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IV.-Statement of Lumber, &c., the Produce of the State of Maine, upon the Saint John and Saint Croix Rivers, and their Tributaries, owned by American Citizens, and Sawed or Hewn in the Province of New Brunswick, by American Citizens, and admitted Free of Duty into the United States since 1868, under the Treaty of Washington, dated November 10, 1842, and the Acts of Congress dated March 16 and June 1, 1865.

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THE TIMBER RESOURCES AND TIMBER TRADE

OF

CANADA.

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THE TIMBER RESOURCES AND TIMBER TRADE OF CANADA.

From the geographical position of Canada and the United States, and the natural and artificial routes of transportation that exist along the line, and across the boundary between them, it is reasonable to expect that the interests of trade will, in the future as in the past, draw from the timber resources of both countries for their respective wants, so long as either of them has these commodities to supply. Besides this common interest in the forests, for meeting the demand for consumption, both countries have, for a long period, been competitors in the foreign lumber and timber trade, and have shared alike in the vicissitudes that have attended it.

It therefore appears proper to present, in connection with the statistics already given concerning our foreign commerce in forest products, as full information as can be derived from official and trustworthy sources, as to the nature and extent of this business in Canada, extending back to the date of the present Dominion Government, and in some instances to an earlier period. The series of tables that we present will sufficiently represent the tendencies of the trade during the years they embrace, and its extent as compared one Province with another, and in different years.

The great prominence of the timber interest of Canada has in recent years led to thoughtful inquiries into the extent of these resources, a synopsis of which will be first presented.

1.-RESOURCES OF CANADIAN FORESTS.

1. Inquiries concerning the Timber Interests of Canada.

A Select Standing Committee on Immigration and Colonization, appointed by the Dominion Parliament, has at recent sessions thought proper to institute inquiries having reference to the condition of the forests of the country, and the extent, value, and prospects of the lumber trade. The chairman in the session of 1878, (Mr. James Trow,) in introducing the subject remarked:

That the actual condition of the timber supply of the Dominion was a subject of the utmost importance, and one that deserved the special attention of the committee. It involved not merely the prosperity of the greatest of the manufacturing industries of the country, and the main staple of its foreign commerce, but exercised also a controlling influence in regulating the extent of future settlements, inasmuch as the forests tempered the climate by rendering it more equable-maintained the regular flow in rivers by preventing inundations, and furnished new settlements with the cheapest building material and fuel.

Mr. Stewart Thayne, an English journalist of some years' experience, who had for the last five years been engaged in researches having reference to the lumber interest, and who had been for two and a half years exclusively engaged in studying this subject of timber resources in

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Canada, appeared before the committee, and gave in substance the following information:

"The advantages which Great Britain derives from the Canadian supply of timber are numerous, the principal being

"1. The best quality of Canadian pine is the most valued of the soft woods used in the United Kingdom.

"2. The dimensions of the soft woods shipped from Canada are larger than can be procured from the timber-producing countries of Europe. "3. The colonial supply maintains a healthy competition in the trade, decidedly favorable to the interests of the British consumers.

"This trade affords employment for a large amount of British and colonial tonnage.

"The kinds of wood exported are, among the hard woods, oak, elm, ash, birch, &c., and of soft woods, the white and red pine, and spruce. "The dimensions now exported are less than formerly. It was quite usual for the square-timber shipped from the Saint Lawrence about thirty years ago to average from 70 to 75 cubic feet per log, whereas, at the present day, the average of the season's log crop does not range beyond 55 cubic feet. Then, in regard to the quality, it was no unusual thing at the period just referred to, for the pine rafts to yield from 70 to 80 per cent. of first quality of wood. I think it would be within the mark to state that the pine at present sent to the Quebec market does not furnish 20 per cent. of first quality. About two years ago I took the trouble to ascertain the qualities of the stock wintering at Quebec, and the estimate I then found was lower than the one just quoted; indeed, the deals, in my opinion, did not show 15 per cent. Perhaps, however, some allowance should be made for the fact that this stock was that which was left after the season's shipments.

"The quantity of lumber that passes through the lakes and down the Saint Lawrence is comparatively small, and I am not of opinion that it is all of the first quality. The British Board of Trade Returns estimates the value of the Canadian wood imported during the year 1877 at something like $26,000,000. The total imports of hewn timber, during the year, amounted to 103,980,650 cubic feet, of which quantity British North America furnished 24,286,000, or a little less than one-fourth. This included every description of wood not sawn or split. Of sawn wood there was imported during the same period 228,637,400 feet, of which the Dominion supplied 62,810,600 cubic feet. So that in rough numbers it may be said that Canada supplied the United Kingdom with one-fourth of its timber imports. The total estimated value of these imports, exclusive of furniture woods, is set down at £19,705,447, and the value of the Canadian goods at £5,500,000 sterling. It may be gathered from these figures that a higher value is given to the Canadian produce than to that received from other countries.

"In respect to the present timber trade of Canada, as compared with that of thirty or forty years ago, there is a very great difference in the proportion. For instance, in the year 1831 the total importation of hewn wood into Great Britain amounted to 28,109,950 cubic feet, and of this quantity, 20,943,950 cubic feet were sent from British North America. "In 1832, 1833, 1834, and indeed up to 1840, Canadian shipments held their position; the total quantity imported by Great Britain is gradually increasing, but the exports from this country do not bear the same ratio to the general trade. Thus, in the latter year, the total importation of hewn wood reached 40,858,150 cubic feet, of which Canada contributed 32,497,650.

"The square timber trade of Canada held its position in the English

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