the provisions of this section shall be liable to a penalty for each offence not exceeding twenty-five dollars;

(4) In any action for a penalty for violation of any of the provisions of sections 8 or 9, and in any action for damages occasioned, or alleged to have been occasioned, by fire from locomotive engines on any railway, said engines shall be presumed not to be provided with the most improved and efficient means used to prevent the escape of fire from the furnace or ash-pan of such engine, and the smoke-stack thereof not to be constructed as required by section 8 hereof, unless and until it is proved by the railway company or engine driver that such engine is so provided and constructed;

(5) Any company operating locomotives in this Colony shall make arrangements whereby the Government Engineer, the Chief Ranger and Assistant Ranger, and any other person duly authorized by him or them, shall be permitted to board any engine wherever the same may be stopped for any purpose, and to travel on such engine free of charge, and every facility and assistance shall be given to such Engineer, Ranger and any such other person to examine everything in connection. with said engine and its operation: Provided that no company shall be compelled to receive on board an engine more than one such person at one time. Should the said Engineer, Ranger or other person discover that the contrivances for arresting sparks or for the prevention of the escape of ashes from the ash-pan of the engine be out of order or defective, or that anything else in connection with the engine is in a condition to endanger in any way property along the railway, it shall be his duty and he is hereby empowered to order the engine to be stopped until such defect be remedied to his satisfaction.

10. Wherever a railway passes through woods the railway compay shall clear from off the sides of the railway to a reasonable distance therefrom all combustible material by safe burning or otherwise, and any company violating the provisions of this section shall be liable to a penalty for each offence of one hundred dollars.

11. Nothing in this Chapter contained shall be held to limit or interfere with the right of any person to maintain an action for damages occasioned by fire and such right shall remain and exist as though this

Chapter had not been passed. And in such action for damages proof that the defendant, or any person by his direction or authority or in his employment, or with his consent, express or implied, started such fire in violation of this Chapter, shall be conclusive evidence of negligence on the part of the defendant in starting such fire.

12. It shall be the duty of all Stipendiary Magistrates, Justices of the Peace, Deputy Surveyors and other officers of the Department of Agriculture and Mines, and of all fishery wardens, game wardens and guides, and of the Chief Ranger, and rangers appointed by him to enforce the provisions and requirements of this Chapter, and in all cases coming within the knowledge of any such officers to prosecute every person guilty of a breach of any of the provisions of the same, under a penalty of not less than ten dollars nor more than one hundred dollars for each omission of duty.

13. (1) The Governor in Council may appoint a Chief Woods Ranger, whose duty it shall be to take all suitable measures for carrying into effect the provisions of this Chapter.

(2) The duties of said Chief Woods Ranger shall include the following:

(a) To periodically travel over all woodlands, whether belonging to the Crown or private owners or under lease from the Crown;

(b) To appoint when necessary other persons to act as rangers under his direction and in such places as he may direct.

(c) To institute prosecutions against all persons offending against any of the provisions of this Chapter.

(d) To trace the origin of every woods fire and fully report the same to the Minister of Agriculture and Mines.

(e) To placard or cause to be placarded notices containing warnings with reference to woods fires throughout the Col

ony.

(f) To perform such other duties as may, from time to time, be required of him by the Minister of Agriculture and Mines.

(g) To board any engines belonging to any railway being operated in this Colony, and to instruct, when necessary, any

other persons who may be appointed either under sub-section (b) above or who may be specially appointed by him for the purpose, to board any such engines, and to travel upon the same and to examine them both regarding the apparatus with which they are fitted and regarding the manner of their operation, with a view to the proper carrying out of this Chapter and to the prevention of fire generally; and (h) To make on or before the thirty-first day of December in each year a full report to the Minister of Agriculture and Mines, setting forth the number of days spent in the performance of his duties, the number of rangers appointed, and in whose employ such rangers are, the number and extent of fires during the year, giving the origin of such fires as far as may be possible, the number of prosecutions instituted by him against offenders, and the results of such prosecutions, and all other necessary data pertaining to the duties of his office.

