1907 DEPARTMENT OF LANDS, FORESTS AND MINES. 253 



placing under license the area disposed of at the late sale has been questioned 

 on the ground that it was virtually locking up the country from settlement, 

 and handing over absolutely to licentiates the timber which should have 

 been retained as a permanent source of revenue to the Province ; the fallacy 

 of such objections must be apparent in the face of the following facts, viz., 

 that the lands will be as open for sale after being covered by license as they 

 were before the existence of such license, and that the timber which has 

 hitherto yielded no appreciable contribution to the Provincial Treasury' 

 will now, as the result of the territory being placed under license, be a prolific 

 source of revenue, permanent as the existence of the material from which 

 it is derived. 



An Aid to Settlement. 



''It was fairly assumed also, that placing the lands under license was 

 the only means of settling the country, and it is gratifying to know that 

 all the settlers in the Algoma district approve of the sale, and believe it was 

 the one thing necessary to stimulate the growth and development of that 

 neglected part of Ontario." 



The Commissioner then referred to previous efforts to settle the territory 

 which had resulted in failure. Seven townships had been laid out in the 

 most desirable sections upwards of ten years before, and land offered to 

 settlers at 20c. per acre, but the average annual sales during that period 

 had only amounted to 498 acres, and the greater part of the land sold was 

 subsequently abandoned as imfit for cultivation. It therefore became evi- 

 dent that the only means of opening up the country for settlement was 

 through lumbering enterprise. The report continued: — 



"In view of the exceptional condition of the country, the timber being 

 open to wholesale plunder along an uninhabited frontier, where every facil- 

 ity exists for easy transport of logs by towage to the shores of the United 

 States, to prevent which would entail on the Department a large amount of 

 outlay; the recurrent destruction of the valuable staple by fires, the facts 

 ac given with respect to the sale of lands, showing clearly that in the absence 

 of some auxiliary inducement, it would be vain to expect them to be taken 

 up for actual settlement, the adoption of such steps as would meet the 

 exigency in its several phases became absolutely necessary. 



"The only action open to the Department under the circumstances was 

 (o offer the Timber Berths for sale at public competition by which the ter- 

 ritory would' be placed in such a position that its resources could be properly 

 and advantageously controlled, and hundreds of millions of feet of valu- 

 able lumber saved to the Province, which would otherwise be destroyed by 

 fire or plundered and carried away." 



LaJ:e Superior Lands. 



In order to supply the local demand for lumber on the North Shore of 

 Lake Superior, owners of patented lands and purchasers of lands in that 

 territory, were granted by Order-in-Council passed June 29th, 1872, the 

 right to acquire the pine trees on their lands on making the additional pay- 

 ment of 50c. per acre. It was provided that in case thev declined to pur- 

 chase the pine trees upon their lands the Crown Lands Department might 

 dispose of them at the same rate to other persons, or in case of their being 

 more than one applicant, to the one paying the highest additional sum per 

 Tcre for the pine. 



