159 



With respect to principal lumbering districts, the Ottawa valley, so far as the 

 export trade is concerned, was by far the most productive, the area drained by 

 the Ottawa and its branches being about 8,000 square miles. Over four-fifths of 

 the square white pine shipped to the United Kingdom is manufactured in this 

 valley. 



The chairman remarked that altogether the average area of timber lands in 

 the Dominion is about 280,000 square miles, The river Saguenay and St. Maurice 

 drain large regions extensively timbered. 



Great Britain imports masts and spars from Puget Sound, and some splendid 

 pine boards from British Columbia find their way to the workshops of furniture 

 manufactories in London ; but the cost of freight is so great that it will effectually 

 preclude importation from that quarter on a large scale. There is not sufficient 

 freight outward to occupy a small fleet, and the journey is too long and costly to 

 entice vessels merely for a return cargo. 



Of the $30,000,000 to $35,000,000 worth of soft woods imported annually by 

 France during the five years preceeding the late war, only a very small proportion 

 was obtained from Canada a few cargoes of spruce and red pine. The French 

 do not seem to value the white pine. This may arise from the fact that the native 

 hard woods are used very extensively in household construction. Of birch, a very 

 fair quantity enters into consumption in England, large shipments being made 

 from the Maritime Provinces. 



It has been computed that the lumber trade of the Ottawa valley alone 

 affords employment to upwards of 25,000 men. 



In regard to the duration of timber supply in the north of Europe, a definite 

 answer could not be given. Russia is credited with a large forest area, that 

 might be made available by railroads. Austria likewise possesses some magnificent 

 forests in the centre of Europe, which can only be reached by similar means. 

 Whether so bulky an article as timber can bear the expense that such transporta- 

 tion in Europe would involve, can only be decided by experience. It is true 

 that the European governments are beginning to show a great deal of interest in 

 protecting the forests ; but this newly awakened feeling does not owe its existence 

 entirely to any desire to promote the exportation of forest products, but rather to 

 the fact that they are alarmed at the injuries sustained by the arable land conse- 

 quent on stripping the hills and river banks of their wood. 



With respect to the waste attending the system of leasing limits, by selecting 

 the best logs and allowing a large portion of the trees to rot in the woods, it was 

 deemed to have been greater formerly than at present, the present tenure of these 

 leases being looked upon as so secure that no apprehension of arbitrary inter- 

 ference on the part of the government is now entertained. There is, of course, 

 great waste in the manufacture of square timber, as one-fourth of the best part of 

 the tree was left in the woods in the form of chips. The present system of 

 imposing dues does not present an inducement to waste, but there was a time 

 when a sort of premium was paid for cutting only the largest size of timber 

 because the dues were the same on the smallest sticks as on the largest. At the time 

 referred to, the dues were computed by the piece, red pine at thirty feet average, 

 and white at seventy feet, and the object of the lumberman was, consequently, to 

 cut sticks as large as he could. 



With respect to the replanting of denuded timber lands, the witness replied 

 to an inquiry touching the feasibility of the measure, as follows : 



' It is difficult to understand how some steps in this direction have not been 

 take;i. In the Provinces of Ontario and Quebec, the local governments derive a 

 handsome revenue from the timber-lands, and yet they seem to regard their 

 disappearance with perfect indifference. Every tree that is felled contributes to 



