FIFTH NATIONAI, CONSERVATION CONGRESS 299 



The act of 1911, provided for the purchase and maintenance of the stations 

 already built and for the construction of others where necessary; eight more 

 stations have since been built, four for permanent use and four to be manned 

 only in critical times. 



The law of 1911, provided for the subdivision of towns under deputy fire 

 wardens, for the division of the State into districts and the appointment of 

 district chiefs to have charge of them, also for a series of conferences of the 

 town fire wardens for the purpose of instructing them in their duties. The 

 appropriation for fire protection was increased to $10,000.00 at this time. 



In 1913, important changes in the railroad fire law were made. The use 

 of a suitable spark arrester on all locomotives was required; section foremen 

 of the railroad companies were made deputy fire wardens, and any person cutting 

 timber adjacent to a railroad right-of-way must dispose of the slash for a distance 

 of twenty-five feet from the right-of-way. 



1901, the Society for the Protection of New Hampshire forests was formed 

 and has since unceasingly carried on a campaign of education for improved 

 forest conditions in the State. 



New Hampshire was the first State to make a co-operative agreement with 

 the Federal Government under the Weeks law, and on June 4, 1911, was awarded 

 $7,200.00 for that year. This amount was used entirely for the payment of 

 the wages of patrolmen, twenty-five being permanently employed during the 

 rest of that season. 



In the fall of 1910, the New Hampshire Timberland Owners Association 

 was formed for the purpose of co-operative fire protection. It has now thirty- 

 eight members representing timber holdings of 1,025,000 acres. The annual 

 assessment is one cent per acre. 



The plan of the Association's patrol system is to have a small permanent 

 force. This season fourteen men have been regularly employed and are stationed 

 in the most remote and dangerous sections. During dry periods about fifty 

 additional men are employed. When the danger of fire is small these men are 

 used for making permanent improvements. 



NEW JEKSEY 



NEW JERSEY has a timbered area of approximately 2,000,000 acres, the 

 stumpage on which is valued at about $8,500,000. Only a small amount 

 of this forest crop being suitable for saw-logs, the lumber industry is 

 of comparatively little importance. The State owns 13,720 acres of wild land 

 while single tracts 20,000 acres in extent are owned by individuals and munici- 

 palities as part estates and city water supplies. For the most part, however, 

 the land is in the hands of the small owner. 



New Jersey has a dense population, and probably the greatest proportion 

 of railroad mileage of any State in the Union. This is reported to be one mile 

 of railroad to every three square miles of territory. These facts make the fire 

 risk unusually great and the difficulties of protection proportionately so. 



