CURRENT LITERATURE. 



Final Report of the Royal Commission of Inquiry on Timber 

 and Forestry, British Columbia, iQOQ-igio. Victoria, B. C. 

 1910. Pp. 116. 



This most painstaking and comprehensive report is the finding 

 of the three commissioners appointed in July, 1909, to make 

 inquiry into the timber resources of the province, the preservation 

 of forests, the utiHzation of timber areas, and all related matters. 



The first half of the report deals in detail with historical and 

 statistical facts having a direct bearing upon the problems of 

 forest policy that were studied. 



A brief history of the successive legislative enactments regard- 

 ing grants, leases and licenses is first given. Prior to 1896 timber 

 lands could be acquired by purchase and Crown grant in the same 

 way and at the same rates as any other land, except that after 

 1888 a royalty of fifty cents per thousand feet was exacted on 

 all timber cut. In 1896, however, lands carrying 8,000 feet to 

 the acre, west of the Cascades, and 5,000 feet, east of the 

 Cascades, were defined as timber lands and reserved from sale. 

 The issuance of leases at a nominal rental per acre was begun 

 early, in order tO' encourage sawmill erection. Various changes 

 in the terms of lease and renewal were made from time to time, 

 till in 1905 the provision for granting leases was abolished. The 

 special license system was authorized in 1888. The first licenses 

 were non-transferable and were limited, one to one person for a 

 year and for 1,000 acres; the fee was $50 and fifty cents per thou- 

 sand feet royalty. In 1901, the berth was reduced to 640 acres 

 and the fee raised to $100. In 1903, the fees were increased to 

 $140 and $115, respectively west and east of the Cascades, the 

 license to be taken out for any period not exceeding five years 

 upon payment of rental for the number of years desired as a 

 lump sum in advance. In 1905, the license system was radically 

 changed, in that thereafter licenses would be transferable and 

 renewable yearly for twenty-one successive years ; the existing 

 licenses likewise for sixteen years. In 1910, as a result of the 

 Commission's interim report, it was provided that licenses would 



