1907 DEPARTMENT OF LANDS, FORESTS AND MINES. 197 



Right to Renewal. 



"There is no danger of a monopoly of the waste lands of the Crown on 

 the Ottawa, the extent being too great to permit of the possibility of such 

 a thing, but there is danger of monopolj^ occurring, as it has already 

 'occurred in particular instances. The. remedy is easily applied as it only 

 requires that the title to the renewal of license should depend upon actual 

 occupation. This has hitherto been the rule, but the standard of occupa- 

 tion has been too high, thereby injuring the trade materially while in par- 

 ticular instances the object has been defeated by making special cases in 

 which the rule was not enforced. I think that this question might be 

 favorably affected by a change in the present system of deposits, which 

 would at the same time afford a very considerable degree of relief to those 

 engaged in the trade. 



Ground Rent Proposed. 



"At present a deposit of one-fourth of the duty on the quantity required 

 to be taken out, is exacted on the issuing of every license for the season's 

 operations, the amount being remitted the next year upon the collection of 

 the duty on the actual quantity which may have been cut. Instead of this 

 I would propose that a ground rent of 2s. 6d. per square mile, as a final 

 payment should be levied annually for every limit upon issuing the license 

 for that year's business; as a preventive of monopoly I would then double 

 the ground rent in case of non-occupation, and continue doubling it every 

 year the limit remains unoccupied. I would scarcely venture in the pre- 

 sent state of trade to propose the ground rent system, if it were to con- 

 stitute an additional impost upon the trade, but if a corresponding degree 

 of relief could be afforded in any other way it would be most satisfactory 

 and efficient." 



With regard to the size of the timber limits Mr. Dawson, referring to 

 a notice published in the Official Gazette in 1846, that after the 1st of 

 May, 1849, all limits of a larger extent than five miles should be so sub- 

 divided that none should exceed that size, expressed himself as follows r^— 



"The object of reducing the size of all limits to five miles, I believe 

 to have been pretty much the same as that of the clause requiring the manu- 

 facture of a large quantity, viz., to make every space of five miles for which 

 license should issue produce a raft of timber annually, a theory which, I 

 should hope, has been sufficiently exploded by its bitter effects. When the 

 trade is in a prosperous condition, the profits are sometimes very large, and 

 this naturally gives rise to an excessive spirit of speculation, which speed- 

 ily brings ruin upon all concerned. A wise policy, therefore, would rather 

 supply some check upon, than add a stimulus to, this speculative spirit, by 

 discouraging instead of facilitating and urging on an over production, 

 especially as it is hardly possible to conceive of any danger to the opposite 

 extreme, as the facilities will always be such in spite of any discouragement, 

 as to keep the supply in excess of the demand." 



Speaking of the system then in vogue of estimating and collecting tim- 

 ber dues Mr. Dawson said : 



Unfair Measurements. 



"Anything more unjust in its principles and application or more expen- 

 sive in its operation could scarcely be invented." He proceeded to give" a 

 striking illustration of its unfairness, selecting the duties upon red pine, 

 the principle, as he remarked, being the same as regards all kinds of tim- 



