106 CANADIAN FORESTRY ASSOCIATION 



"In conformity with the decision taken by the head of the Government 

 some time ago, no cut-over lands have been offered at auction during the cam- 

 paign 1906-1907." 



I ought to say this on behalf of, the Government. From 1867 up to last year 

 the forest domain has been sold in considerable proportions, the Provincial Ex- 

 chequer has had a surplus for some years and we may say that the forest domain 

 now under the control of the Crown, is no longer sold, and the Government has 

 firmly resolved not to sell any more of it for some years in order to preserve, not 

 only for the present generation but for the generations to come, the immense forest 

 domains which may serve later for the etablishment of railroads, for settlers, and 

 in various other ways for the conservation of our national wealth, and of all the in- 

 dustries which flow directly or indirectly from the forest; the pulp industry, the 

 building of railroads, the use of water power for the production of electricity, the 

 preservation of game and fish. 



I continue the reading of the report : 



" As complaint has been often made of the too great extent of territory thus 

 opened to public sale for the ends stated above (for revenue) I have busied myself 

 seriously for several months collecting with the greatest care possible the informa- 

 tion necessary to show clearly the practical results of these sales and the good 

 which has resulted to a part of our population. Of the total area thus farmed out 

 since 1897, comprising 23,196 square miles, the statistics contained in the accom- 

 panying table show that 11,690 (nearly one half) are situated in the eastern part 

 of the Province extending from various points on the south bank of the river from 

 the county Temiscouata as far as Gaspe, and on the north bank from the river 

 St. John, near Mingan, stretching towards the southwest as far as St. Maurice. 



"According to this statement it may be calculated that since 1897 thirty-one 

 new industrial plants have been established, with mills and factories at the mouths 

 of the principal affluents of the St. Lawrence, between the extreme points given 

 above; that the total amount of capital (the minimum that caif be fixed) affected 

 by their creation and their development amounts to $14,252,800, and that these 

 industries furnish employmnt either in the saw mills or in the forest, to more than 

 8,585 heads of families." 



These, gentlemen, are the official statistics of the Government. It has estab- 

 lished more than 8,500 workmen in the pulp and forestry industries since 1897. 

 If, in the space of ten years, fourteen millions have been spent, Mr. Price, your 

 President, who is one of the men most interested in this question, and who, perhaps, 

 has capital in some of these industries, can tell you what progress the Province 

 of Quebec has made in this sense. 



Now, it is perfectly evident that the persons embarked in such enterprises 

 could not procure such considerable sums without borrowing them in part, and 

 without furnishing sufficient guarantees for the repayment of these loans. 



I speak from a strictly economic point of view the moneyed men, the bank- 

 ers, the economists, the capitalists who have advanced the necessary funds for 

 these investments, require that their industry and their capital should be protected 

 against the dangers which I have just described, so that the Province of Quebec 

 may progress not only from the point of view of the establishment of settlers on the 

 land, but also from an industrial and financial point of view. 



The eyes of the whole world are turned upon us; and in the bureaus which I 

 occupy here, in the Board of Trade, you have no idea of the number of applications 



