504 FORESTRY AND IRRIGATION November 



makes his bid with a full knowledge mere gamble, with a vast deal of lob- 



of what will be required of him should bying and wire-pulling thrown in. 



he be the successful bidder. A feature Needless to say, such a state of affairs 



of these agreements is usually the giv- would work great injury to the lum- 



ing of a bond by the purchaser as se- ber interests and to the forest, 

 curity for the faithful performance of 



the contract in a accordance with the ground rent taxation. 

 regulations. 



A feature of all Canadian timber 



a FATAE omission. sa i es is the imposition of a land tax 



The dearth of any effective meas- or "ground rent"- per unit of area, 



ures to control the cutting on Cana- British Columbia has made the lmpo- 



dian limits is an outstanding feature of sition of a very high land tax a dis- 



the present forest policy or lack of tinctive feature of her forest policy, 



policy. Perhaps the forest departments . If the province grows the timber and 



have acted on the theory that the lum- merely sells the stumpage when it is 



berman's interest in future supplies mature, distinctly specifying what 



of logs would insure careful and con- trees are to be cut and how, and when 



servative cutting. Perhaps it has been they are to be cut, there can be no ob- 



because there has been no public le- jection to the payment in this way of 



mand for it the public knowing noth- a small portion of the market value of 



ing whatever about it. Be the cause timber sold, and it may indeed serve 



as it may, the absence of such regula- a very useful purpose in preventing 



tion has long since ceased to be a purchase for speculative purposes by 



danger merely. To-day it is nothing others than bona fide operators, 



short of a disaster ; a disaster alike to Should, however, the responsibility 



the future of the lumbering industry for caring for future wood crops be 



and to the future forest revenue. left to the lumberman, as it has been 



in the past, it will be necessary for him 



retroactive cutting regulations. wnen planning logging operations to 



The reservation by the provinces of consider carefully whether it will pay 



the right to change from time to time him to cut with care that he may re- 



the terms under which the timber al- turn again after a period of years for 



ready sold might be logged is of inter- a second crop reasonable safety from 



est in this connection. If I mistake fire being assured or whether the tax 



not, British Columbia has also adopted will eat up the profit of any yield that 



this feature in her recent forest legis- he may hope for over and above what 



lation. can now be realized by cutting clean 



In so far as the rights reserved by without regard to the future. This is 

 this provision are exercised for the the only point of view from which the 

 general public good in meeting unfore- lumberman as a business man can re- 

 seen or unforseeable contingencies, gard the logging of lands under his 

 the reservation serves a just and use- control. 



ful purpose. In so far, however, as The following table gives the an- 



it is merely an aftersight method of nual "ground rent" payment per 



providing regulations for the control square mile for the different provinces 



of logging operations which ordinary and on Dominion lands, and the sums 



foresight would have provided in ad- to which these annual payments 



vance of the sale, it must be regarded amount for different periods of from 



as unwise and unjust, and, therefore, 30 to 100 years. In this computation 



impotent. Certain it is, were the pow- money is reckoned to be worth 6 per 



ers thus reserved at all frequently cent compounded annually, which is 



called into requisition, it would quickly below rather than above the mark for 



transform the purchase of public tim- capital invested in immature forests on 



ber from a business proposition to a wild lands. 



