588 



office it 'found that thousands upon thousands of logs were being 

 floated down the streams by trespassers. It was necessary to bring 

 actions against them for the purpose of preventing that sort* of thing,' 

 and the amounts have been less and less up to this day, and the tres- 

 passes h^e been less and less up to this date, showing the efficiency 

 with which this matter has been looked after on behalf of the forest 

 commission. 



Then you come to the question of fires; the evidence has been very 

 full, very elaborate upon the question of occurrence of forest fires; 

 the reasons for their occurence, the fact that there was no method for 

 their prevention, that there was no system, by which they 

 could be managed up to the time the forest commission took charge, 

 has necessitated a method by means of fire wardens and other persons 

 by which a fire can be arrested when in progress and it has distributed 

 literature for the purpose of preventing forest fires. That forest 

 fires are much fewer than they were at the time the forest commission 

 took charge of ,the State lands, the very fact that trespasses 

 have almost ceased, justifies the work of this commission if 

 there had been nothing done beside. In speaking of that let me call 

 attention to the fact that the statement as to the expenditures of the 

 forest, commission are not borne out on the Comptroller's books. In 

 1886, as shown by -the report of the Comptroller, the expenditures of 

 the forest commission were $16,684, and in 1887, $24,947, in 1888, 

 $24,686, in 1889, $26,793, in 1890, $27,070; while during the same time 

 the. State expended for the State Reservation at Niagara in 1886, 

 $156,121.51; in 1890, $137,500. Also during 1886, when the forest 

 commission expended about $17,000, the commissioners of fisheries 

 expended $27,000; the State museum, $21,000; dairy commission 

 $54,000 and the board of health, $25,000. In fact, the forest com- 

 mission has been one of the most economical administrations and 

 cheapest, besides, connected with the administration of the State gov- 

 ernment, and that is borne out by the figures which are in evidence here 

 in the Comptroller's report and the mere fact that it has not paid for 

 itself is no more a ground of criticism than it would be a just ground 

 of criticism to say that the police force of the city of Albany should 

 be abolished because there were no moneys collected by reason of not 

 finding stolen goods or the detection of larcenies so that the parties 

 are obliged to pay into the city treasury the value of the property 

 which they have found to be stolen. It is a question of prevention 

 It is a question of the. prevention of trespasses, where the forest com- 

 mission has done its work; a question of the prevention of fires; a 

 question of the care and custody of the State lands and not a ques- 