(3) Such Chief Woods Ranger, shall be entitled, in addition to his voted salary, for each day employed in patrolling the woods or in the suppression of woods fires, to a sum not exceeding one dollar per day, which shall include travelling expenses;

(4) Any men appointed as rangers by such Chief Ranger shall be entitled to be paid by the proprietor or proprietors of the property that they are appointed to patrol, when such persons are so appointed at the request or on the application of such proprietors.

14. It shall be the duty of the Chief Ranger, in connection with his duties in relation to the preservation of woods against fires, to be an officer for the enforcement of the Game Laws of the Colony, and he shall institute proceedings for any violation of the provisions of such Game Laws which come under his observation, or are otherwise reported to him; and the rangers appointed by such Chief Ranger shall also be ex officio while so employed game wardens.

15. The Chief Ranger under this Chapter shall have power to hold formal investigations as to the origin of fires, and may summon persons to appear before him to give evidence, and shall be authorized to administer an oath to all witnesses examined before him. The form of oath to

"You, A. B., do swear that you will make true answers to all questions that may be put to you on this examination. So help you God."

16. The evidence taken before such Chief Ranger and his report in respect to any such investigation shall, at its conclusion, be duly filed with the Magistrate of the District in which such investigation is held, and a copy sent to the Minister of Agriculture and Mines.

17. (1) Where portable mills are used in or within sixty rods of any woods, a competent person shall, during such portions of the year as the same are in operation, be employed by the owners or proprietors to act as fire watchman during such hours of the day or night as the mill is not running, under a penalty of twenty dollars a day for each day that such watchman is not employed.

(2) Every saw mill or other factory manufacturing or burning wood in this Colony shall, if it use a steam boiler, be fitted with a substantial smoke-stack, and such smoke-stack shall be of a height to be designated by the boiler inspector in accordance with the size of the boiler employed. Unless such smoke-stack exceed fifty feet in height from the ground it shall be fitted with a spark arrester, the form of which shall be approved by the boiler inspector, and the same shall be kept in good order and shall be subject to the inspection of the boiler inspector, whose duty it shall be to report all cases where these provisions are neglected or improperly carried out. It shall be the duty of the boiler inspector to draw up regulations regarding the height of smoke-stacks and form of spark arresters as above provided, and to publish such regulations in the Royal Gazette.

18. Any person tearing down, defacing or destroying any firewarning poster shall be liable to a penalty of not less than five dollars nor more than twenty-five dollars for each offence.

19. Every person entering on any timber or pulp area leased from the Crown shall, when requested to do so by the woods ranger, furnish his name, address, proposed duration of his stay, and such other information as the ranger may require.

20. It shall be the duty of the Chief Ranger and of all officials under this Chapter to erect, or cause to be erected, in a conspicuous place

at the side of every highway as they may deem proper, and at suitable distances alongside the rivers and lakes frequented by camping parties, tourists, hunters and fishermen, notices in large letters, to be furnished by the Department of Agriculture and Mines, substantially in the following form:

"Camp fires must be totally extinguished before breaking camp, under penalty of not to exceed twelve months imprisonment or four hundred dollars fine, as provided by law.

"(Signed),

"Minister of Agriculture and Mines.

Such notice shall be furnished to proprietors of timber and pulp areas by the Department of Agriculture and Mines, and shall be posted up at the expense of the said proprietors upon their respective land.

21. The woods rangers, or other officials named in this Chapter, shall report to the Chief Ranger the extent of all woods fires that occur in the district in which they reside, together with the probable amount of property destroyed, specifying the value of timber as near as may be, the amount of cord wood, logs, bark, or other woods product, fences, bridges and buildings that have been burned, the cause of such fires (if it can be ascertained), and the measures employed and found most effective in checking their progress. Forms for the reports required in this Chapter shall be furnished by the Department of Agriculture and Mines.

22. The Governor in Council may, from time to time, authorize the Chief Ranger to offer rewards for information that will lead to the recovery of any of the penalties imposed by this Chapter, and also authorize the payment of compensation to persons called upon to render aid under section 6 of this Chapter. One half of the amount so paid shall be recoverable by the Crown from the owners of the lands on which said fires occur.

23. Every prosecution for any contravention of this Chapter shall be begun within six calendar months immediately following such contra

vention.

24. All penalties imposed by this Chapter may be sued for and recovered in a summary manner before a Stipendiary Magistrate or Justice