Canadian Forestry Journal, December, ipij. 



311 



B. C. System of Timber Leases 



Hon. W. R. Ross Explains Various Tenures — Transportation 

 Problem Alone Blocks Great Prosperity. 



The energetic campaign for the 

 extension of the lumber export trade 

 of British Columbia has directed at- 

 tention to the timber resources of 

 that Province, their present develop- 

 ment and prospects. In an inter- 

 view, the Hon. A^^ R. Ross, Minister 

 of Lands, said : — 



"Man}-- Aague estimates of the ex- 

 tent of British Columbia's forests 

 have been put forward in past years. 

 Because we need reliable informa- 

 tion in order to manage our forests 

 intelligently I began a forest survey 

 in 1912. A very considerable area 

 has already been covered by the 

 cruisers engaged in this survey. 

 The figures obtained give us some- 

 thing definite to go upon. Besides 

 the eight and one third million acres 

 under timber license, a million acres 

 under old timber leases, a million 

 acres of deeded timberland, three 

 quarters of a million acres held un- 

 der railwa}' grants — besjdes these 

 alienations we find that the Crown 

 Timber Reserve, created in 1907, is 

 very considerable. For instance, in 

 entering the results of various for- 

 est surveys on the maps last year 

 there were one million acres of re- 

 serve timberland dealt with, apart 

 from very large areas containing 

 lesser stands of timber and pulp- 

 wood. Hence, the estimate of 350 

 billion feet of merchantable timber 

 now awaiting cutting in the Prov- 

 ince is being called into question as 

 it becomes more and more probable 

 that the effective total will reach 

 400 billion." 



B. C.'s Wood Assets. 



"Take the Coast forests — say a 

 solid third is Douglas Fir, which 



taken all around is the finest all 

 round wood in the world; over one- 

 fifth is Cedar — British Columbia is 

 pre-eminently the Cedar region of 

 America, thanks to the Coast rain- 

 fall, ihen think of our immense 

 stand of Western Hemlock. The 

 world is now beginning to realize 

 what A\'estern Hemlock is. Our 

 pulp and paper mills have done great 

 things with it already, but the big 

 uses of this wood are only just be- 

 ginning. Western Hemlock is des- 

 tined to take the place of Eastern 

 White Pine for very many purposes, 

 and at no distant date. 'Then take 

 our fine interior forests. Seven 

 thousand out of 13,600 square miles 

 of timber licenses are East of the 

 Cascades Mountains, so you see our 

 interior country is pretty strongly 

 represented in the timber^ asset." 



'The financial world naturally 

 takes a particular, interest in the 

 question of tenure." the interviewer 

 observed. "Would you mind run- 

 ning over the main features of the 

 various tenures?" 



"Crown grant timber, of course, is 

 just deeded timber — there is nothing 

 to explain about that," Mr. Ross -re- 

 plied. "Then the old leases are sim- 

 ple enough— rentals of 10 or 15 

 cents per acre per annum and a rov- 

 aity on cut logs of 50 cents are the 

 terms in most cases up to the years 

 1921 to 1925, during which period 

 the bulk of these leases will come up 

 for renewal for 21 years ahead, ob- 

 taining whatever rates of rental and 

 royalty are then provided by statute. 

 The timber license tenure is rather 

 more complicated, however." 



"I think it is somewhat imperfect- 

 ly understood outside the Province, 



