47 



FORESTRY IN THE COLONIES AND IN INDIA.* 



A circular containing questions relating to colonial timber was addressed by 

 the Secretary of State for the Colonies to the administrative heads of the various 

 British possessions in 1874, from the replies to which it appears that in none of 

 the six Provinces of the Dominion had measures been taken to secure the replant- 

 ing of cleared areas, or the afforestation by natural reproduction, notwithstanding 

 an enormous and growing consumption. 



In the Province of Ontario more than 87| per cent, of the timber annually 

 cut was exported, and, looking to the magnitude of the timber exports, it was 

 remarkable that so little had been done to prevent the threatened exhaustion of 

 the chief article of trade in the Province. 



In Nova Scotia the amount of timber annually cut was estimated to exceed 

 by 25 per cent, the amount which could be cut each year without permanent 

 in] ury to the forests, while in Prince Edward Island the amount annually cut exceeded 

 nearly seventeen times the quantity which would represent a prudent rate of 

 consumption. 



The timber resources of British Columbia were declared by local authorities 

 to be practically inexhaustible, but it is probable that, should the whole strain of 

 the demand be thrown upon British Columbia, a few years would make a very 

 perceptible inroad upon the stock of native timber situated in accessible districts 

 of the Province. 



The importance of this trade to the commercial prosperity of the Dominion 

 will be exemplified by the following table, compiled from materials contained in 

 returns issued by the Board of Trade. 



Comparative cables of money values of timber and corn (grain) exported to 

 the United Kingdom during five years ending 1876. 



Timber and corn (grain) are the chief exports of the Provinces of the Domi- 

 nion, but the value of the timber exports exceeded the value of the corn exports by 

 more than one-third, and constituted nearly one-hall of the total value of all the 

 exports from the Dominion to the United Kingdom. 



The returns exhibit, in a striking manner, the urgent need for some prompt 

 and comprehensive action to st ly the influences at work to destroy the indigenous 

 forests, which constitute, in many instances, the principal natural riches of the 

 colonies. There is a tendency in newly-settled countries to regard the timber as 



* Scblich : In Proceedings of Royal Colonial Institute, vol. xxi., 1889-90. 



