126 ROYAL SOCIETY OF CANADA 



in Nova Scotia be issued to the Duke of York, and that on the report of 

 the Attorney-General the form of the grant had been practically decided 

 in 1792, the grant was concurred in and formally issued on August 25th, 

 1826. 



By this grant the King gave to His Eoyal Highness Frederick Duke 

 of York and Albany, all the mines of gold and silver, coal, ironstone, 

 limestone, slate-stone, slate-rock, tin, copper, lead and all other mines 

 and ores and all Beds and seams of gold, silver, coal, ironstone, limestone 

 slate-stone, slate-rock, tin, clay, copper, lead and ores of every descrip- 

 tion belonging to His Majesty in the province of Nova Scotia, except 

 such mines as by virtue of any grant or lease given by the sovereign or 

 any governor of the province, had been opened, and were at the date of 

 the grant then in course of working. 



This sweeping grant was transferred to the General Mining Asso- 

 ciation of London, who promptly opened extensive coal mines in Cape 

 Breton, Pictou and Cumberland counties, after buying out several 

 parties mining on a small scale under leases from the Provincial Gov- 

 ernment. 



Some years after the passage of the grant it was pointed out that 

 it was virtually a perfecting of the original grant, proposed in 1788, 

 Cape Breton being then a province separate from Nova Scotia, when it 

 was reannexed to Nova Scotia in 1820, six years before the grant issued. 

 On the principle of interpretation of grants in favour of the Crown, the 

 contention was considered to be well founded that the minerals in Cape 

 Breton did not pass with the grant. A subsequent declaration ex- 

 tended the grant so that it would include the Cape Breton minerals. 



The Governors of Nova Scotia were probably advised confidentially 

 of this proposed grant of 1788, for no attempt appears to have been 

 made to open any coal mines on a practical scale. In 1784 the leasing 

 and even the official working of coal appears to have been discouraged 

 by an order of the Privy Council. 



At first this cession of the mineral rights of the province was re- 

 garded with approbation as large sums were expended in opening and 

 working mines. Gradually public opinion changed and the grant was 

 denounced as improvident and oppressive. After repeated attempts to 

 induce the English Government to cancel the grant, an arrangement was 

 arrived at in 1858, whereby the' General Mining Association retained 

 large tracts of coal in the counties of Cape Breton, Pictou and Cumber- 

 land, paying a royalty on the sales; and their other mineral rights re- 

 verted to the Government of Nova Scotia. The province, therefore, 

 resumed control over all the minerals in its ungranted lands, and in the 

 lands granted between August 25th, 1826, and the date of the settlement, 



