12 CANADIAN FOEESTET ASSOCIATION. 



and by the lumbermen, through the fire ranger system now in vogue, but 

 in the large areas in process of settlement there is absolutely no attempt 

 to control the situation, and the fire laws now in force (I refer more par- 

 ticularly to Ontario, with which I am familiar), are practically of no use 

 whatever. The provisions in that Act regarding railway locomotives are 

 quite impracticable, and, consequently, a dead letter. Settlers are allowed 

 to set out fires for clearing purposes at their own sweet will, frequently with 

 disastrous results, and the whole Act is largely inoperative and ineffective. 

 I would suggest the advisability of appointing a special committee of the 

 Association to consider this question with a view to submitting a proper 

 Act for the prevention of forest fires, to the various legislative authorities. 

 Suggestions have been made from time to time, and resolutions passed on 

 this subject, but it seems to me that if we were to embody our ideas in a 

 concrete form, such as a suggested Parliamentary Bill, it would receive 

 consideration. 



"The recent creation by the Dominion Government of a Commission 

 of Conservation is calculated to have a very important effect on the in- 

 terests we have at heart, and is, I take it, largely an outcome of the agita- 

 tion carried on so long by this Association. 



"I trust the present Convention may be an unqualified success, and that 

 the action of the Provincial Government in making it possible for the Con- 

 vention to be held in Fredericton may go far to educate public opinion in 

 New Brunswick towards the conservation of her forest resources." 



ADDRESSES BY REPRESENTATIVE MEN. 



Short addresses by representative men, bringing greetings from differ- 

 ent localities, were then made by: Hon. B. F. Pearson, of Halifax, for 

 Nova Scotia; Mr. Irvine C. Williams, Deputy Commissioner of Forestry, 

 of Harrisburg, Pa., for Pennsylvania; Mr. H. J. P. Good, for the Do- 

 minion Exhibition, St. John, and Mr. J. M. Macoun, Ottawa, for the Geo- 

 logical Survey of Canada. 



Mr. Pearson dealt with the need for care for the reproduction of the 

 forest. Mr. Good urged an exhibit of Canadian woods at the St. John 

 Exhibition, and Mr. Macoun showed how the Geological Survey was 

 ready to supply Canadians with information concerning the northland 

 from Labrador to Yukon. Mr. Macoun said the pulpwood question of 

 New Brunswick was the pulpwood question of Canada. He had resigned 

 from the Directorate of the Canadian Forestry Association last year in 

 order to allow the pulp interests to be represented. Not that he supported 

 them, but he felt they should be represented. Mr. Williams was the only 

 one to speak at length. A brief of his remarks follows: 



