218 REPORT OF THE No. 3 



purpose of exploiting the timber. . Under the regulations for the sale of 

 public lands which prevailed at the time of the enquiry, the price varied, 

 according to location and character, from three to ten shillings per acre. 

 In the case of the higher priced lands in Western Upper Canada the money 

 could be paid by instalments covering a period of ten years, only one-tenth 

 being demanded in cash. Although the regulations strictly prohibited the 

 cutting of timber, except where necessary for building, fencing and clear- 

 ing, they were in many cases set at defiance. 



William Spragge, of the Crown Lands Department, in a letter to the 

 committee, after recommending that all ordinary Public Lands in Upper 

 Canada should be placed at a uniform rate of five shillings per acre, thus 

 refers to the timber difficulty : — 



"Of the purchase money it is desirable that a sufficient proportion shall 

 be paid down, to guard against the land being plundered of its timber and 

 then abandoned, which there is reason to believe is the course often pur- 

 sued under the present system of. one-tenth payments. Accordingly I 

 would substitute payments of two-fifths, relieving the settlers from any fur- 

 ther payment until the expiration of three years, by which term it may be 

 assumed that from the produce of his land he would then be in a condition 

 to pay a further instalment of another one-fifth. 



Settlement Dificulties. 



"Before concluding this letter it becomes advisable to refer generally 

 to the privilege of cutting and disposing of timber and other merchantable 

 wood, previously to the land being paid for in full. For the reason that the 

 present system of one -tenth instalment conveys by a payment to that extent 

 a species of right to the land, or a claim, the weight of which others not 

 concerned do not choose to dispute, and under cover of which it is under- 

 stood parties in many cases despoil the land of its timber, notwithstanding 

 the prohibition to the contrary, and having accomplished their object will, 

 in those cases where the land is not of superior quality, probably make no 

 further payments. It is suggested that a permit to cut timber and merchant- 

 able wood be given to purchasers, under the system proposed, upon their 

 depositing with the local agent, upon obtaining such permit, the amount of 

 duty in advance upon the quantity of timber to be specified therein; as 

 authorized to be cut and removed, the amount so deposited to remain avail- 

 able towards the purchase in the event of the required quantity of land 

 being duly cleared in the proportion and within the time prescribed and 

 the conditions of the occupation fulfilled. But the amount to be forfeited 

 if compliance with the terms of settlement be not rendered, and also any 

 fraud or mis-statement as to the quantity actually cut to render void the 

 permit and have the effect of cancelling the purchase, forfeiting such sums 

 as may have been paid in on account of it, and rendering liable to seizure 

 all timber and wood, particularly in the permit, or assumed to have been 

 cut under its authority and which can be attached. 



'Tor the prevention and punishment of fraud, it is often found advis- 

 able to fence in by strongest regulations the public rights, and probably 

 there is no description of property which requires to be so carefully guarded 

 as the Public Lands and timber " 



A. T. Gait. 



Hon. Alexander T. Gait, who in his capacity as manager of the British 

 American Land Company, addressed a letter to the committee, expressed 

 himself in favor of the American system of selling the Public Lands at a 



