CANADIAN FORESTRY ASSOCIATION 47 



THE FOREST RESOURCES OF ONTARIO. 

 MR. AUBREY WHITE, DEPUTY MINISTER OF LANDS AND FORESTS. 

 Mr. President, Your Excellency, Your Honour, Ladies and Gentlemen : 



At the request of Mr. Southworth I promised to read a paper at this 

 meeting of the Forestry Association. I have chosen as my subject the forest 

 resources of Ontario, and I hope to give you some information that may 

 prove interesting and instructive. 



I thought in the first instance that perhaps an estimate of the timber 

 still growing on public lands, its whereabouts and its value would suffi- 

 cientlv cover the ground but on thinking over what would be instructive to 

 you, I thought I ought to be a little historical and give you some idea of 

 how we have disposed of our timber, why we sold it, what we have received 

 for it, how much still stands on licensed lands, and last but by no means 

 least, on that branch of the subject, how we are endeavouring to protect 

 and conserve it; then, dealing with the other branch of the subject, to give 

 you some idea of how much timber is on the undisposed lands of Ontario,- 

 where it is situated, and what efforts we are making to protect it. 



In the first place, let me say what I am sure will be new to you, that 

 when Confederation took place, we found that 12,000 miles of Ontario's best 

 pine timber, the easiest of access, had already been placed under license. 

 10,000 miles of this territory was disposed of at fifty cents a mile with no 

 bonus, and 2,000 miles of it at fifty cents per mile with very small bonuses, 

 the whole 2,000 bringing about |100,000. The timber so disposed of was 

 along the Ottawa River to the head of Lake Temiskaming, along and tribu- 

 tary to the Mississippi, the Bonnechere, the Madawaska, the Petawawa, the 

 Mattawa and the Amable du Fond, all these streams being tributaries of the 

 Ottawa River. In the centre of the Province the timber on the Trent and its 

 tributaries had been disposed of. In the West the timber on the Nottawasaga, 

 the Severn, the Muskoss, the Moon, the Seguin and the Magnetawan River 

 flowing into Georgian Bay had been placed under license. The timber on 

 this immense area was subject only to Crown dues at fifty cents per thousand, 

 payable as the timber was cut. 



Almost immediately after Confederation the Government of the Province 

 of Ontario had to consider ways and means, and one of the first things it did 

 was to pass regulations increasing the ground rent from fifty cents to $2 

 a mile, and the Crown dues upon timber from fifty cents per thousand to 

 seventy-five cents per thousand. It also passed new Crown Timber Regula- 

 tions, which provided that all timber limits should for the future be sold by 

 public auction. 



The Legislature in the year 1868 passed what is known as the Free 

 Grants and Homestead Act, which provided for the giving away as free 

 grants to actual settlers of practically all the immense territory lying between 

 the Ottawa River and the Georgian Bay. This region was known to contain 

 large quantities of pine timber, and it was evident that there would be 

 enormous expenditure required to open it up with roads, erect public build- 

 ings, and provide for the Administration of Justice. The Government, there- 

 fore, reserved from free grant locations all pine timber until the patent issued, 

 except that a settler might take what he required for building, fencing, etc., 

 and remove what was in the way of clearing his land. Settlement immedi- 



