39 



more to the country than to have so many dollars paid into the land 

 office, and have the property lie in a state of nature and undeveloped. 



Tliere is a wrong system practised in Ontario and Quebec, the sel- 

 ling of mining lands by auction. When a valuable ore has been dis- 

 covered in a section of country the excitement gets strong, and the 

 land office is flooded with applications for lots, and to satisfy, not the 

 discoverer, but contending parties, the properties are advertised and 

 sold by auction, and the competition raises the pi'ice beyond that whick 

 a miner can afford to pay. The discoverer is not rewarded, and the 

 property falls into the hands of a more wealthy man, a speculator, who 

 will not work it himself, but purchases it on the chance of a rise in 

 value, which fails to come, and the properties so rold remain unde- 

 veloped. The district ought to be opened as a free-grant mining camp, 

 and the properties would be developed under proper mining laws and 

 inspection, and the country receive many times more benefit than by 

 selling it unconditionally. 



The vast importance to a country of the proper development of its 

 mineral wealth renders this subject one requiring the attention and care- 

 ful consideration of our legislators and citizens. 





