CANADIAN FOEE STEY ASSOCIATION . 49 



Our forests also contain a considerable quantity of hardwoods. Some 

 years ago, when this wood could be got within comparatively easy reach of 

 the larger rivers, considerable business was done in hardwood timber, but 

 at present, owing to the difficulty and expense of getting it to market, it 

 cannot be handled at a profit, so that the lumber operators of Northern 

 New Brunswick at the present day are almost entirely confined to spruce. 

 Some business is still done with small growth of white birch, in sawing 

 into promiscuous lengths and sizes, for exportation to Great Britain, where 

 it is made into spools for the great thread makers. Upwards of two mil- 

 lion superficial feet were shipped from the Miramichi in 1909. 



The setting off of large blocks of land for settlement purpose in various 

 parts of the country, and the consequent clearing of these blocks, the drain 

 on the forests by excessive cutting, and the ravages of that great destroyer 

 of our forest wealth, fire, have all contributed to drive the lumber operator 

 further and further to obtain his stock, till now the limit is practically 

 reached, and the conviction is forcing itself on all who give the subject any 

 thought, that if we are to conserve or retain in any degree what is left of 

 our valuable forests, a sound, strong policy in that direction must be 

 adopted. And here let me say that I deprecate most strongly the introduc- 

 tion of party politics into the management of our Crown lands. These 

 lands belong to the people, from these lands the majority of the people 

 derive their livelihood, either directly or indirectly, so that all should work 

 together those for the time being entrusted with administration, and 

 those who work under such regulations as may from time to time be made. 



For the consideration of those entrusted with the administration, I 

 would submit, that in the past the cutting has far exceeded the natural 

 growth. This may be disputed, but as evidence I would point to the fact 

 that our once valuable pine is gone, our hacmatack, so much used in ship- 

 building is gone, and as for our spruce, it is within the memory of men not 

 yet classed as old, that what was called a Miramichi Specification of 

 Deals, viz., one-third each, 3 in.xy in., 3 in.x9 in., and 3-in.xiiin., was 

 much more easily obtained than a specification of one-half each of 3 in.x- 

 7 in., and 3 in.x9 in., and upward is to-day. 



It is stated and confidently maintained in some quarters, that our 

 Crown lands are capable of producing a cutting of merchantable spruce logs 

 every ten years; this may possible be true of some sections, but as a general 

 proposition it is far wide of the mark. I know of sections which would 

 not stand cutting for merchantable logs in twenty years. In view, then, of 

 this, how careful should the operators be, that their cutting, both as regards 

 quantity and size, should be conducted with an eye to the future, bearing in 

 mind that the forests do not belong to this generation alone, but also to 

 those who succeed them. 



From the earliest settlement of the country, fire has been the great 

 enemy of our forests, and it has been said, and probably truly, that more 

 timber has been destroyed in our forests by fire than by the axe. Not to 

 mention the great Miramichi Fire, which occurred in the year 1825, the 

 marks of which can be seen to the present day, and which destroyed an 

 immense quantity of standing timber; smaller fires have done, and are still 



