From time to time during the year various statements were made as to the probable decline of production in the Yukon, and upon this point the Financial News, of London, England, had an important article, from a Klondike correspondent, early in March, 1901. He believed that although more than $60,000,000 had already been taken out of the Creek deposits, 75 per cent. of the gold still remained—aside from the hill gravel and the white quartz drift. This latter was of enormous extent and value. Probably 330,000,000 cubic yards lay in three valleys, which he mentioned, worth any way from 5s to 30s per cubic yard. Working conditions, however, required lower royalties and cheaper freight. the Toronto Mail and Empire, on May 3rd, Mr. J. H. Davidson, of Dawson, estimated the summer yield at about $25,000,000. is all from the placer mines, but quartz mines have been discovered and these, with the Creeks constantly opening and the new and cheaper processes of working the power claims, will tend to give Dawson a permanency. Summer mining would, he thought, be the rule in the future. The London Advertiser, on April 3rd, published a letter from Mr. Fred Fysh, formerly of that city, which served to bear out the statements of Mr. Davidson :

In an interview with

"This

"I, like hundreds of others, believe this country has been simply scratched over; that the real work of finding and taking out the precious metals has only just begun. Many creeks have not been sufficiently prospected to have been given a black eye, and inside a year they may come to the front as good producers.

An immense

quartz lead has recently been followed up, which seems to across country for miles, and assays of the rock have been made which run from $30 to $40 to the ton. The lead has not been sufficiently prospected, however, to demonstrate its value."

The question of regulating the mining industry and obtaining a due share of return from it for the Government of the country was much discussed during the year. Early in January the Yukon Council memoralized the Dominion Government, in a majority Report, for various reforms. It asked for free mining machinery and the repeal of the law forbidding Dominion officials from holding any interest in mining properties; for the extension of time to two years in which to begin operations on bona fide hydraulic claims; and for various regulations, amendments and changes in the law effecting mining operations in the Territory. A reduction of the royalty to 5 per cent. on the gross output was demanded; or if that were objectionable, the establishment of a local assay office; or else the imposition of an export duty on the gold and its treatment as an ordinary article of commerce for which the person carrying it would have to pay a tax. The minority Report suggested a reduction at 2 per cent. in the royalty plus a larger exemption in amount, or else a simple reduction in the royalty to 4 per cent. of the net profits on the gold mined. An assay office should also be established. It was generally understood that Commissioner Ogilvie favoured a reduction in the royalty.

On March 12th it was announced at Ottawa that the Yukon royalty on gold would be reduced to 5 per cent. During the same month various innovations were made. The Crown claims, with specified exceptions, were thrown open and Dominion Orders-inCouncil abolished the restrictions confining a miner to one claim, allowed him to stake a claim wherever he chose and to abandon those which did not suit him, whenever he felt inclined. In August it was stated that the new Commissioner, Mr. J. H. Ross, had declared in favour of an export duty on gold in place of any royalty. Under the latter system there was a great leakage of revenue due to the natural desire of the miner to avoid payment of the tax; while under the new proposal this tendency would be obviated by the penalty of confiscation. Sir Mackenzie Bowell, late Premier of Canada, upon his return from a visit to the Yukon, seemed to think there was something in the complaints of the miners as to exactions and undue restrictions. He favoured the Commissioner's idea of an export duty and in an interview with the Winnipeg Telegram on September 18th expressed his believe that it would be satisfactory to the miners, and a substantial benefit to the revenue of the country. It may be stated here that the total gold production upon which royalty was collected in 1898-99 was $5,882,626 and the exemptions $1,699,657. In 18991900 the figures were respectively $7,307,720 and $2,501,744.

