184 REPORT OF THE No. 3 



exhaustion of the American timber supply is spoken of, it must be borne in 

 mind that the march of Western settlement an4 the development of methods 

 of transportation had not proceeded far enough to render the pine forests of 

 Michigan and the other wooded areas of the American Northwest available 

 as a source of supply . It is none the less instructive to note, that far-see- 

 ing and experienced practical men were beginning to realize that the neces- 

 sarily increasing timber and lumber requirements of the Eastern States, with 

 their rapidly growing population, should be taken into account in fixing the 

 price of timber-bearing lands so as to secure the increment to the public. 



Thos. Allen Stayner, Deputy Postmaster-General for British North 

 America and a large landed proprietor in both Provinces, replied as follows 

 to the question as to what value should be placed on the wild lands of 

 Lower Canada : — 



"Besides the price of lands in the United States I must, in answering 

 this question, have regard to the large quantities of land in the Province 

 held in private hands, much of which is choice land, and in locations most 

 favorable for settlement. There are, perhaps, a million and a half acres 

 of wild land in the possession of individuals, many of whom would be will- 

 ing to sell at what would be called a low rate for cash, say from 4s. to 7s. 

 6d. currency an acre. While so much land is wild in this way, it will 

 .naturally influence any arrangement for the disposal of the waste lands of 

 the Crown. 



"Wild lands vary in value very materially as well as from the quality 

 itself, as from its situation ; but there is also another circumstance con- 

 nected with the question of fixing the value upon waste lands of the Govern- 

 ment, which it may be well to bear in mind, that is the timber upon it. 



American Investors. 



"Until very recently, the timber as an article of commerce was not 

 taken into consideration, either by Government or private holders, but it 

 is now otherwise. Our American neighbors have discovered, to their 

 astonishment, that their own resources for pine timber are nearly exhausted, 

 and they are looking with great interest to the lands in Lower Canada and 

 New Brunswick, which possess that valuable article. In the year 1835 

 speculators from the States of Maine and New York came into the Province 

 and purchased about a million acres of land said to be wooded with pine or 

 spruce; and there is no doubt but for the financial difficulties which befel 

 the whole of the United States at the close of the year 1835 and commence- 

 ment of 1836, much more extensive acquisitions of pine and spruce lands 

 would have been made by the Americans; the disposition to acquire those 

 lands is only temporarily suspended, and it is quite probable that in four 

 or five, years more the passion will return as strongly as ever. 



"Now, according to the scale by which the Americans estimate such 

 lands, they may be considered as worth from two to six dollars an acre, 

 merely for the timber. The question may therefore be, whether this con- 

 sideration is to constitute an element in the scheme to be devised, and if so 

 to what extent? It should be borne in mind also, that the land most valu- 

 able for the timber is seldom of great value for agricultural purposes. 

 Setting aside for the moment the pine and spruce lands, I do not think that 

 a higher rate than 7s. 6d. currency an acre can be put upon the waste lands 

 of the Crown." 



The evidence of Charles Shireff, the former agent for the collection of 

 the timber dues on the Ottawa, corroborated the testimony above cited as 



13a L. M. 



