5O2 USES OF WOOD PULP. 



Mr. Robertson is very sanguine about the future of the pulp in- 

 dustry in New Brunswick. He says the Province has one of the 

 finest spruce areas in the Dominion; and as to market, he points to 

 the fact that the Lancashire district, in England, alone took over 

 180,000 tons last year, and that of only one kind of pulp (in the main, 

 from Scandinavia and Bohemia). Besides Great Britain and France, 

 he points to the ever-growing consumption in the United States. 

 On this head, he said: 



Wood costing from $2.50 to $3, and even less, in Canada, is costing to-day $6 per 

 cord in the United States. That country simply can not compete with Canada. 



Regarding the duty, he said that while the United States now 

 allowed wood to go in free and taxed the pulp, it was his opinion 

 that the Canadian paper and pulp industry was assuming such pro- 

 portions that in time influence could be brought to bear on this 

 point. 



The St. John Board of Trade states that the winter exports in 

 1898 were valued at $129,803. 



The Lake Megantic Mills have given notice of an application for 

 increased power and capital. 



The Laurentide Pulp Company, at Grand Mere, has made great 

 strides. According to recent figures, its export from Montreal alone 

 to Great Britain, from May 4 to October 30, 1898, was: Wet weight, 

 17,158,000 pounds; dry weight, 9,062,620 pounds; number of bales, 

 ^4, 733- The water power here is very great, being estimated at 

 90,000 horsepower at high water and 70,000 at low. At present, only 

 12,000 is generated, but it can easily be increased. The steel flume 

 is 300 by 14 feet. Provision has been made for the laying of another 

 tube, if required. The mill employs 800 men, and, in addition, the 

 company controls its own lumber tracts, where some 1,400 men are at 

 work this season. The stumpage dues to the Province are $52,000 

 per annum. -The secretary-treasurer is Mr. R. A. Alger, jr. 



The Sturgeon Falls Pulp Company controls, by arrangement 

 with the Ontario government, 75 square miles of spruce lands on 

 the Sturgeon River. The capital is $2,500,000, and $1,000,000 is to 

 be spent in buildings and plant. The pulp mill was opened in Octo- 

 ber, 1898, and the first of the six proposed paper mills is in course 

 of erection. The number of hands employed is nearly 400; output, 

 360,000 tons of pulp, or 120 tons per working-day. By concessions, 

 the company is able to obtain its wood at $2 per cord. 



There is an American pulp mill at Sault Ste. Marie which has 

 unlimited water supply and a great deal of spruce close by. The 

 output is 70 tons of dry pulp daily. The company is controlled by 

 New York and Philadelphia capitalists and enjoys special privileges 

 from the Ontario government with regard to cutting timber. 