In an interview recorded in the British Columbia Mining Record, for October, Dr. Robertson, Inspector of Mines in the Yukon, declared that no diminution in the output of the Klondike need be expected for at least 10 years. He anticipated much in the future from steam shovel and hydraulic operations. Permanent and very extensive public improvements were going on and the expenditure for roads. alone would amount to $250,000 in the season of 1901. "The reduction of the royalty from ten to five per cent. with an exemption of $5,000 has been a material factor in bringing about an increase in the annual output of the Klondike. And, within a twelvemonth, I look to see the royalty abolished altogether and an export duty of two per cent. substituted. This will force the establishment of an assay office in Dawson."

Forest and
Timber In-
terests of
Canada

Section III-FORESTS AND FISHERIES

The forest area of the Dominion is very large. Mr. George Johnson, Dominion Statistician, has estimated it at a total figure of 1,348,798 square miles, of which Ontario possesses 102,118; Quebec, 102,117; New Brunswick, 14,766; Nova Scotia, 6,464; Prince Edward Island, 797; Manitoba, 25,626; British Columbia, 285,554, and the Territories 696,952 square miles. According to these figures the comparison with other countries is very striking, Canada having 163 acres of forest and woodland per head of the population, while Norway comes next with a little over nine acres, Sweden with about the same, the United States with seven acres and European Russia with nearly four acres. Dr. Robert Bell, of the Geological Survey, in an address at Ottawa on March 18, 1900, has stated that "the northern forests of Canada stretch from Labrador to Alaska, a distance of 3,700 miles, and have an average breadth of 700 miles." The area of this forest region is 44 times greater than the area of England. The industry arising out of these vast resources in timber has always been an important one in Canada, from the early days when it rivalled the fur trade in public attention, to the second year following the Confederation of the Provinces when (in 1869) the produce of the Canadian forest exported was valued at $20,423,882 out of a total export of $60,474,781. In 1900 it was $29,663,668, and in 1901 $30,276,180.

In northern Ontario there is some pine to be found and quantities of spruce, birch, poplar and tamarac. The forests of the Georgian Bay region still have plenty of pine but are being steadily depleted while the Districts of Nipissing and Algoma are well timbered with pine, birch, cedar, maple, spruce, poplar and tamarac. The Temiscamingue pine lands and the Ottawa Valley forest and lumbering regions are well known. Quebec at one time boasted vast pine forests and they are still valuable though fires and lumbermen are slowly working their destruction. Spruce abounds throughout the Province, as do hemlock, maple, birch, cedar and tamarac. The Labrador country is supposed to be well 'filled with forests of spruce, birch and tamarac.

In New Brunswick pine has almost disappeared, and spruce is now the staple of the lumber trade. Cedar is abundant and young growths of red pine, poplar and spruce are coming up in the Miramichi district. Nova Scotia has spruce and tamarac in abundance and Prince Edward Island still possesses some good hardwood. In the North-West Territories the forest and woodland region is very sparsely timbered except along the banks of rivers and in the far northern basin of the Mackenzie and its tributaries where lies the great forest belt of Canada with its immense resources of poplar, banksian pine and a superior sort of spruce. Manitoba has some

.

spruce and poplar and British Columbia has immense forests of Douglas fir in which trees grow to enormous sizes. Next in commercial importance is the cedar and there is an abundance of spruce, hemlock, tamarac and poplar with some excellent hardwood—oak, maple, etc.

The Canadian trade in lumber and forest products is chiefly divided between Great Britain and the United States. In 1899 the exports to the Mother Country were valued at $15,777,996, and in 1901 at $15,662,749, while to the United States they increased from $9,921,704 to $12,190,617 in the same years. In 1901 the Trade and Navigation Returns give the figures as $16,399,614 sent to the British Empire and $13,610,243 to other countries-including the United States. The principal divisions of these exports in 1901 were as follows according to the figures of the Department of Trade and Commerce:

