1907 DEPARTMENT OF LANDS, FORESTS AND MINES. 215 



The proceeds of timber dues were £22,270 in 1848; £24,198 in 1849; £24,728 

 in 1850, and £30,318 in 1851. In 1852, tlie first year in which the new 

 regulations were in operation, the total receipts from timber licenses and 

 duties went up to £53,013, of which £7,656 represented ground rents. 

 This increase, moreover, accrued in spite of the reduction by one-half of 

 the rate which had previously been levied on red pine. The trade in that 

 article had for some years been declining in volume, and the timber decreas- 

 ing in price, while the white pine, formerly considered as of secondary 

 importance, had met with increasing appreciation in the British market. 

 Under these circumstances the distinction made by the tariff of rates, which 

 fixed the duty on red pine timber at one penny per foot, while white pine 

 only paid one half -penny, was felt to be an injustice and an anomaly. Peti- 

 tions from the corporation of Bytown and the municipal council of Carleton 

 County, among others were forwarded to the Government, praying for a 

 reduction of the Red Pine duty. Hon. John Rolph, the Commissioner of 

 Crown Lands, in a report on the subject, dated July 24th, 1852, dealt fully 

 with the changed conditions of the lumber export trade and the causes 

 resulting in the supremacy of Canadian white pine as our staple forest pro- 

 duct. His presentation of the matter is of general interest, apart from the 

 immediate ob3ect of the inquiry, in its relation to the new phase entered 

 upon by the lumber industry in response to the altered demands of the 

 British market. After noting the representations of the petitioners that 

 from time to time, when the Imperial differential duty was reduced below 

 24s. per loaa, the export of Canadian red pine began to diminish and their 

 apprehensions, that the continued decline in the trade threatened its utter 

 extinction unless the heavy charges to which it was subject were reduced by 

 equalizing the duty with that on white pine, the report continued: — "It 

 appears that the rates levied upon the respective kinds of timber were 

 adopted under circumstances very, different from what now exist. At a 

 period not very remote, white pine, the staple product of the forests of 

 Canada, did not bear a very high character in the British markets. On 

 the other hand, red pine, which is the staple product of the forests of Northern 

 Europe, was highly esteemed. The result was that the heavy duty on 

 foreign timber enhanced the price of that article, of which the supply was 

 obtained mainly from the Baltic, and while the greater quantity obtained 

 from thence regulated the price, the limited supply obtained from Canada 

 was favored by a difference at one time of more than Is., and until lately 

 of more than 6d. per foot, even the latter being much more than the differ- 

 ence in freight. 



White Pin^ in Favor. 



"Of late years, however, the White Pine of Canada has been found, for 

 many purposes, a better article than red, and has acquired a higher charac- 

 ter than it formerly bore, the result of which has been that while the export 

 value of the Red Pine in Quebec has been diminished by the withdrawal of 

 the artificial price formerly created for it, the value of White Pine has 

 become gradually enhanced by a better appreciation of its qualities. 



"It is indeed to be hoped that Canada will, upon the whole, be a gainer 

 by the changed aspect of the trade. It may seem strange that a higher value 

 should be attached to a highly taxed article, merely, as it were, by reason of 

 its extra price, but it is a remarkable fact that, as the price of a highly taxed 

 and highly priced article was lowered by the removal of the unjust impost 

 upon the consumer, the comparatively untaxed article, till then cheap, 

 became better appreciated as it became subject to a more equitable and 



15 L.M. 



