14 REPORT OF THE Nq. 3 



Jack Pine saw logs were cut to the extent of 19,000,000 feet less and Jack 

 Pine ties, which numbered eighteen hundred thousand in 1926, fell to 829 

 thousand in 1927. 



All other classes of timber were subject to a reduction of seven and a half 

 million feet. 



It must be recognized that the great lumber industry, that has been the 

 mainstay of financial conditions in many parts of the province, is passing through 

 more or less troublous times, and while the lumberman's buoyancy and optimism 

 are proverbial, their former determined activity to produce, come what may, 

 has given way to caution in the face of so many competitive factors. These 

 pioneers of the province are deserving of the public's trade and it is earnestly 

 hoped that the Government's efforts towards urging the users of wood material 

 to remember the slogan, "Produced in Ontario from Ontario's forests," will 

 not be without good results. The Government during the past year has directed 

 that in all further provincially constructed buildings Ontario material wherever 

 possible must be used. The application of this principle to the new East Block 

 of the Parliament Buildings has elicited favourable comment. 



The diminishing production of lumbering material from Crown lands is 

 from a revenue point of view in part compensated by the pulpwood operations. 



PULPWOOD 



The generally expressed opinion of the paper manufacturers during the 

 fall of 1926 that the market was suffering from over-production was not re- 

 flected in the cut of pulpwood from Crown areas. It may be that numbers 

 had already prepared for operations on a scale equal to former years and in 

 order to avoid additional overhead costs decided to make contracts and keep 

 intact their adequate organizations for the year, entertaining the hope that 

 further apprehensions as to ready markets would early disappear on the im- 

 provement of conditions. At any rate over 750,000 cords were cut on Crown 

 lands under license and subject to dues and other charges as against only 642,000 

 the previous season. All this material must be used for manufacture into 

 the finished product, pulp or paper, mostly the latter, in our own country, 

 thus maintaining industry, fostering trade and stabilizing community centres. 



The outstanding paper trade announcement during the year was the con- 

 solidation of the Abitibi Pulp & Paper Company with the Spanish River Pulp 

 Company. The merger of interests gives the holders control over several large 

 mills, the four held by the Spanish at Sturgeon Falls, Espanola, Sault Ste Marie 

 and Fort William, and the two held by the Abitibi interests at Iroquois Falls 

 and Smooth Rock Falls, the one at the last mentioned point having recently 

 been acquired by the Abitibi interests from the liquidator of the Mattagami 

 holdings. This consolidation will mean the control ultimately of a daily pro- 

 duction of over two thousand tons of newsprint. 



The Backus interests at Fort Frances increased their capacity from 125 

 to over 250 tons and are seeking from the Crown a survey of their future raw 

 supply. The Howard Smith Company of Cornwall, whose extensive additions 

 call for increased raw material, are also negotiating with the Department for a 

 reasonable cordage. The Abitibi Pulp Company are contemplating improve- 

 ments to the old Mattagami plant at Smooth Rock Falls and seek territory 

 lying within the Mattagami watershed. The Government, realizing the necessity 

 of keeping intact going concerns, is now considering all these inquiries. 



The Great Lakes Paper Company, who control the Pic, Black Sturgeon 

 and Long Lake limits, have under the insistence of the Government made 



