50 CANADIAN FORESTRY ASSOCIATION 



of working over such large areas, doing the work economically and thoroughly, 

 make it necessary for us to devise new methods and more rapid ones than those 

 that have been brought to our attention this afternoon. 



We, lumbermen, have to make the proposition a commercial one. We cannot 

 afford to spend a lot of money getting scientific data which in the ordinary course 

 of events we would like to have. Our proposition is to get the most accurate data 

 for the least money possible. 



Perhaps the most crucial question before us to-day is the matter of fire protec- 

 tion. We have had practically no fire protection worthy of the name for a long 

 time past. The fire rangers, as any one can see for himself, do not properly cover 

 their territories. The system upon which they seem to work is that a couple of 

 men take a canoe and paddle leisurely along with a gun and a fishing rod and al- 

 together too often a bottle of gin. They have a good time and we get no protection 

 at all. I have seen this sort of thing over and over again, and it has come to such 

 a pass, that if we are to have efficient fire protection, we have to do it ourselves. 

 The company by which I am employed have determined this spring to send out 

 sixteen men to patrol during the whole summer the main water courses in the 

 district where they are engaged, with the idea of trying to prevent fires not to 

 put fires out, but to prevent them. 



The two great causes of fire, in our district, are river drivers and settlers. If 

 the companies would send a man with their river drivers to watch them put out 

 their fires and smudges, we would be saved from a great deal of destruction. If the 

 settlers can be taught that fire is their very greatest enemy, not only injuring the 

 interests of the companies, but those of the settlers also, we shall have taken a very 

 great step in advance. 



I have spoken of this matter with many of the cures of the Church, and they 

 have all expressed themselves as heartily willing to talk to their people and show 

 them tl\e absolute necessity of keeping down forest fires. By this means I think 

 we can do more to educate the settler and colonist than in any other way. If 

 the Church will spread amongst its people the necessity of protecting us from fire, 

 the province will have taken an immense step forward. 



On the other hand, any one who has travelled from Quebec to Lake St. John, 

 or in the Adirondack region, knows what tremendous havoc the railways have 

 caused by spreading forest fires. The absolute desertsjwhich exist to-day along the 

 lines of the Quebec and Lake St. John Railway should be a warning to all of us. 

 I would strongly urge the adoption of some stringent methods to prevent this 

 terrible devastation of our forests. 



In this connection I think that the new Transcontinental Railway through 

 Quebec, instead of proving a blessing, as it should, will probably prove one of the 



