40 



Canadian Forestry Journal, March, 1914. 



slash burning, the general opinion being 

 stronglj favourable, and in this respect was 

 summed up by President Flewelling in the 

 statement that it should be made impera- 

 tive that slash should be burned, leaving it 

 to the different associations to fix the right 

 time. 



Eegarding wireless telegraphy, it was felt 

 that it might be made of use in supplement- 

 ing the regular telephone system, but that 

 further improvements were required before 

 it could replace the same. 



Mr. Clyde Leavitt told of the work being 

 done, under the Dominion Eailway Commis- 

 sion and the different Governments, by the 

 railways to reduce forest fires from this 

 source, while Mr. E. D. Prettie, Superin- 

 tendent of Forestry for the Canadian Pacific 

 Eailway, presented the railway side of the 

 case. 



British Columbia Regulations. 



The next section of the program was de- 

 voted entirely to British Columbia. Mi. 1'. 

 F. Paterson, President of the Paterson Tim- 

 ber Co., Vancouver, read a paper which he 

 said had been framed with the object of 

 putting the British Columbia forestry de- 

 partment on the defensive, and he had no 

 doubt that Chief Forester MacMillan and 

 his associates would be able to take care of 

 themselves in the reply. Mr. Paterson 's 

 first criticism was that the B. C. coast cli- 

 mate was so damp that there was need for 

 protection for only about four months in 

 the year, yet the Forestry Department or- 

 ganization called for a staff which could only 

 be profitably employed during about a quar- 

 ter of each year. The Chief Forester was 

 evidently endeavouring to get value for 

 every dollar expended. No serious com- 

 plaints had been made, but it was safe to 

 venture the assertion that even with the 

 most careful measures considerable money 

 would be 'handed over in the form of what 

 might be called political charity to appoin- 

 tees who have to be in some way rewarded 

 for political services to the member repre- 

 senting the district in which they are em- 

 ployed. ' In regard to trail building on 

 which $150,000 had been expended, Mr. Pat- 

 erson doubted whether some of this might 

 not be unwise expenditure, as opening up 

 to tourists and others districts which were 

 now free from such dangers by their in- 

 accessability. In view of the fact that half 

 the cost of fire protection was borne by the 

 lumbermen, he suggested that there should 

 be some advisory committee elected by the 

 timber holders to consult with the Govern- 

 ment as to the expenditure of the fund. 



Mr. Peter Lund of the Crow's Nest Pass 

 Lumber Co., Wardner, B.C., said that the 

 organization of the B. C. Forestry Depart- 

 ment had been watched by the interior lum- 



bermen with interest, and the results achiev- 

 ed had been most gratifying to them. He 

 combatted, however, a recent statement of 

 Hon. W. E. Eoss, Minister of Lands, that 

 lumber prices in Canada up to 1909 had risen 

 faster than those of any other group except 

 furs. He also contended that owing to the 

 light stand of timber in the interior the 

 ground rent should be about half what it 

 was on the coast. 



Chief Forester MacMillan said that the 

 problem was to protect 250 million acres of 

 forest land with a fund of about $350,000. 

 He could not agree with Mr. Paterson when 

 he said that coast timber would not burn. 

 A view of Mr, Paterson 's old camps would 

 show that it would. They were not trying 

 to carry this work out on their own exper- 

 ience, but on the experience of all the as- 

 sociations of the Pacific coast. Two means 

 used were : legislation to prevent and control 

 the setting out of fires, and the patrol to 

 protect against the fire hazard. No trail 

 was cut without a most careful study of the 

 situation, generally extending over a year. 

 In a large proportion of the cases there 

 was an application from the lumberman for 

 the improvement. As to wasting money, not 

 a dollar was spent under cover. Every 

 patrolman was visible, and every piece of 

 work could be inspected by the public. He 

 welcomed the suggestion of the establishment 

 of an organization through which the lum- 

 bermen could act with the Government. 



Mr. E. H. Alexander of the Hastings Mill 

 acknowledged the difficulty of the problem, 

 and was glad to know that Mr. MacMillan 

 was ready to receive assistance from the 

 lumbermen in regard to the disposal of the 

 fire protection fund. 



Mr. Michael Manson of Vancouver Island 

 stated that in the district which supplied 

 sixty per cent, of the timber cut in B. C. 

 every one of the fire wardens was recom- 

 mended for appointment by the timber 

 owners. 



The convention concluded with a banquet 

 tendered by the lumbermen of British Col- 

 umbia. 



Mr. John Hendry, president of the British 

 Columbia MiUs, Timber & Trading Com- 

 pany, Vancouver, presided over the gather- 

 ing, having on his right Judge Flewelling, 

 Hon. W. J. Bowser, attorney-general of Bri- 

 tish Columbia, E.. T. Allen, and Mr. W. A. 

 Anstie, president Mountain Lumbermen's 

 Association ; and on his left Hon. W. E. 

 Eoss, Minister of Lands, and Messrs. T. J. 

 Humbird, Spokane; Geo. M. Cornwall, as- 

 sociation secretarj^ Portland; and H. E. 

 MacMillan, Chief Forester. Mr. E. H. Alex- 

 ander, general manager of the Hastings Mill, 

 officiated as vice-chairman. The affair was 

 a great success and a fitting conclusion to 

 the convention. 



