Mr. SPEAKER:

I have the honour to inform the House that a message has been received from the Senate acquainting this House that the Senate doth unite with the House of Commons in the Address to His Excellency the Governor General on the occasion of the approaching termination of His Excellency's official connection with

this country, by filling up the blank with the words "Senate and."

House again in Committee of Supply.

Scientific institutions-International boundaries: expenses connected with the survey and demarcation of international boundaries^ including1 $1,000 to J. J. McArthur, as International Boundary Commissioner, $37,820.

Mr. LEMIEUX:

Is this for the completion of the Alaska boundary?

Mr. MEIGHEN:

The Alaska boundary comes in. The International Boundary Commission will be closed up, and if there is another Estimate after this year, it will be only a small one for maintenance of the boundary marks.

Mr. MACKENZIE KING:

Is this $70,000 necessary?

Mr. MEIGHEN:

It will be well to have this amount in case it may be the part of wisdom to take action. I do not anticipate that we shall spend that sum.

Mr. LEMIEUX:

This amount, I suppose, is spent mostly on parks near Banff, and in connection with the herd of buffalo which Canada possesses. Perhaps the minister might explain the item.

Mr. FIELDING:

I move that the vote be considered item by item.

Mr. BUREAU:

Would it be possible to take $5,000 from this appropriation and give it to the Canadian Forestry Association, which is carrying on such excellent work? I understand that the Minister of the Interior (Sir James Lougheed), and, if I remember rightly, the Minister of Trade and Commerce (Sir George Foster), have been written to in this connection, and I think that an amount of $5,000 could be taken out of this vote for the protection of timber in Manitoba.

Mr. TOLMIE:

Mr. BUREAU:

Then I suggest that you take $1,000 from this and add it to that $4,000, because the Forestry Association needs at least $5,000 with which to carry on its operations.

Mr. JACOBS:

I suggest that the $1,000 grant to the Alpine Club ibe turned over to the forestry Association. , The Alpine Club consists of wealthy people who seem to be using this Government for the purpose of assisting them.

Mr. TOLMIE:

I will bring the matter to the attention of the minister in charge. We gave them $7,000 last year, and there is an estimate for $4,000 this year.

Mr. POWER:

Last year I urged upon the Minister of the Interior to add to the grant of $4,000 to the Canadian Forestry Association, $4,000 or $5,000 more, and I also suggested, as my hon. friend (Mr. Jacobs) has suggested, that we cut out the $1,000 which we granted the Alpine Club.

. I am sure that if the minister were aware of the good work done by the Canadian Forestry Association to preserve our forests he would take more interest in it and be willing to grant a larger sum. The Forestry Association has a car which goes from one end of Canada to the other demonstrating the best means of fire protection and tree culture. They also have moving pictures and they go among the settlers, the colons as we call them in Quebec, teaching them the best means of setting fires in order to clear the land. By means of lectures, they impress upon the people the extreme importance of preserving to our country one of its greatest natural resources, namely, the forests. If there is one object which ought to be aided by the Government, it is the work of the Canadian Forestry Association. This association has been in existence for some time, and through its efforts the provincial governments and others hqve been aroused to the great importance of forest conservation. When the Forestry Association was first instituted, I doubt whether any of the provinces had taken steps to conserve this natural heritage. Now, owing to the efforts of this association, and some of the zealous members of it in particular, we have, in nearly all of the provinces, laws which eventually will make for the adequate protection and preservation of our forests for future generations. I wish to impress once more upon the minister the fact that the Alpine Club gets a grant of $1,000 which is not justifiable. What good that club does the country, I do not know.

Last year I was told by the present Prime Minister that it brought a lot of tourists. That may be true; but so do the Canadian Pacific Railway and all the other railways and shipping lines. We might just as well give $1,000 to the Canadian Pacific Railway, or to any of the steamship companies, as to the Alpine Club, in so far as bringing strangers to the country is concerned. The lumber business certainly brings capital into the country to help to develop it, and if we could help the Forestry Association in their efforts to preserve the resources we have, we should be better off than by bringing in a few tourists to spend a few dollars in the country.

Mr. CAMPBELL:

I support the position taken by the last two speakers. I know something about the work of the Forestry Association, and it is a very great advantage to Canada at the present time. There are few things undertaken by any department of Government more important just now than the preservation of our forests. This is a matter to which we must pay careful attention. Considerable stir has been created by certain people regarding the export of pulp wood from the country. The way things are at present, however, it would be better to export pulpwood and all other kinds of wood as fast as possible, because more wood is lost every year by fire than by exportation. The big task which the Government has before it is the preservation of our forests, and the Canadian Forestry Association is doing a very important work in this respect. I emphatically endorse the proposition made by the last few speakers. Does this vote include any amount for aerial service? Is it the intention of the minister to establish an aerial patrol, if so, is anything being done in that respect, and if something is being done, to what extent is it being done? In other countries-I will not say specially in the United States, although I know something about it there-aerial services are established which are of very great moment in this connection. Far more work can be done by one aeroplane than by hundreds of men patrolling in other ways, and I would like to have some information from the minister in this respect.

Mr. TOLMIE:

In reply I beg to say that this item does include a certain amount for aerial patrol and this will be used for that purpose. In British Columbia the aerial patrol has been found very useful indeed in connection with forests. Regarding the Canadian Forestry Association, I very fully appreciate the very excellent work that it is doing. I think the appropriation of four thousand dollars is a modest one, indeed, and I will have great pleasure in bringing to the attention of the minister in charge of this department the remarks of the hon. gentlemen with reference to increasing this grant very materially. With regard to the Alpine Club,

I think they are accomplishing a great deal of good. I come from a province where we cater to the tourist trade, and we have tens of thousands of visitors to that part of the country. They leave a lot of money there every year, and we are beginning to think that the work of inducing tourists to come to British Columbia and enjoy themselves is, becoming quite an industry.

Mr. POWER:

The recent liquor legislation will assist.

Mr. TOLMIE:

It will help materially.