38 



receive i-evenue for inspection and office expenses if they do not sell 

 the lands as at present? The free-grants which proved paying mines, 

 on arriving at that stage if chaiged a low royalty on jjrofit, after woi-k- 

 ing expenses are paid, would yield annually a larger revenue to the 

 government than the present system of selling lots. In proof of this^ 

 the Bi-itish Crown paid the Eirl of Derby 50,000 sfcg. for the Isle of 

 JMan, and has been refunded from royalty on mines and quan ies more 

 than the sum paid for the island. 



Comuulsory working to hold a claim may be considered a small 

 thing in an individual case, as regards the amount of labor employed, 

 but take the returns for a province, or the whole Dominion, and it 

 would amount to a large sum, on all the now kno^-n valuable minerals 

 lots throughout Canada. In yearly doiog a little on a mining property 

 to hold it, new discoveries would be made, and new life given to what 

 was possibly considered a doubtful prospect. It was in this manner 

 that John W. McKay and other United States millionaires gained their 

 first start. Through being compelled to work their claims they 

 made a discoveiy which enabled them to sell or work it with profit. 

 The mining interests in Canada will never prosper till similar measures 

 are adopted. The custom of granting land to farmers under the free- 

 grant system, and not giving an -explorer, prospector or miner a free- 

 grant, under conditions similar to that of the farmer, or of compulsory 

 development of the minerals contained in the property is an injustice 

 to the mining section of the population, and for that reason settlement 

 has made progress and mining has not. 



Some parties ask " but why give away a valuable mine as a free- 

 grant 1" A mining property in this section has no more value than 

 the same amount of land, say $1.00 an a:re, which you now give to the 

 farmer. The miner would return $100 in labor each year, and de- 

 velop the mine atjd prove its value, and if it proved valuable the Gov- 

 ernment would receive a revenue from royalty as long as it paid 

 expenses. And some say: "What use would a free-grant be to as 

 miner who had not money enough to purchase it at $1.00 per acre 1'* 

 Under the free-grant plan both the farmer and the miner have energy 

 and skill to develop the value of their claims, with proper provisions 

 imposhig on them a certain amount of work yearly, and that is worth 



