CANADIAN FORESTRY ASSOCIATION 65 



aries were to be final until reversed by arbitration. If one party failed to appoint 

 his arbitrator then the Crown Timber Agent took the position. Should they not be 

 able to agree on an umpire the Commissioner was to appoint one. Transfers of limits 

 were allowed subject to the approval of the Commissioner of Crown Lands. Parties 

 defying the regulations of the Department or the decision of the arbitrators were to 

 be refused further license and their berths forfeited and disposed of. Security had 

 to be given for the timber dues, &c. 



In 1855 an Order in Council was passed dealing with the ground rent question, 

 and fearing apparently that the imposition of ground rent might lead to the idea of 

 rights of ownership, and in order to prevent any misunderstanding, this Order 

 in Council contained a declaration of great importance, to wit, that the changes made 

 are not to imply that the Government cannot increase the ground rent or timber dues 

 at any time in the future as the circumstances of the trade might render it expedient. 

 Previous to the year 1857 no information could be obtained about the transactions of 

 the Crown Lands Department except by special return to the House, but on motion of 

 Mr. A. T. Gait it was, in the session of 1856, ordered that an annual report of the 

 management of the Crown domain should be submitted to the Legislature each session. 

 The first report, and it was one of the best reports that has ever been made by the 

 Department, was made for the year 1857. 



In 1857 another change was made in the time for the payment of the ground rent; 

 it was now made due on April 30 in each year, the day on which ground rent becomes 

 payable under the present regulations. The limited number of cases of competition 

 which came up under the regulations forced upon the attention of the Commissioner 

 the principle of selling timber berths by public auction, for in the report of the Com- 

 missioner of Crown Lands for the year 1859 it is stated that wherever competition 

 existed or could be excited, recourse had been had to the plan of disposing of the 

 timber by public auction. Between the years of 1856 and 1860, attention was sharply 

 drawn to the practice of people purchasing valuable timber lands under the pretence 

 of settlement, thus depriving the Crown of its revenue and the licensees of what they 

 believed to be their property. Energetic steps were taken by the Department to' stop 

 tbis system of plundering. Numerous sales were cancelled when the lands were found 

 to be valuable for the pine timber. Under the settlement regulations then prevailing, 

 strange to say, the settler could burn whatever timber he cut in the course of clearing 

 his land, but if he cut it into sawlogs and sold them he was guilty of trespass. The 

 good sound position laid down by the Governor Ruring the French regime was departed 

 from with disastrous results. The settlers were very much embittered and a deplorable 

 state of matters came about. Some remedy had to be found, consequently new regula- 

 tions were passed under which a class of license called a ' settler's license ' was 

 issued to all settlers who erected a house 16 x 20, cleared five acres in every hundred 

 and had been six months in residence. A fee of $4 was charged for these licenses. 

 Timber dues were charged upon the timber cut, and these dues were applied in payment 

 of the purchase money of the land with a refund of any money collected in excess of 

 the purchase money, less 10 per cent for collection. Any person who is familiar with 

 the history of lumbering and settlement in Canada during the period from 1856 to' 

 1866 will know the bitter feelings that existed between the settler and the timber 

 licensee, and how the department was beset with criticism and difficulties in respect 

 to clashing of interests and the providing of a remedy. Settlers' licenses apparently 

 did not meet the difficulty, and the issue of them greatly fell off until they entirely 

 disappeared. 



In 1866 new Crown timber regulations were made. Sales by public auction were 

 providt'i for. These sales were to be held on January 10 and on July 10 in each \c.\r, 

 or any other date that the Commissioner might fix. The limits were to be offered at 

 an upset price of $4 per mile, the highest bidder to have the berth. If there was no 

 bidding the berth was granted to any person paying the upset price. The Commis- 

 sioner could ^fll between the dates of auction sales at $4 per mile to any person who 



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