1256 



Canadian Forcstrij Journal, August, 1917 



know what I am talking about, and 

 before many years have passed my 

 statement will be found to be true. 

 One of miy friends, in talking to me 

 before I arose to address this honour- 

 able House, said, "Edwards, don't be 

 pessimistic." "Well, my friend," I 

 said, "I wdll not be pessimistic, but 

 I am going to tell the truth." Can- 

 ada, as I have stated, is not a coun- 

 try of a great variety of natural re- 

 sources She h^s just four, namely, 

 agriculture, lumber, mining, and fish- 

 ing; and a fifth might be added, name- 

 \y, our water-powers. Occupying the 

 DLorthern portion of the North Am- 

 erican continent we are naturally 

 rich in water-powers. 



'■'InexhausiibleT' 



Coming to the next industry which 

 I have nam.ed, that of lumber, I think 

 it will be agreed that with this I am 

 somewhat familiar. I do not hesi- 

 tate to make the statement that every 

 province in the Dominion of Canada 

 far overestimates its resources in this 

 respect. There are many in Can- 

 ada who even to-day believe that our 

 resources in this respect are inex- 

 haustible and that it will only be a 

 question of time until the United 

 States will be exhausted of lumber 

 and will have to turn to Canada for 

 a supply. This idea, I assure you, is 

 absolutely incorrect. The United 

 States has as great a supply of lum- 

 ber relatively to her wants as Can- 

 ada has, and the total quantity of 

 standing timber in Canada would not 

 supply the wants of the United States 

 for more than eight Vears. Canada 

 was once a comparatively rich coun- 

 try in this resource, but bush fires 

 and unwise administration of our 

 timber resources on the part of the 

 various provinces have brought about 

 the unfortunate result I have named. 

 Pulpwood in Danger 



In pulpwood we are considerably 

 stronger than in timber for lumber 

 manufacturing — of this there is no 

 question; but, if our pulpwood re- 

 sources are no better administered 

 than our lumber resources have been 

 in former years, they too will become 

 exhausted much more rapidly than 

 is at present anticipated. 



Bad Settlement Policij 

 I would ask honourable gentlemen 

 who travel through this country from 

 Halifax to Ottawa, or farther west, 

 just to observe as they pass over the 

 various streams the logs that are 

 being sawn to-day; for I assure you, 

 honourable gentlemen, that the logs 

 being sawn to-day in most of the mills 

 in eastern Canada are such as were 

 left in the woods twenty-five years 

 ago, and I do warn the various prov- 

 inces of this Dominion that, if we 

 do not take care of our resources in 

 this respect, the lumber trade of 

 Canada, except west of the Rockies, 

 wdll in a comparatively short time 

 be a thing of the past. A stage was 

 reached several years ago in the lum- 

 ber industry, making it the continu- 

 ous aim and object of every lumber- 

 man to conserve his resources in this 

 respect: but they have not been sup- 

 ported by the administrators of the 

 various provinces. Considerable por- 

 tions of country are each year being 

 sold for settlemxent where the object 

 is not settlement but to obtain cheap 

 lumber, on the part of illicit settlers 

 and a certain class of lumbermen. 

 To give evidence of this I could show- 

 to any one who would accompany 

 me, say fifty miles from this city, in 

 one single district from fifty to sixty 

 farms once occupied^ by pretended 

 settlers, but now, as all the timber 

 is cut off, will be no settlers whatever. 

 This condition of affairs. I assure 

 honourable gentlemen has been most 

 serious in so far as the timber re- 

 sources of eastern Canada are con- 

 cerned. 



Exaggerated Values 

 In making the statements I do 

 relative to our timber resources I do 

 not want to pretend that we have 

 not still timber resources of very con- 

 siderable value, but I do contend 

 that they are not nearly of the value 

 which the average Canadian believes. 

 With regard to the destruction of 

 these resources, I quite admit that 

 the provinces are not all equally 

 guilty. In so far as fire protection is 

 concerned, the provinces of Quebec 

 and British Columbia have made 

 the greatest strides in improvement 

 in recent years." 



