224 REPORT OF THE No. 3 



tlie principal danger to tlie stability and permanency of the lumbering iut(;r-. 

 est was the opening up for settlement, or the toleration of squatters i pon 

 the lands ee.pecially adapted for forest reserves. Criticizing an observation 

 made by Mr. Sprague, Mr. A. J. Russell said "he is also mistaken in saying 

 that the lumber trade is but a temporary branch of trade of which a few 

 years more will probably see the end. In the region of which he speaks the 

 quantity of arable land is comparatively small, much must forever remain 

 a forest country, of which its timber will continue a staple all the more 

 valuable for its becoming scarce elsewhere and will continue to give an 

 mf-reaseu value to farm produce there. * * * It is not desirable to 

 have forest tracts wholly unfit for settlement surveyed into subdivided town- 

 ships. The expense is lost to the public and the subdivision otters facilities 

 for the plundering of timber from the adjoining Crown Land under the 

 preteia'p of settlement on the lots purchased by them (unless duties be levied 

 as I propose on all timber from lands in future sold). It also oifers some 

 temptation for settlers to occupy inferior lands where they cannot after- 

 wnrds prosper, for the temporary profit of the timber, and where the fires 

 they occasion in burning choppings at unsuitable seasons c^T-tainly increase 

 the destruction of the standing forests. As to the protection of the public 

 domain from fire, I am afraid but little can be done. The sale of forests 

 to private individuals would have but little effect that way, for the license 

 holders have now already as great an interest in preserving the timber as if 

 they were proprietors. The only practicable measures I can think of are, 

 to enforce the law against burning brushwood during the season when 

 danger is greatest from fire, making the offence a misdemeanor punishable 

 by fine and imprisonment and giving a reward to informers. The injury 

 to settlements as well as to the public forests on the Ottawa would justify 



Forest Lands to he Surveyed. 



additional rigor. And the discouragement of the practice of squatting in 

 the timber forests, which would be best effected by surveying and throwing 

 open for settlement at a low price such tracts of land only as are really fit 

 for cultivation. Especially endeavoring to draw settlers of all kinds back 

 into the hardwood country on the headwaters of the western tributaries of 

 the Ottawa, by the opening of practicable roads and a survey of a sufficient 

 quantity of land there for settlement. Giving no encouragement to settle- 

 ment in the timber tracts, except where necessary for the maintenance of 

 roads unavoidably leading through them to a better land." 



William Hamilton, lumberman, in reply to a question as to the pre- 

 valence of forest fires and the best method of preventing them, said : 



"The most certain way of preventing the destruction of timber by fire 

 is that Government should put a stop to squatters entering into the land of 

 the Crown (either surveyed or unsurveyed) without the consent of either the 

 nearest local agent or that of the Government, as there is sufficient land of 

 equal, if not better, quality unoccupied in the front townships. The only 

 cause of destruction of timber has arisen from such settlers and I am satis- 

 fied that there is annually destroyed as much, if not more, timber by fire by 

 such settlers tJian arrives in the Quebec market yearly." 



The following extract from the evidence of James Henry Burke of 

 Bytown, sets forth Tery clearly the mutually advantageous relations exist- 

 ing between the lumbering and the agricultural interests, and also 

 emphasizes the view more positively and comprehensively brought out dur- 

 ing the course of this investigation than in any previous treatment of the 

 subject, that a radical and essential difference in the administrative system 



