Timber Licenses. 427 



the lumber market was the result, the supply in 1847 

 being 44 million feet to meet an export of 19 million. 



New rules were promulgated in 1851, introducing a 

 ground rent system, a set price being paid per square 

 mile of limit, and doubling the ground rent for unused 

 limits each year. Needless to say, the impractica- 

 bility of this geometric progression in ground rents 

 became visible in a few years. 



The final present systems in the disposal of timber 

 limits, varying in detail, were gradually perfected in 

 varying manner by the several provincial governments, 

 but they agree in general principles, in that they 

 grant limits for a certain time, some by the year, others 

 by periods, usually 21 years, during which certain con- 

 ditions as to establishment of mills and amount of 

 manufacture without waste must be fulfilled, and a 

 ground rent, a bonus, and timber dues for all timber 

 cut are to be paid by the limit holder, details and 

 prices varying and being changed from time to time. 

 A diameter limit below which trees are not to be cut 

 also mostly prevails. Lately, sales by the thousand 

 feet B. M. have been inaugurated in Ontario, and 

 sale by the mile is to be abandoned. 



As a rule licenses become negotiable and can be 

 transferred upon paying a small fee per square mile. 



The governments reserving absolute rights to 

 change conditions of this contract at any time, the 

 interest of the licensee is to cut as fast as he can; 

 other unsatisfactory conditions leading in the same 

 direction. 



A Department of Crown Lands in the Dominion 

 government and in each province (in Nova Scotia the 



