120 



cftipts. I won't call it the revenue, because there is something deceptive in the use of 

 that word ; we are apt to fancy that itaWays means (as Worcester has it) ' the income 

 or annual profit received from lands or other property.' It is nothing of the kind in this 

 case. We have not been spending the income or annual profit of our forests, but the 

 forests themselves — not the interest, but the capital. 



" It will be said that, without the large sums of money derived from the cutting of 

 timber on our Crown lands, the building of railways could not have been encouraged as it 

 has been. Nothing can contribute to the prosperity of a new country more than a rail- 

 way carefully located so as to satisfy some great public necessity, without calling for sacri- 

 fices beyond the forces of the country ; but while looking forward to the benefit to be 

 derived from it, the cost must not be forgotten. We have been sacrificing our forests for 

 the sake of our railways. 



" So far as mere power is concerned, it seldom happens that a Government can con- 

 trol any trade as completely as our Provincial Governments can control the timber trade 

 without laying itself open to the charge of undue interference with business. In this 

 case, the Governments themselves are parties to the trade, since they are the owners and 

 the sellers of standing timber. , 



• " But if we wish to save our forests, the necessity for the prompt application of 

 some effectual remedy is the same in every Province ; the quantity of timber cut every 

 year must be considerably reduced, if we wish to balance the yearly cutting of our forests 

 with their annual growth. The revenue of our Crown lands must shrink, of course, but 

 it will become a bona fide revenue upon which we can permanently rely. 



" To sum up, the Provincial Governments can do a great deal towards checking the 

 over-production of timber, improving thereby the tone of the timber market and preserv- 

 ing our forests. 



" Opinions will be divided as to the best and fairest mode of action, and as to the 

 right of the Governments to interfere. If they can alter the amount of timber dues, they 

 can interfere most effectively, and without exceeding the limits of their power, and 

 compel, if need be, the lumbermen to submit to such just restrictions as will preserve our 

 forests from destruction. 



" I would recommend limiting the lumberman to a maximum cut of so many thou- 

 sand feet per square mile of his limits. Let it be understood, I do not mean that he 

 should hav« to cut so much on each and every individual square mile, but that out of his 

 whole limit he should not take more than at the rate of so many feet per square mile. 

 Of course, any plan that may be adopted will require very careful consideration and 

 adjustment." 



I would myself suggest, considering what the European plan is, and its evident suc- 

 cess in preserving the forests in perpetuity, that there the Government or the forest 

 owner are, in fact, the lumbermen— that is, they point out the sticks that are to be cut 

 and dictate the manner of cutting them. And being the lumbermen, and being also the 

 owners, the forest is preserved that it may yield in future as it does to-day. I would 

 therefore ask whether it would not be well to do one of two things, either sell the 

 lumber tract to the lumberman altogether, with the condition that he is limited to so 

 many thousand feet per annum, and such further conditions as shall make it his interest 

 to preserve the tract in a reproductive and lumber-yielding state, in which case he will 

 soon find out the best methods of forestry himself ; or else let Government take entire 

 charge, sell what sticks they choose, and see for themselves that their forests remain in a 

 condition to replace them. 



Mr. Joly speaks of the waste in making square timber, and says : — 



" In making square pine, the waste of timber is generally estimated at one-fourth of 

 the whole, and the best part of the tree, too, that part which in saw logs gives the splendid 

 broad deals, for which Canada is famous. As it is not every tree that is sound 



