66 CANADIAN FORESTRY ASSOCIATION 



for the disposal of his lands under these conditional leases or sales could be success- 

 fully accomplished by the Government in this very democratic country of ours. I 

 do not know that a patent containing provisions of that sort could be enforced 

 effectively, for very long, after the electorate had got to work and demanded a 

 remission of the restrictions. But it would seem to me that the same object could 

 be accomplished by having certain lots in the community reserved from settlement 

 or sale, so as to be held by the Government, or the municipalities, under a system 

 something along the same lines as the communal forests of Europe, which form 

 no inconsiderable source of revenue to the municipalities. 



There is another thing that I notice. In Mr. Joly de Lotbiniere's sale, the 

 terms of the patent do not set forth that it should always be the waste or rough 

 lands to be reserved for timber, but the good lands. That might perhaps prove to 

 be a hardship on the purchaser of these lands, by giving land in timber that might 

 be more profitable to him individually for other purposes, when the same 

 general object of protecting the water supply and fuel supply might be 

 as well attained by merely keeping the rough lands for forest pur- 

 poses. In the case of lands reverting to the Crown from private lands 

 it may be possible for them to be reclaimed and secured to the Government or 

 municipalities, and held as public forests and worked in that way. I do not think 

 it will be possible to depend upon individual effort to ever bring back the proportion 

 of wooded land that we have found necessary in Ontario and Quebec. It seems 

 to me that that is a question that might be a subject for discussion or for a resolution 

 to be submitted to this meeting. I would like to hear further discussion on it 

 before the Convention closes. 



The PRESIDENT. We shall have more time to discuss it to-morrow morning. 



Mr. E. G. JOLY DE LOTBINIERE. I am afraid I shall have to be absent to-mor- 

 row morning and if there is to be any discussion on my paper I would draw atten- 

 tion to the fact that it is difficult when you are selling agricultural lands to allow 

 the settler to select the particular 15 or 20 acres on which he is to keep his forest 

 reserve. As I said in my paper, there is no doubt about it, this is a timber land 

 that is being sold, but if he is allowed to, he will certainly select the worst piece of 

 his 60, 80 or 100 acres for his timber lots. If there is a swamp he will keep that 

 swamp for his timber lot, and so on, and will cut down every bit of the timber 

 off the rest of his lands. That is the serious objection to, allowing the purchaser to 

 select his own bush lot. 



Another great reason for having contiguity of the timber property, and it 

 may be objectionable in some cases I admit, as in the case of fire there is no doubt 

 that if the bush lands were divided up there would be less danger of a great con- 

 flagration, but in some cases the mere fact of having these reservations all contig- 

 uous makes these people very jealous of their bush lots, and they keep the lines 



