20 



Canadian Forestry Journal, February, 1914. 



Eesolved, that this meeting recommends 

 that the serious attention of the Govern- 

 ment be drawn to the decrease of the 

 maple sugar industry, and to the denuda- 

 tion of large areas formerly covered by 

 the maple tree following the effect on the 

 maple sugar industry of the adulteration 

 and imitation of maple tree products, w^hich 

 can only be obviated by restricting the use 

 of the word "maple" to pure products of 

 the maple tree. 



Interview With Government, 



At 12.15 most of those present proceeded 

 to the office of the Prime Minister, in the 

 East Block, where they were received by 

 Et. Hon. E. L. Borden and Hon. W. J. 

 Eoche, Minister of the Interior. 



The President stated the objects of the 

 deputation, and briefly reveiwed the points 

 of the different resolutions presented, the 

 same being handed to the ministers in 

 writing. 



He was followed by Hon. Clifford Sifton, 

 Chairman of the Commission of Conserva- 

 tion, who was present by request, and who 

 spoke at considerable length on three sub- 

 jects, namely: 1. The necessity of prevent- 

 ing settlement on lands unsuited for farm- 

 ing. 2. The lack of a scientific policy on 

 Dominion timber berths, and 3. The need 

 of a trained forest service under Civil Ser- 

 vice regulations. He briefly illustrated 

 each of these points. In regard to the sec- 

 ond, he pointed out that the Branch of the 

 Department of the Interior, which sold the 

 timber, had no scientific foresters in it, 

 and nad no officers to see that the regula- 

 tions as to cutting, disposal of slash, etc., 

 were carried out. On the other hand, the 

 branch which had the trained officers and 

 field staff' was not charged with the care 

 of the timber on the licensed timber 

 berths. In connection with the third point 

 he held that both the Dominion and the 

 provinces needed a trained staff, and also 

 needed to have the appointments to the 

 same made in a way that would insure 

 that good men would get the positions, and 

 that promotions would be upon merit. He 

 gave instances where men appointed by 

 the ordinary political methods could not 

 travel a quarter of a mile into the fore§t 

 without being lost, and of search parties 

 being sent out to find forest rangers. He 

 urged that the service should be classified 

 and put under a Civil Service Commission. 

 He promised that if that were done that 

 within five years such an advance would be 

 made in forest conservation that it would 

 astonish them all. 



He pointed out that Canada was pro- 

 gressing in regard to trained men, for 

 whereas in 1899 he was informed there 

 was not one trained forester in Canada, 

 there was now as head of Toronto Univer- 

 sity Forest School Dr. Fernow, the greatest 



forester in America, and this and other 

 schools were turning out trained men. 



Hon. Mr. Sifton concluded by read- 

 ing a letter written in 1871 by Sir John 

 Macdonald, then Premier of Can'ada, to 

 Hon. John Sandfield Macdonald, then 

 Premier of Ontario, in which he said that 

 the sight of huge timber rafts continually 

 passing under his window made him anx- 

 ious that something be done to protect the 

 forests, and he was, constrained to wonder 

 what would become of the Ottawa Valley 

 after all the timber was gone. 



Mr. Geo. Y. Chown pressed the necessity 

 for employing trained foresters. He re- 

 minded the Prime Minister that in 1912 a 

 deputation from the Association had 

 pressed for the extension of Civil Service 

 regulations to the outside service. The 

 Prime Minister had said at that time that 

 he thought some action would shortly be 

 taken, and the deputation was again ap- 

 pearing to urge that that be done. 



Hon. Mr. Borden, in replying, said he 

 appreciated the importance of the matters 

 which had been emphasized. So far as a 

 trained forest service was concerned, it 

 was not only desirable, but necessary. In 

 the pressure of Parliamentary matters, the 

 subject had escaped his attention, and pos- 

 sibly the same was also true of the Minis- 

 ter of the Interior, but he was prepared to 

 take this matter up with him as soon as 

 possible. He had been thinking about the 

 subject of a Forestry Congress, of which 

 Sir Wilfrid Laurier had spoken to him, 

 and he wished to know if the deputation 

 were prepared to express any views on this 

 matter. 



Hon. Mr. Charlton said that, speaking 

 offhand, he could only say that the Cana- 

 dian Forestry Association would be im- 

 mensely pleased if the Government would 

 call such a national gathering. 



The Prime Minister, on being informed 

 that the annual meeting was still in ses- 

 sion, asked them to consider this question 

 before they concluded, and to give him 

 their views on this whole subject. 



The deputation then withdrew. 



Afternoon Session. 



The meeting reassembled at 2.30, Hon. 

 Mr. Charlton again in the chair. 



The report of the Treasurer, Miss M. 

 Eobiuson, for the year 1913, was presented 

 by the Secretary as follows: 



Receipts. 



Balance from 1912 .* $2,234.37 



Membership fees 2,466.00 



Copies of Journal 30.46 



Advertising in Jouriiiil 97.13 



Eefunds 19.00 



Grant from Dominion Government 2,000.00 

 Grant from Ontario Government. 300.00 

 Grant from Quebec Government. 400.00 

 Grant from B. C. Government.. 200.00 



