140 COMMISSION OF CONSERVATION 



Largely through the influence of the Commission 

 Legislation °^ Conservation, legislation was secured in 191 1 authoriz- 

 ing the requirement of patrols by railway employees ; 

 and the Commission was also largely instrumental in drafting and secur- 

 ing the final issuance of Order 16,570. 



In addition to the enforced use of fire-protective appliances on 

 locomotives, the non-use of lignite coal, and the construction of fire- 

 guards, contained in previous Orders, the new Order provided for special 

 patrols by railway employees, the inclusion of the whole field force of 

 railway employees in the fire-protective organization, the regulation 

 of the burning of inflammable material along rights-of-way and the 

 extension of the Order to cover the construction as well as the operating 

 period. 



This Order goes further in placing upon the railway companies 

 themselves, where it belongs, the responsibility for preventing fires 

 along their lines, than does any similar legislation in the United States or 

 Canada ; and it may therefore be said with propriety that Canada 

 has, in this respect, assumed a distinctly leading position on this con- 

 tinent. As to lines in Canada not subject to the jurisdiction of the 

 Board, the requirements imposed upon railway companies as to fire- 

 protective measures are distinctly more progressive in British Columbia, 

 Ontario and Quebec than in the other Provinces. 



Late in May, the Forester of this Commission was appointed 

 Chief Fire Inspector for the Board, in pursuance of a co-operative 

 arrangement between Hon. Mr. Sifton and the late Chief Commissioner 

 Mabee. 



Organizing "^^^ organization of the railway fire work was im- 



the Field mediately taken up. Conferences were held with railway 



officials in the West, and with representatives of the 

 Department of Lands, of British Colimibia and of the Forestry and 

 Parks Branches, Department of the Interior. Letters of instruction 

 were then issued by the Chief Fire Inspector to the various railway 

 companies in British Colimibia, Alberta, Saskatchewan and Mani- 

 toba, prescribing the measures to be taken by each for the prevention 

 and control of fires during the balance of the fire season. 



In order to insure proper enforcement of the various requirements, 

 arrangements were made whereby certain officials of the British Coliim- 

 bia Forest Branch and of the Dominion Forestry and Parks Branches 

 were appointed fire inspectors by the Board of Railway Commissioners. 

 These field inspectors were given authority to modify the requirements 

 according to local needs, thus ensuring adequate protection at a mini- 



