660 



Canadian Forestry J onrnal, August, igi6 



— both government-owned and oper- 

 ated — the Transcontinental and the 

 T. and N. O. 



The Private Owned Lines. 



What about the record of the four 

 other railways — non-Government- 

 owned — in Ontario? The patrolmen 

 on these lines are appointed direct 

 by the companies, subject to the 

 regulations of the Board of Railway 

 Commissioners of Canada. A total 

 of 110 fires was ascribed to the rail- 

 way zone of the C. P. R., C. N. R., G. 

 T. R. and Algoma Central, but only 

 59 of these were of "known railway 

 causes," doing a total damage of $4,- 

 156.25. 



With our attention focused upon 

 the foregoing piece of information, 

 that on the four company-owned 

 railways in Ontario fires from 

 "known railway causes" accounted 

 for damage amounting to $4,156.25, 

 and being anxious to learn the origin 

 t)f the really serious timber losses 

 sufficient by Ontario in an average 

 vear, we peruse the department's 

 declaration that 57 per cent of all 

 fires in Ontario forest lands in 1915 

 were reported by rangers patrolling 

 the Government-owned railway 

 lines. 



The year 1915 was, of course, a 

 period of comparatively small dam- 

 age by forest fires. Then what of 

 1914, a bad fire year? The Ontario 

 Department of Lands and Forests 

 declared that 95 per cent of all fires 

 knowm to the Department were re- 

 ported by rangers patrolling rail- 

 way lines, though only 30 of these 

 caused damage to timber. 



A False Impression. 



The impression given to the 

 reader b}^ these annual reports is 

 wholly inaccurate. He would as- 

 sume, naturally, that the railways 

 were indulging in a carnival of de- 

 struction, whereas, by the Depart- 

 ment's own figures, the "known rail- 

 way fires" of four oi the six rail- 

 ways, did a little over $4,000 damage 

 to Ontario forest srrow^th in 1915. 



Resolving into the plainest pos- 

 sible form all the information re- 

 ceived in 1915 in regard to Ontario's 

 forest guarding we learn that: 



One hundred and rwenty-nine 

 men, employed by the province to 

 patrol the Transcontinental and the 

 Temiskaming and Northern Ontario 

 railways reported 317 fires, while the 

 C. P. R., G. T. R., C. N. R. and Al- 

 goma Central reported through the 

 twelve government inspectors 110 

 fires. 



One hundred and sixty-six men 

 on Ontario's forest reserves reported 

 52 fires. 



One hundred and seven men on 

 unlicensed Crown lands reported 61 

 fires. 



Two hundred and c?ghty-six men 

 ranging the Crown lands under 

 license reported 56 fires, ''^7 doing 

 no damage." 



On the face of this showing, 559 

 rangers, working in districts back 

 from the railways managed to re- 

 port about half as many fires as 129 

 rangers working along two public- 

 owned railway lines. 



These figures, undoubtedly, are 

 not capable of disclosing more than 

 a confused fraction of the actual 

 story. 



Who will credit for a moment that 

 95 per cent of the forest fires in On- 

 tario in 1914 originated within the 

 railwav zones? or that 286 men 

 diligently patrolling 10,000,000 acres 

 in 1915 could discover only 19 fires 

 causing damage? or that 107 men 

 can give even the shadow of real 

 protection to 50.000.000 acres of un- 

 licensed Crown Lands containing 

 more or less merchantable timber? 



A Few.Explanations. 



How, then, are these puzzling 

 pieces of information to be accepted? 



One obvious explanation of the 

 high percentage of timber losses 

 ascribed to the railway zones is that 

 railwav patrol is intensive ana rair- 

 Iv well supervised. On the Trp---^- 



