Current Literature. yy 



at the removal of existing anomalies. To this end they recom- 

 mend a cruise of all Crown grant timber lands to arrive at a 

 proper valuation for tax assessment purposes ; an adjustment, on 

 renewal, of rentals, royalties, and regulations, as between lessees 

 and licensees to equalize payment ; that rates of rental and royalty 

 upon licenses should not be fixed more than one year in advance ; 

 and that holders of tanbark and pulp leases should be granted the 

 right to cut mill timber. Between 1901 and 1903, pulp leases 

 were granted to the extent of 554 square miles. These were for 

 21 years at a rental of two cents an acre and a royalty of 25 cents 

 per cord of pulpwood, and carried an obligation to erect a pulp 

 mill of specified capacity. This condition was seldom carried out, 

 the operation becoming a sawmill business with timber procured 

 at $12.80, instead of $140, a mile. To remove this unjust compe- 

 tition with licensees it is recommended that a cruise be made to 

 determine the amount of pulpwood and of saw timber on the 

 leasehold, and that the lessees be required to take out a special 

 license to cover their lumbering rights, the rental for this to bear 

 the same proportion to that paid by other licensees as the average 

 stand of mill timber on the lease bears to the average stand under 

 license in that district, less two cents an acre. The continu- 

 ance of the present reservation of all Crown timberland is urged, 

 with fire-damaged areas and fractional areas adjoining existing 

 leaseholds or timber limits to be licensed first. In future sales, 

 the berth should be surveyed and timber cruised, an upset price 

 fixed, and license sold at auction, the timber to be removed in five 

 years. The discontinuance of handloggers' licenses is recom- 

 mended on the groimd that the timber is cut under conditions 

 difficult of control. 



The recommendations concerning regulations and administra- 

 tion have to do with a forest policy, in which the future of the 

 province is kept strongly in mind. In brief, these embrace cut- 

 ting regulations requiring the taking of all trees down to 14 inches 

 diameter breast high and tops to 10 inches, cutting of low stumps, 

 and use of the saw. In addition, royalties should be collected 

 upon all merchantable timber left in the woods and operators 

 required to dispose of debris. The organization of fire patrol 

 system is urged, the cost to be shared equally between the govern- 

 ment and the licensees. Later, when survey has delimited the 

 boundaries of unalienated timber lands in any district it is 



