216 Report of the Forest Commission. 



elected by his associates secretary of the commission, and receive a 

 salary of one thousand dollars per annum. The other members shall 

 receive no compensation for their services, but shall be paid their nec- 

 essary expenses incurred in the discharge of their duties, as audited 

 and allowed by the governor and council. 



§ 2. It shall be the duty of the forestry commission to investigate 

 the extent and character of the original and secondary forests of the 

 state, together with the amounts and varieties of the wood and timber 

 growing therein; to ascertain, as near as the means at their command 

 will allow, the annual removals of wood and timber therefrom, and the 

 disposition made of the same by home consumption and manufacture, 

 as well as by exportation in the log; the different methods of lumber- 

 ing pursued and the effects thereof upon the timber-supply, water 

 power, scenery, and climate of the state; the approximate amount of 

 revenue annually derived from the forests of the state; the damages 

 done to them from time to time by forest fires; and any other import- 

 ant facts relating to forest interests which may come to their knowl- 

 edge. They shall also hold meetings from time to time in different 

 parts of the state for the discussion of forestry subjects and make an 

 annual report to the governor and council, embracing such suggestions 

 as to the commission seem important, fifteen hundred copies of which 

 shall be printed by the state. 



§ 3. The selectmen of towns in this state are hereby constituted fire N 

 wardens of their several towns, whose duty it shall be to watch the 

 forests, and whenever a fire is observed therein to immediately summon 

 such assistance as they may deem necessary, go at once to the scene 

 of it, and, if possible, extinguish it. In regions where no town organ- 

 izations exist, the county commissioners are empowered to appoint such 

 firewardens. Firewardens and such persons as they may employ shall 

 be paid for their services by the towns in which such fires occur, and in 

 the absence of town organizations, by the county. 



§4. Whenever any person or persons shall supply the necessary 

 funds therefor, so that no cost or expense shall accrue to the state, the 

 forestry commission is hereby authorized to buy any tract of land and 

 devote the same to the purposes of a public part. If they cannot agree 

 with the owners thereof as to the price, they may condemn the same 

 under the powers of eminent domain, and the value shall be deter- 

 mined as in the case of lands taken for highways, with the same rights 

 of appeal and jury trial. On the payment of the value as finally de- 

 termined, the land so taken shall be vested in the state, and forever 

 held for the purposes of a public park. The persons furnishing the 



