CANADIAN FORESTRY ASSOCIATION 123 



exhaustion; more particularly of iron and coal. Water; the great necessity 

 of adopting means for so conserving it as to promote a constant supply for 

 domestic use ; in the interest of public health ; for the purposes of navigation 

 and transportation; power for manufacturing in its many branches, and 

 for the supply of light and heat. Last, but by no means the least, the great 

 forestry question. The dangerous nearness to exhaustion under present 

 conditions; the urgent necessity of preserving the present forests; the 

 reforestration of areas already devastated by fire or exhausted by reckless 

 cutting. Not only the matter of a future commercial anad domestic supply 

 of lumber was considered, but also the influence of the forest upon the beauty 

 of the landscape, the way in which it affects the rain fall and the conserva- 

 tion of the water supply for many and varied uses. 



Words cannot express the great value and importance of this undertaking 

 in its educational effect upon the nation. If pursued, as I firmly believe it 

 will be, useful, practical and valuable results are sure to follow. 



I have no official report of this Convention and do not think that one 

 will issue for some little time, so I am quoting largely from memory. If 

 my memory serves me correctly, the report upon minerals stated that at 

 the present rate of consumption the iron of the United States, of the quality 

 now used, will be exhausted by the middle of the present century, and the 

 iron of inferior quality, which will follow the present supply, as well as 

 the coal of the country as now used, will be exhausted by the middle of the 

 next century. The report further stated that the production of both these 

 minerals was careless and most wasteful in method, and that the same 

 rule applies to the production of all minerals, including coal-oil and gas, 

 and that econorrw and more careful practice in production would much 

 prolong the life of each. 



Then as to lumber. The period of exhaustion under present conditions, 

 I think, was placed at twenty years. Now, saying nothing of the matter 

 of public health, of the exhaustion of the fertility of the lands or the dimin- 

 ished water supply, if the iron and coal of the United States are to be 

 exhausted in one hundred and fifty years, and their timber supply in twenty 

 years, what is the lesson for Canada? Is it not one for us to profit by, and 

 give thought to present conditions and the future as well, that we, too, 

 may not in a lesser or greater time place ourselves in a similar position ? 

 True, our strong position is that the greater portion of the area of the 

 country is yet new. An educational campaign followed up assidiously will 

 keep our agricultural condition fairly right. Our water supply can be main- 

 tained if the forests which yet remain are not permitted to be destroyed. 

 But our natural resources in minerals, forests and fish should be preserved 

 by all and every means. Joint action by the Dominion Government and the 

 Governments of the various Provinces, should not be too long deferred, 

 and should be carried out along lines similar to those initiated by the Presi- 

 dent of the United States. The matter of the forests, however, should not 

 be delayed a single day. I hope I may be pardoned for saying that, as far 

 as I am aware, neither the Dominion Government nor any of the Provincial 

 Governments have reports of any value whatever on the timber resources 

 of the country, and I strongly recommend that the Dominion Government 

 take action without delay to inaugurate a scheme for a very careful stock 

 taking of its entire timber supply ; and that it invite the various Provinces 

 to do the same, and do it systematically and carefully, just as a judicious 

 and competent lumberman would estimate a limit for its sale or purchase ; 

 come to a sound and correct comprehension of just how much timber we have, 



