152 REPORT OF THE No. 3 



Dame de Foy, to the end that the inhabitants of this said city and those of 

 the neighborhood shall not be able to pretend cause of ignorance of it, 

 "We command, etc. "(Signed) Michael Begon. 



"Done at Quebec, the 27th of December, 1713." 



A similar prohibition was issued in 1747 at the suit of the Ursuline 

 Nuns of Quebec, proprietors of the Seigniory of Sainte Croix, whose inhab- 

 itants were charged with cutting wood upon lands not included in their 

 grants, "which is a considerable injury to them, because the said lands 

 being impoverished no habitant wishes to take them to establish himself 

 there.'' A penalty of ten livre& was accordingly proclaimed for all contra- 

 ventions of the ordinance, to go to the Fabrique of the parish. 



Local Improvevient Laws. 



Another question which arose at an early day in the history of the 

 province concerned the furnishing of supplies of timber for bridge building. 

 The following ordinance dealing with the subject seems to embody the germs 

 of our modern much criticized local improvement system : 



"Michael Begon, Intendant of Justice, police and finances in Canada. 

 Acadia, the Island of Newfoundland and other northern French countries. 



''It being necessary to prevent the disputes which may arise on the sub- 

 ject of furnishing the timber necessary for the construction of the bridges 

 over the rivers which pass through the main roads, we ordain that all the 

 timber necessary for the construction of the said bridges shall be taken from 

 the lands nearest th^ said rivers, considering that the proprietors of these 

 lands receiving the accommodation of these bridges and these rivers ought 

 also to sustain the expense of them. 



"We enjoin upon all the inhabitants of the parish where the said 

 bridges shall be made to labor in cutting down all the timber wKich shall 

 be necessary for this work, and to deliver it upon the spot. 



"We command the captain of the district to attend to it. 



"(Signed) "Begon. 



"Done at Quebec, 6th March, 1713." 



OaTc Reserved for ISavy Only. 



There appears to have been no reservation of timber in the old grants 

 for military purposes, or any other public use than naval construction. By 

 an ordinance of the Superior Council, dated 10th July, 1664, compensation 

 is directed to be made by the Government to Sieur Poyrier for timber taken 

 from his Seigniory for the construction of casemates, for which he was 

 ordered to be paid the sum of twenty-five livres, tournois. But during the 

 later years of the French regime the tendency was to extend the restrictions 

 under which land was granted, with a view to providing for other 

 public requirements from the timber existing on the grants with- 

 out having to make compensation. A comprehensive report on 

 the subject of the Seigniorial tenures was made to the Legislative 

 Council of Quebec by Hon. J. Williams, Solicitor-General of 

 the Province, on the 5th October, 1790. He enumerates the reserves 

 and conditions customary in the ordinary grants, the only one relating to 

 timber being that already referred to, viz. : "That the grantee should con- 

 serve all the oak timber growing on his domain, and cause all the oak timber 

 suitable for the construction of the King's ships to be preserved by his 



11a L.M. 



