250 Proceedings of the 



for grazing purposes without special permission from 

 the Minister of the Interior, and then we go on and 

 define the rules by which he may be allowed to make 

 use of that land for grazing. The regulation that has 

 been followed for a number of years is that leases for 

 a period of twenty-one years may be granted for an 

 area not to exceed 100,000 acres. The rental asked 

 for this lease is two cents per acre. A number of 

 leases have been taken up under this system which have 

 brought in a fair amount of revenue to the Govern- 

 ment. Recently the large influx into and settlement of 

 our West has raised the question of the management 

 of the grazing lands to an important position and made 

 it a more acute one. When grazing leases were first 

 adopted a feeling arose between those holding leases 

 and some of the settlers who wished to go in on these 

 leaseholds. The Government then decided, in conse- 

 quence of the agitation that so arose, to cancel these 

 leaseholds, allowing the holders to purchase one-tenth 

 of the area and thereafter granted leases only subject 

 to a homestead entry. That policy was followed for 

 some time, and then later a number of leases were 

 granted without the provision that homestead entry 

 should be granted within them. Considerable objec- 

 tion was made, and it was finally decided to suspend 

 further action until the matter could be given full con- 

 sideration. It has been under consideration for some 

 time past, and although I am not in a position yet to 

 say fully what will be finally decided, I think that the 

 decision will be that we will stick to the leasing sys- 

 tem. We have found it to work out with a fair degree 

 of satisfaction, and I think that the fact of giving the 

 leaseholder a proprietary right to a certain extent will 

 make him careful to see that the land of which he has 

 control is not overgrazed and is kept in proper condi- 

 tion for all the time that it is held under lease by him. 



