175 



EXPORTS TO GREAT BRITAIN.* 



The timber trade of British North America is principally concentrated within 

 the Provinces of Nova Scotia and New Brunswick, and throughout the >t>- 

 Lawrence and Ottawa River basins, and north-western Ontario. 



Up to about the year 1842 and partially afterwards a very much lower 

 duty was levied in Great Britain on wood which was the produce of Canada than 

 on similar imports from European nations. This led to the fostering of a very 

 large trade, especially in hewn timber, from Quebec and the lower ports on the 

 St. Lawrence a region which forty or fifty years ago was looked upon as Great 

 Britain's principal source of supply. Large quantities of white pine and spruce 

 as well as a small supply of red pine are still exported ; the first being partly 

 hewn and partly sawn, while the second is mostly in a sawn condition. A 

 considerable quantity of oak, elm, ash and birch is likewise exported. 



The following return of shipments will best show the movements of the 

 Quebec export trade for the nine years ending with 1882. 



"--* - 



In 1874, 854 timber carrying vessels of 636,672 tons cleared out. 



1875, 642 



1876, 786 



1877, 796 



1878, 476 



1879, 433 



1880, 634 



1881, 459 



1882, 426 



478,441 

 624,110 

 670,620 

 399,833 

 364,628 

 555,451 

 380,186 

 359,925 



Small parcels of sawn wood are shipped by steamer from Quebec, and these- 

 are not included in the above table ; but such supplies although considerably 

 larger than they were some years ago, are not sufficient to alter the fact that this 

 export trade of Quebec is declining. 



The following is a detailed statement in loads of the principal items of which 

 that export was composed for the five years mentioned, namely : 



There are no means of ascertaining the exact amount of the Quebec ship- 

 ments to the United Kingdom, but it is probably about five-sixths of the whole 

 quantity despatched over sea. The total export of Quebec wood to Europe 



*Robert Carrick, Oefle, Sweden, in Forestry and Forest Products (Edinburgh), 1884. 



