CANADIAN FORESTRY ASSOCIATION . H 



country, which have been widely noticed by the press, and this, together 

 with the bulletins sent out by Mr. Jacombe, our Assistant Secretary, in 

 Ottawa, has served to keep the public well informed as to the forestry sit- 

 uation in Canada, and to create an interest in the work of our Association. 



"The question of discontinuing the publication of the Forestry Journal 

 was considered by your Executive, and it was decided to continue it tor the 

 present. Efforts were made to secure arrangements with publishing houses, 

 by which it could be converted into a monthly journal, but so far we have 

 not been able to conclude satisfactory arrangements, to make such a pub- 

 lication financially possible. 



"In 1908 the Federal Government inadventently failed to pass the usual 

 vote to the Association. This was remedied the next session, however, and 

 $4,000, the usual appropriation for two years, was made for last year. I be- 

 lieve the estimates for the current year will include the sum of $2,000. The 

 Government of Ontario likewise omitted this vote from their estimates, 

 and although the omission was not made good, the usual sum of $300 is 

 in the estimates for this year, and we hope that the number of the Pro- 

 vincial Governments assisting in our work will be increased. 



"Some progress has been made in the direction of better methods and 

 although little legislation so far, has followed, I believe that our legisla- 

 tors are aware of the change of public opinion in this direction, and are 

 likely to crystallize in legislation and executive action, in the near future, 

 measures that will tend towards a conservation of our forest wealth, par- 

 ticularly in the Provinces of Ontario and Quebec, as well as in the lands 

 controlled by the Dominion Government, in the West. British Columbia 

 also, has gone the length of withdrawing all the remaining Crown timber 

 lands from sale, until the special committee, already appointed for the pur- 

 pose shall have made in their report suggestions to the Government, on 

 which to base legislation, regulating the cutting of timber in that Province. 

 In Quebec, likewise, a very advanced position has been taken by the 

 Department of Crown Lands, and in Ontario, clear intimation was given by 

 the Minister of Lands and Forests, to members of this Association, when 

 meeting in Toronto, that a change in the relationship between' the Govern- 

 ment and the limit owners was imminent. 



"The relations now existing between the Crown and the licensee, or 

 limit holder (a relationship that has existed for many years, and that was 

 created under vastly different conditions than obtain to-day), are no doubt 

 unsatisfactory, and not in the interest of the Province, or possibly, of the 

 lumberman either, but it is to be hoped that in the change likely to take 

 place the securing of increased revenue to the Province will not be con- 

 sidered the main issue in making a change, but rather the adoption of cut- 

 ting regulations that will look to a perpetuation of the forest and the 

 lumber business, which, next to agriculture, is the largest industry in 

 Canada. 



"Among the matters that should be the subject of legislation none, 

 in my opinion, are of more importance than fire protection. Some ad- 

 vance has been made in the protection of the forests held by the Crown 



