186 REPORT OF THE No. 3 



ing. Payment of tlie first instalment of the purchase money is alone neces- 

 sary for this purpose, and before the second instalment is due or any 

 measures are adopted to enforce payment, the timber may be cut down and 

 the land abandoned. To what extent this has been the case it is difficult 

 to determine; but there is no doubt that very large tracts have been pur- 

 chased for the sake of the timber merely; because the whole purchase money 

 if paid, has been very far less than the price of timber licenses, and because 

 the land would remain in the possession of the purchaser after the timber 

 had been cut. Besides this cause of defalcation in the revenue that might 

 liave been derived from this source, there has been no proper inspection on 

 the spot, so that the quantity of timber cut has been very far greater than 

 that for which a license has been obtained. 



Land Sales for Cash Only, 



"The plan which I have proposed of selling the land at a fixed uniform 

 price, and requiring the payment of the whole purchase money at the time 

 of the sale, will prevent to a very considerable extent, the purchase of land 

 for the mere sake of the timber. As the land upon which the most valuable 

 timber grows, is generally of an inferior quality of soil and of no value for 

 agricultural purposes, it may be expected that but little of it will be pur- 

 chased, and that the whole timber fund will be derived from the sale of 

 licenses. It will therefore be expedient to establish an efiicient system of 

 supervision in all the timber districts and by comparing the returns made 

 by the district inspectors of the quantity of timber cut, with the entries at 

 the Custom House of the quantity of timber shipped, some security may be 

 obtained against the frauds which are now practised in respect of this pro- 

 perty. 



"It is suggested by Mr. Kerr, that the present price of timber licenses 

 is too low, having regard not merely to the value of the timber in the Eng- 

 lish market, but also to its price in the United States. Although Tlisposed 

 to concur in this opinion, 1 do not feel myself warranted in recommending 

 any advance in that price at present upon the only information I now possess, 

 and especially considering the uncertainty which is felt to be attached to 

 the continuance of the present timber duties in England. This is one of 

 the matters which must be left to the special authority which I shall subse- 

 quently recommend, to determine from further and more accurate inquiries. 



"The present average annual amount produced by the sale of timber 

 licenses in all the colonies appears to be about £24,000, but there seems no 

 reason to doubt that under an improved system of inspection and manage- 

 ment the amount might be greatly increased." 



Disposal of Revenue. 



The amounts received by the Government as timber dues as well as the 

 considerably larger sums accruing from the sale of public lands were 

 regarded as entirely at the disposal of the Crown, that is to say, the adminis- 

 tration of the day without responsibility to Parliament as to their expendi- 

 ture. They were classed with some other items as "casual and territorial 

 revenue," and kept entirely apart from the funds under control of the 

 Legislature. The introduction of the system of payment for timber licenses 

 almost simultaneously with that of the sale of the land, very greatly 

 increased the revenue of the province and at the same time aroused strong 

 political feeling by reason of the questions involved as to the management 

 and expenditure of this fund. The abuses which speedily arose from the 



