7 g 



ASSOCIATE >\ 



tlu- Ottawa rivi-r. It is .-imply an impossibility. Then, as to pulpwood : So 

 far as pulpwood has gone off Crown lands, into the province of Quebec. When it 

 does we will make inquiry about it. The Government of the province of Quebec, 

 having that idea in mind, did at one time pass a regulation requiring timber cut 

 under their license to be manufactured in the province of Quebec. We said that 

 would be altogether too narrow and that in the Dominion we must have freer inter- 

 prnvincial trade. We asked them to withdraw it and they did so. 



Hon. Mr. DAVIS, Commissioner of Crown Lands. Mr. President, I do not care 

 to be taking up your time improperly, but wish, before Mr. Bertram leaves, to say 

 a word or two with reference to one or two matters. I am responsible for the first 

 public sale of pine by the province having a time limit within which the pine must 

 be cut. The first time it occurred was the first sale that took place after I entered 

 upon the position which I hold now. The question as to time is one that is open 

 to debate and open to information. The object of the Crown is to fix such a time 

 as may be in the best interests of the lumbermen and settlers, in order that we may 

 arrive at a plan which will produce the best results generally. Now, the first two 

 sales were small sales, and the time limit fixed was ten years. There was no objec- 

 tion to it, because the areas were somewhat scattered and limited, and it seemed quite 

 sufficient to get the pine off. When the question of the last sale came up some of our 

 lumbermen friends thought, perhaps properly, that ten years was. too short a time, 

 and after consideration, I suggested fifteen years, and that seemed to meet with the 

 approval of those who mentioned the matter to me, and was fixed as the limit. Now, 

 the other side of the question is this : Take the last sale ; we are constructing a 

 railway through a portion of the country in which many of these timber limits are 

 situated which were sold in December last. We now have applications^ for land along 

 the line of that railway. Experienced men know it is utterly impossible for us to 

 allow settlers to go into an area that has been sold for pine during the currency of 

 that license, unless it is shown clearly that the pine has been cut off. Therefore, 

 with the fifteen-year limit it might be nearly fifteen years, if not quite, before we 

 could allow settlement into that country. This seemed to me a very serious situation, 

 and where settlement is likely to come in you will see that aspect of the case has to 

 be considered, and especially where limits have been sold, as these are, in a section 

 wlu-re a railway is going through, and where we expect progress and development 

 will take place. Our only object is to fix a limit that will give the best results gene- 

 rally. Areas sold years ago have been cut over, and Mr. Bertram has referred to 

 these coming back to the Crown. Now, the policy I have adopted is this : When the 

 payments have not been made for three years for ground rent, which means a for- 

 feiture, I have refused to allow them, as sometimes has been done in the past, to pay 

 up back dues and resume the license. I think in all cases I have declined to do that, 

 and these areas come back to the Crown thus giving us absolute control over 

 reforestation, &c. 



The question of timber other than pine is a very difficult one. Where the land is 

 agricultural I suppose no better plan could be pursued than the one we are now follow- 

 ing. That is, that the settler should get the advantage of the timber other than pine. 

 Where it is not agricultural land (as I took the opportunity to say in the House the 



