Canadian Forest rij Journal, June, /.V/(S' 



17ji 



Fickle Policies and Timber Rotation 



Hv SiH l-^OXAI.I) MlNKO-FllHCrSON. 



"A crop of timber is not like a crop 

 of corn. It needs a rotation on the 

 average in Australia of, I suppose, 

 from 60 to 70 years; sometimes more 

 or less. But if you take an average 

 of 60 to 70 years, it means that you 

 have to look forward to that time, 

 and the man who plants to-day will 

 be judged 70 years hence by the 

 results of his handiwork, and he will 

 be regarded either as a benefactor of 

 his country or a parasite upon it, 

 according to the result of the cutting. 



To secure that continuous good mna- 

 agement over so long a period is, 

 therefore, essential. There must be 

 no break, no change of policy. 

 Ministers, governments, majorities 

 as I know very well from my ex- 

 perience, are creatures of the day — 

 here to-day and gone to-morrow — 

 but forests go on for ever, and, there- 

 fore, either by commissions or other- 

 wise, provision is necessary to secure 

 a permanent policy without change, 

 but always making improvements." 



The National Purse and the Paper Mill 



In 1912 the total value of pulp and 

 paper products, exported from Can- 

 ada amounted to but $14,659,325. 

 In the ensuing six years this amount 

 had increased to $52,924,888. For 

 the current fiscal year the total ex- 

 ports promise to exceed S60,000,000. 

 — the ten months ending in January, 

 1918, showing a total of $51,817,7oV. 

 More than one-half of this amount 

 applies solely to newsprint paper, 

 of which our exports last year ex- 

 ceeded .$26,000,000. The figures also 

 include chemical pulp to a consider- 

 able amount and mechanical and 

 pulp wood and other minor products. 

 Most of these exports were sent to ths 

 United States. ..The annual domestic 

 consumption of paper produced in 

 Canada exceeds in value 820,000,000. 

 — making a total annual production 

 of pulp and paper for foreign and 

 domestic use of approximateh' 

 880,000,000. 



In 1890 there were 58 pulp and 

 paper mills in Canada, capitalized 

 at $7,574,118, and giving work to 

 2,817 employees. In 1915. the num- 

 ber of mills had increased to 80, the 

 amount of invested capital to $133,- 



736,602, and the number of employees 

 to 15,686. 



The amount of capital at present 

 invested in the pulp and paper in- 

 dustry in Canada is more than 

 $145,800,000. Together with trans- 

 portation and electric light and power 

 development, the pulp and paper in- 

 dustry ranks as one of Canada's three 

 greatest industries. 



The phenomenal growth of the 

 Canadian pulp and paper industry is 

 traceable, primarily, to government 

 restrictions placed upon the export of 

 pulp wood from Canada and the re- 

 moval of the import duty on news- 

 print paper and pulp by the United 

 States Government. To these may 

 be added the influx of a large amount 

 of new capil^al, the enterprise of the 

 manufacturers and a greatly stimu- 

 lated demand for the finished product 

 during recent years. 



The value and importance of such 

 an industry to the Dominion of Can- 

 ada at the present time^in view of 

 the fact that our unfavorable trade 

 balance with the United States, our 

 chiefest buyer of pulp and paper 

 products, now exceeds $400,000,000 

 annually — is almost beyond compu- 

 tation. 



