26 CANADIAN FORESTRY ASSOCIATION 



a partial drying of our rivers and streams, and will mean the diminution of 

 our fish and game. It is then from a triple point of view that efforts 

 should be made to assure the protection of the forests, and as a representa- 

 tive of the Quebec Association for the Protection of Fish and Game at this 

 meeting, I desire to lay particular emphasis on this point, namely, that our 

 forests already under reserve should be so managed as to guarantee the pro- 

 tection of the fish and game as well as that of the timber. 



OUR FOREST INDUSTRIES. 



Our neighbours in the United States are alarmed, and with good rea- 

 sons, at the rapid depletion of their forests and economists have predicted 

 that 25 years will see the total disappearance of their forest domains. With 

 such an example before us, our country owes it to itself to conserve its 

 forest wealth, upon which so many of our people depend for their existence. 



Gentlemen : Will you allow me to give you some statistics on this ? 

 Our forest industry, if we rely upon the census of 1906, gave a living to 

 78,000 working men employed in different shanties, saw mills, pulp mills, 

 etc. Estimating five persons to the family of each working man this will 

 give nearly 400,000 persons, or practically 6 per cent of the total population 

 of Canada, which is dependent upon the forest industry. 



The many important reports and speeches that have and will be made 

 by those who are familiar with the situation, will not necessitate my touch- 

 ing upon the political or social economy features of this question, but I may 

 be permitted to say a few words in so far as the Province of Quebec i& 

 concerned. 



It is admitted that we possess practically the largest wooded domain in 

 America, if we except the Province of British Columbia. As the forests 

 in that Province are far away from the European market, and are not situ- 

 ated in as good a position as those in the Province of Quebec, or of our 

 neighbours in the United States, it naturally follows that we may rightfully 

 claim the largest available forest lands in Canada. 



SETTLERS AND LUMBERMEN. 



Laws have recently been passed, which are bringing about good results 

 for the conservation of our forests, and have already created a better under- 

 standing between the settler and the lumberman, but further work remains 

 to be done for the better classification of what is to be understood as agricul- 

 tural land, and what is considered to be timbered soil. When this is accom- 

 plished, in my opinion, it will be better for both the settler and the lumber 



