6 NEW BRUNSWICK FORESTRY CONVENTION 



that it would be advisable in the future not to have so many speeches, but- 

 more general discussion by the persons present as to the subjects upon* 

 which papers have been read, and therefore, I trust that no gentleman, 

 although his name does not appear upon the programme, will feel that he 

 has to be a silent listener. If a particular view strikes any gentleman* 

 present, he is at perfect liberty to enter upon a discussion and ask any 

 questions he may wish to ask. 



Lumber always has been and for a long time must continue to be th& 

 principal source of our export trade. Indeed if the hopes of those who are 

 promoting the Forestry Convention are realized, lumber will never cease to 

 be a large source of revenue to New Brunswick. Nearly the whole of our 

 territory was at one time covered with magnificent forests and this attracted 

 the attention of the French Government which required large pine trees for 

 the masts of its navy More than two hundred years ago masts were being 

 sent from the St. John River to France for the use of the French navy, and 

 when the country came into the possession of the English the same business 

 was continued on a still larger scale and the ships that carried the Flag of 

 England all over the world and which fought at Camperdown, the Nile, and 

 Trafalgar, were supplied with masts and spars from the forests of New 

 Brunswick. For many years after the foundation of the Province large areas 

 of territory in this Province were held as Crown reserves for the supplying 

 of masts to the navy and many complaints arose in consequence from persons 

 engaged in the lumbering industry who maintained that many of these 

 reserves were improperly closed to the lumberman and the settler. 



The lumber trade of this Province was at first confined to the export of 

 pine timber to Great Britain and this trade grew to large proportions a^'ter 

 the close of the Napoleonic Wars. As the Crown Lands of the Province 

 were under the control of the British Government until the year 1836, we 

 have no statistics available of the export or production of lumber during the 

 early part of the nineteenth century. 



The Customs House was also under the control of the British Govern- 

 ment, but in 1821 during the Session of the Legislature a motion was carried 

 in the House of Assembly for an address to the Lieutenant Governor, pray- 

 ing that he would be pleased to order to be laid before the House, an account 

 of all goods, wares and merchandise, imported and exported &i the different 

 ports of this Province during the past year. At that time there was but 

 one port in New Brunswick, that of St. John (Miramichi, St. Andrew's and 



