills have a pos- 

 sible output of 2,500,000,000 feet 

 per annum of lumber, according to 

 an estimate made by the "Victoria 

 Colonist." On that side of the con- 

 tinent, says the "Colonist," there 

 is the largest supply of merchantable 

 timber. Pulp and paper mills when 

 fully in swing will be able to supple- 

 ment the shortage of products in the 

 east and probably indefinitely supply 

 the demand for paper. In the years 

 1912 to 1914 not more than five per 

 cent, of the foreign lumber export 

 trade on the Pacific was handled 

 from the western ports, notwith- 

 standing the natural resources, which 

 are greater than all the States to the 

 south. The figures, therefore, skow 

 that British Columbia, which is in a 

 position to supply the major portion 

 of the demand, is only in a small 

 minority in actual trade. 



