262 REPORT OF THE No. 3 



approximate outlay by private individuals for this purpose on the Ottawa 

 and its tributaries amounted to £151,847. In the same year an act was 

 passed to authorize the formation in Upper Canada of Joint Stock Com- 

 panies "for the purpose of acquiring or constructing and maintaining any 

 dam or dams, slide or slides, pier or piers, boom or booms, or other work 

 or works necessary to facilitate the transmission of timber down any river 

 or stream in Upper Canada, and for the purpose of blasting rocks, or dredg- 

 ing or removing shoals, or other impediments or otherwise of improving 

 the navigation of such streams for the said purpose." 



They were authorized to levy tolls upon timber passing downwards on 

 a basis of 10 per cent, on the amount invested and the cost of maintaining 

 and superintending the works. 



In 1855 the Act was extended to Lower Canada and some amendments 

 made, the proportionate rate on saw logs being reduced to one-twelfth in 

 place of one-eighth of the amount charged on sticks of pine timber. 



The powers of Timber Slide Companies have been considerably extended 

 by subsequent legislation, and the regulations governing their proceedings 

 assimilated to those of Joint Stock Companies generally. The Timber Slide 

 Companies Act of 1881 provides that Companies incorporated under the 

 Ontario Joint Stock Companies Letters Patent Act may be granted by the 

 Lieutenant-Governor-in-Council the powers authorized by the Revised 

 Statutes respecting Joint Stock Companies for the construction of works to 

 facilitate the transmission of Timber down Rivers and Streams. The rate 

 of dividend may be fixed in the letters patent at not more than 15 per cent., 

 and in such case the Commissioner of Public Works in considering the tolls 

 to be allowed, shall have regard to such rate, but no such rate shall be so 

 fixed for a longer period than 10 years. The existence of any company may 

 be limited to a fixed term of years by the letters patent and upon the expira- 

 tion of this period all the dams, slides, piers, booms and other works con- 

 structed by the Company become the property of the Crown without com- 

 pensation to the Company or the shareholders. 



The driving of saw logs and the confusion and trouble arising from 

 jams of logs in the water causing delay to the floating operations of other 

 lumbermen and the mixing of logs belonging to different proprietors, was 

 a frequent source of disputes and disagreements among lumbermen using 

 the same stream. In 1887 the following Act was adopted by the Legislature 

 to regulate the driving of saw logs and define the respective rights and 

 liabilities of the parties concerned. 



Act to Regulate Log Driving. 



(1) The following words wherever used in this Act have the following 

 meaning, viz. : — 



"Logs" mean and include saw logs timber, posts, ties, cordwood, 

 and other things being parts of trees. 



"Water" means and includes lakes, ponds, rivers, creeks and streams, 

 streams. 



(2) Any person putting, or causing to be put, into any water in this 

 Province, logs, for the purpose of floating the same in, upon or down such 

 water, shall make adequate provisions and put on a sufficient force of men 

 to break, and shall make all reasonable endeavours to break jams of such 

 logs and clear the same from the banks and shores of such water with rea- 

 sonable despatch, and run and drive the same so as not to unnecessarily 

 delay or hinder the removal, floating, running or driving of other logs, or 

 ■unnecessarily obstruct the floating or navigation of such water. 



