Forest Policy. 363 



the revenue feature strongly enough realized to 

 attempt systematically to secure the benefit of it by 

 allowing anyone to cut timber "such as was not re- 

 quired for the na\'y" who would pay a fixed rate for 

 what was cut; a surveyor-general of woods and forests 

 being appointed to collect the timber dues. There 

 was even an attempt made to prevent waste by doub- 

 ling the rate of timber dues on all trees cut which 

 would not square more than 8 inches; this for lack 

 of supervision probably remained a dead letter. 



Lumbermen, however, found it cheaper to buy the 

 land, making only part payments, and after cutting 

 the best timber, forfeiting the land; contractors who 

 had the monopoly for cutting the timber for the royal 

 navy cut also for their own account; corruption and 

 graft pervaded the administration, which enriched its 

 followers with the revenues obtained from the timber 

 licenses. The strong hand which, in the absence of a 

 strong government, lumbermen were driven to use in 

 order to protect themselves from piracy by their 

 neighbors, or else to perpetrate such, brought about 

 many bloody conflicts. This maladministration, be- 

 sides other grievances, caused the revolution of 1837, 

 which, although readily put down, led to the union of 

 the provinces of Upper and Lower Canada in 1841, 

 and to reform of the abuses. It was then that, after 

 Lord Durham's admirable report on the situation, the 

 home government turned over the administration and 

 revenues of the crownlands to the several provincial 

 governments. In New Brunswick, where a thriving 

 export trade had been early established the dues on 

 $2 million worth of production were involved, and in 



