90 CANADIAN FORESTRY ASSOCIATION 



(Applause). I may say it was lie who taught me my first principles of 

 forestry; and whilst I have not gone very far I am very glad to be able to 

 make that acknowledgment. We should not despair about this movement, 

 because it has been established only about ten years. I may say that fifteen 

 years ago in my own Province I had not given the first thought to it, 

 although the Island was then bare of its trees. But the work of this Asso- 

 ciation came to my attention, I began to take an interest in forestry, and I 

 am pleased to say that in my whole Province there has been a considerable 

 propaganda of education through the impetus given by this Association. 

 While we have not had very much reforestation, we have taught our people 

 to respect and conserve the trees, and I believe there is much more private 

 planting than ever. All this will redound greatly to the benefit of my Pro- 

 vince. (Applause). Mr. Macoun has referred to the part I took in estab- 

 lishing the Journal. I may say that I went on the Committee, not know- 

 ing very much about the business; but perhaps the man on the Committees 

 who knows least is generally the most loquacious. (Laughter). I thought 

 it was a pretty shabby thing for an Association of this kind not to support 

 an official organ, and that if it could not keep up such an organ it ought to 

 go out of existence. While the Journal has perhaps not done everything that 

 was expected of it, I think it has done fairly well. Surely we should always 

 have something ahead of us to work up to; or where would we be at all if 

 we had not the vision? I think the Journal can be made very much better. 

 It is for you to determine what kind of management you are to place it 

 under. There should be some sort of arrangement made with all the Pro- 

 vinces whereby we should find out the actual forestry conditions of each, 

 find out everything relative to the forestry question, and these results should 

 be regularly printed in our Journal whenever it is published. I hope we 

 will have a monthly Journal before very long, because I think the import- 

 ance of this Association would warrant its being published that often. 

 There is no way in which the money of the Association could be better spent 

 than by paying good writers and getting them to contribute the matter that 

 is necessary for the information of the people of this country upon the 

 question of forestry. (Applause). In 1906, I was at the great forestry 

 Convention in Ottawa, and I happened to be on the Resolution Committee 

 there. From that convention we had great hopes and I really believe that 

 something has been accomplished. 



Mr. CHOWN : How much? 



Dr. BURKE : I think that the Dominion Government has expended a 

 good deal of money in reorganizing and extending the Forestry Branch; 

 but I did think at that time, and I think still, that we will never be satis- 

 fied, on account of the importance of this interest, until we have really a 

 whole Department to itself for Forests and Mines, or something of that 

 kind; and when we get that the federal interests will be properly safe- 

 guarded, and the local interests in the different Provinces will be encouraged 



