ARE WE PROGRESSING?
Present-day carelessness in regard to forest fires would receive a decided check if the penalties therefor enforced in the days of Frederick the Great were re-enacted. In a proclamation on December 3, 1775, the Emperor decreed that “Anyone starting a fire in or within 100 paces of a forest, or using a pitch torch or any fire when fishing in any lakes within and on streams or creeks flowing through a forest, or who smokes tobacco during the dry or summer season within a forest, even though no damage be done, shall be punished with a 4-week gaol sentence, and, if any damage results, shall pay such damage. Any person wilfully or maliciously starting a fire in a forest, with intent to damage said forest, shall be punished with a 10-year penitentiary sentence at hard labour, and upon establishing the moral responsibility the sentence may be increased even to the death penalty.”
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https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/periodicals/FORBI19311001.2.7
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Forest and Bird, Issue 25, 1 October 1931, Page 5
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155ARE WE PROGRESSING? Forest and Bird, Issue 25, 1 October 1931, Page 5
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