Caiuidian Forestry Journal, June, ipi6. 



581 



Newfoundland's Tragic 



^^^= Losses ^^^ 



Timber 



Sir Daniel Morris Asserts That Forest Fires in the Colony Cost 



Over $5,000,000 Yearly 



Speaking at a meeting of the 

 Royal Society of Arts in London re- 

 cently. Sir Daniel ^Morris said that 

 the timbered areas of Newfound- 

 land were generally found in the 

 valleys of the larger rivers, and on 

 the banks of the lakes and ponds. 

 In many cases they were confined 

 to strips from one to two miles wide. 

 There were about six and a half 

 million acres of wooded lands in the 

 Colony. All the known timbered 

 areas in Newfoundland, except those 

 lying within the three-mile limit of 

 the shore reserved by the govern- 

 ment, were held under licence bv 

 private parties or by companies. 

 The conditions under which these 

 licences were issued gave the holder 

 the right to cut timber for a term 

 of ninety-nine years on payment of 

 an annual, rental of two dollars per 

 square mile. In addition, there was 

 a royalty of fifty cents per M feet 

 B. AI. payable on all timber cut on 

 the area, except such as was manu- 

 factured into pulp or paper. In the 

 production of sawn or manufactured 

 lumber there were a dozen large 

 mills in Newfoundland, and ten 

 times as many small ones producing 

 cooperage stock, barrels, shingles, 

 and laths. The annual value of the 

 output was estimated at £120.000. 

 In 1906-7 the value of the exports of 

 sawn lumber reached a total of £65.- 

 000; but this had since fallen off, 

 due. it was thought, to increasing 

 loc^l requirements. Water power 

 was abundant, and leases were 

 granted by government for terms of 

 years of the right to use the waters 



of any river for driving machinery, 

 on payment of a rent and subject to 

 a fine of £100 for each oft'ence of in- 

 troducing sawdust or other dele- 

 terious matter into the water. 



The spruce lumber was of excep- 

 tional quality. It was used locally 

 for general building purposes and 

 for ship and boat building, and in 

 the case of the smaller logs it pro- 

 vided a very superior material for 

 manufacture into paper pulp. A 

 very small proportion of the birch 

 timber was utilised, the principal 

 uses being the construction of the 

 under-water parts of the hulls of 

 cruisers and for wharf piles, as the 

 wood was found to last better than 

 most others under such conditions. 

 It was used for various other pur- 

 poses, among others, that of the 

 manufacture of furniture. 



The smaller timber of Newfound- 

 land was chiefly used for the manu- 

 facture of paper pulp, but since the 

 outbreak of the war there had been 

 a considerable export of pitprops to 

 this country. An inquiry had been 

 made by experts into the cost of sup- 

 plying pitprops to this market, and 

 one of these experts had expressed 

 the opinion that the cost need not 

 exceed that of pitprops coming from 

 the Baltic. 



Sir Daniel said that very little 

 seemed to be known in this coun- 

 try about the flora of Newfound- 

 land ! no one seemed to have de- 

 voted themselves to the subject, 

 and he gave a long list of the 

 forest trees which grow there. 

 Besides the black spruce and the 



