190 FORESTRY IN CANADA. 



established as national playgrounds, and they include areas 

 wherein the scenery, fishing, hunting and historic associations are 

 attractive to Canadian and foreign tourists. The greatest parks 

 are situated in the mountain regions of the western provinces and 

 smaller parks throughout the Dominion. The timber in these 

 parks is protected by the parks branch and disposed of when 

 desirable, so that the parks may act as forest reserves dedicated 

 to a certain extent to timber production, fish, game and birds. 

 In some parks, buffalo, elk, moose, deer and other animals are 

 also preserved. During the war the average annual expenditure 

 amounted to £60,000, and the receipts to £10,000, including £340 

 from the disposal of timber. 



Commission of Conservation. — This Commission consists of 

 20 members appointed by the Governor in Council, in addition to 

 ex-officio members. They hold office at pleasure. The Ministers 

 of Agriculture, the Interior and Mines, as well as a member of each 

 provincial Government, who is charged with the administration 

 of the natural resources of such province, are ex-officio members 

 of the Commission. The duties of the Commission are to consider 

 questions relating to the conservation and better utihzation of the 

 natural resources of the country, to make inventories, collect and 

 disseminate such information, conduct investigations, and frame 

 such recommendations as seem conducive to the accomphshment 

 of those ends. The Commission does not act in an executive 

 capacity ; its duty is to inform and advise. The Commission is 

 divided into a number of Committees, one of which deals with 

 forestry assisted by an expert on the subject. Two special fines 

 of investigation occupy the Committee, namely, the extent and 

 character of the forest resources of the several provinces, and the 

 study of the conditions of reproduction and growth in the pulp- 

 wood forests of Eastern Canada. The Commission pubfishes each 

 year a report on the work of the year ; also special reports and a 

 monthly bulletin entitled " Conservation." 



Board of Railway Commissioners — Fire Inspection. — The Board 

 supervises fire protection on a length of railway lines extending 

 to 38,624 miles. Along the whole of these lines all measures 

 necessary to prevent forest fires must be taken, such as the 

 removal of unnecessary combustible matter, the provision of 

 efficient spark arresters, the prohibition of dumping of fire, live 



