The Deputy Forestry Min- ister R. G. McKee — in an obvious attempt to by-pass a public hearing—held a meet- ing in the Forest Service building in Squamish which was attended by his staff, President Bill Wilson, Re- gional 3rd _ Vice - President Bob Ross, and the press. ~ At the meeting McKee stated that the loggers were amateurs and didn’t know how to fight forest fires. He charged that the fire was started by “a couple of crazy loggers” and stated claims that the fire was under con- trol by the third day was “beer parlour talk.” When questioned by Fresident Wil- son on why the meeting was held, McKee replied, “I’m here to back up my boys.” McKee then went on to say that the Squamish fire had been particularly dan- gerous because of the high winds in the area and the large amount of slash left by the logging companies over the years. “This is why we insisted that the loggers re- main at the fire,” he stated, - “we had to have experienced men.” He conveniently forgot the fact that earlier he had called them “amateurs” in the art. of firefighting. During. the meeting he bluntly refused to admit any wrong on the part of the For- est Service. . Following the meeting Bill Wilson sent the Forestry Minister a letter protesting the blatant attempt of his deputy to whitewash the whole affair. The following is the letter in part: “The loggers in Squamish and the officers of Local 1-71, IWA, have no alternative but to consider that the hearing mentioned above was simply an attempt by officials of your Department to white- wash the situation. A num- ber of other statements were made by officials of your De- partment attending the hear- ing which were not factual in some instances and which, in other instances, are a cause of grave concern to the mem- bership of this organization. For example, both Mr. Cameron, District Forester, and Mr. Don Owen, Forest Protection Officer, stated that broadcast slash burning was mandatory upon the logging operators in the area in which the fire had burned and that as a result of Mac- Millan, Bloedel & Powell River Limited not burning their slash in this area they had paid an assessment of $7.00 per acre. The attached roughly- drawn map sets the approxi- mate boundaries of the fire and the timber sales involved. We are reliably informed ‘ that MacMillan, Bloedel & Powell River Limited did not pay an assessment of $7.00 an acre on Sale No. X67017, Blocks 1 & 2, Sale No. X60- 367, which are their holdings logged by their. own crews within the boundaries of the Levette Lake fire area. It is true that MacMillan, Bloedel & Powell River Lim- ited do have further timber CLARKE’S FLOWERS FRESHER... LOVELIER... FOR ALL OCCASIONS 100% UNION SHOP 3496 Cambie Street, Vancouver 9, B.C. Free Delivery — TRinity 4-9416 “HANEY BUSIN ESQUIRE MEN’S WEAR (Graham Mowatt) Complete Stock of Work and Dress Clothing “THE STORE WITH THE POPULAR BRANDS” BRITISH COLUMBIA HANEY STORE HOURS OPEN 9 AM TO 5:30 PM CLOSED ALL DAY MONDAY OPEN FRI, NITE ‘TILL 9 PM {| PORT ALBERNI BUSINESS GUIDE MacGREGOR’S MEN’S WEAR For Everything A Man Wears * WORK, SPORT or DRESS * Woodward stores (PORT ALBERNI) itp. YOUR FAMILY SHOPPING CENTRE SHOP AT WOODWARD'’S FOR A COMPLETE SELECTION OF Kaw Kk KKK KK STAR WORK WEAR ‘UNION MADE’ BY B.C. CRAFTSMEN Your guide to better value We Can Afford To Sell The... BEST For LESS! PHONE 723-5641 Stale liv. = 20 Wass LeveTTE LAKE FIRE AREA sales extending northward from the fire area approxi- mately 2 miles which are, namely, Sale X78102, Block 1, logged 1959-1962; X72008, logged 1961-1962; and Sale X78102, Block 2, logged 1960- 1961. The total area contained within these sales is in ex- cess of 1000 square acres and we are informed that the Company paid an assessment of $1,800.00 on portions of these sales. Even considering the fact that logging operations do not include the total area of sale holdings, it is significant to note that the $1,800.00 as- sessment paid by the Com- pany represents only an area of 257 acres which, under no stretch of the imagination could be construed to include all of the logging slash with- in the sales indicated above. When one considers further that the statements made by Messrs. Cameron and Owen were supposed to have in- cluded a further total area of something in excess of 600 acres lying within the fire boundary, it appears evident that there is a need for the review of slash burning poli- cies in the Squamish Valley. In addition to the facts giv- en above, we are reliably in- formed that MacMillan, Bloe- del & Powell River and log- ging contractors who had operated within the fire boun- daries had only been re- quired to burn landings and accumulation. We are also in- formed that these require- ments were met and that the slash lying within the fire boundaries had been passed by Mr. Henderson, the pre- vious Head Ranger in Squa-' . Ps ¥. Soe Fite Tage ae? Tih Phe on Paro Siler: rl oT PRS a a a aaa ae it aeRO Segre PNET ee The opinion of experienced loggers and logging operators is that the Levette Lake fire could have been contained in a relatively small area in the immediate vicinity of Levette Lake and was not an emer- gency situation after the third day. The fact that the fire was suppressed, but allowed to extend under control to a much larger area than neces- sary, can only be construed to have been a policy of slash burning with conscripted la- bour under the emergency powers of the Act. We wish to clearly state that our objective in this re- quest is not designed with oblique political motivation or to afford opportunities for unwarranted criticism, but simply to restore the good re- lationship of the past and ex- pose any mutual problems so that reasonable solutions to them may be found. We also wish to clearly state that in our opinion the ~ complaints of the conscripted fire fighters on the Levette Lake fire are justifiable ones and we have every intention of endeavouring to promote the safest possible conditions and to protect the human rights of our members. It is indeed unfortunate that relations between us — _ we, whose livelihood depends on the forest and the forest conservation, and the em- ployees of your department, whose duty it is to protect our forest resources, should have deteriorated to this point.” Coal Production Up In Great Britian Productivity rose by nearly eight per cent in Britain’s na- tionalized coal industry dur- ing 1962. Tonnage lost through strikes was almost halved at 1.1 million tons. Operating profit of the National Coal Board’s collieries was $130 million, before charging in- terest, compared with $66 million in 1961. After paying interest charges, mainly to the Mini- ster of Power, the Board had a surplus of $4 million — its first financial surplus for six years. Productivity was 312 ewt. per manshift and 91 cwt. per manshift of coal face workers only. By the end of 1962 some 205 major schemes for new or reconstructed collieries had been completed under the Board’s modernization plan. Another 98 schemes were in progress. Capital expenditure in 1962 totalled $25 million. HOLIDAY IN THE CARIBOO RUTH LAKE LODGE HOUSEKEEPING CABINS BESIDE THE WATER RON RILEY Box 16, Forest Grove, B.C.