The best class of Canadian timber, and especially pine, goes to England. According to figures compiled some years ago, Canada shipped to Great Britain in 1890 6807 per cent. of Britain's total import of forest-products, and in 1895 3341 per cent. To the United States in the same period her exports increased from 30‍67 per cent. of the American total forest import to 66-05 per cent. The conditions were exactly reversed and this was due chiefly to the cutting of immense quantities of pine saw-logs in the Georgian Bay district. There are various important interests dependent upon the forest product of Canada and the Census of 1891 showed $99,637,522 to be invested in industries connected with timber and wood. The amount paid out in wages was $30,680,281 and the value of the product was $120,415,516. The total working capital of saw-mills alone was $27,149,847; the average number employed, 51,378; the aggregate yearly wages, $12,625,895; the value of the product, $51,262,435.

Taken over a term of years the general progress of the industries dependent upon the forests is best seen. The export of pot and pearl ashes one of the oldest of Canadian industries-is gradually dying out. In 1868 it was $719,613; in 1901 it was $48,579. Bark for tanning was exported in 1876 to the value of $170,632 and in 1901 to the value of $62,024. The export of firewood decreased from $495,648 in 1868 to $90,905 in 1901, while that of logs increased from $170,489 (including shingle bolts) to $1,055,551. Lumber (including deals, pine, spruce, etc., and deal ends) was exported in 1868 to the value of $4,121,539 and in 1901 to that of $11,693,516. The export of laths, palings and pickets in 1868 was $143,982 and in 1901 $603,720, and that of joists and scantlings was $102,581 in

the former year and $387,150 in the latter. and $387,150 in the latter. Planks and boards were $6,640,689 in 1868 and $9,380,505 in 1901; staves and headings were respectively $783,196 and $438,973. The total export of timber, therefore, increased in this period from $11,794,030 to $22,977,574. Pulpwood rose from $80,005 in 1890 to $902,772 in 1900 and $1,397,019 in 1901. The total export of all forest products (including manufactures of wood) from Canada was $18,742,625 in 1868 and $30,009,857 in 1901-the year 1897 being the only other period in which the export reached the latter figure.

The regulations in the different Provinces concerning timber vary considerably. In Ontario the export of pine and spruce in the log is prohibited when the timber is cut on Crown Lands. In Quebec a rebate of $1.50 per cord on stumpage dues is allowed on wood from which pulp is manufactured in the Province. Nova Scotian forests are almost entirely owned by private persons. According to an estimate made in 1894 the areas of timber lands leased to lumbermen were 22,557 square miles in Ontario, 46,556 square miles in Quebec, 6,318 square miles in New Brunswick, and 3,956 square miles in Manitoba, the Territories and British Columbia.

At the annual meeting of the Lumbermen's Association of Ontario, in Toronto, on January 29th, the President, Mr. John Waldie delivered an address of considerable interest. He stated that in two years the wages in the woods had advanced 60 per cent.; supplies, such as bacon, butter and horses had increased in price, while lumber had also risen considerably. Freight rates were still unfair to the lumberman, and a reform, in his opinion, was necessary in tariff matters. "We must insist that our Dominion Government shall adopt a tariff against lumber and all wood products entering into competition, remove them from the free list, aud relieve the lumber industry from the unequal competition of lumber manufactured and freighted under more favourable conditions. To-day labour, machinery and mill supplies are higher in Canada than in the United States, and when low transportation rates on lumber are given from the Southern States we in Ontario are placed in competition with the cheap coloured labour of the South; and lumbermen in New Ontario and British Columbia are at a disadvantage when competing with Oregon and Washington Territory for the trade of our Prairie Province."

The Secretary gave various statistics as to production. White pine timber, in the mills of north-western Ontario, had been transformed into lumber during 1900 to the extent of 476,000,000 feet, as compared with 351,000,000 feet in 1899. The stock on hand of white pine lumber on December 31, 1900, was 216,349,000 feet, as against 120,000,000 feet a year before, and of this stock 92,109,000 feet were sold and awaiting delivery. There had been a large decrease at the same time in the production of Michigan and other United States mills, which had been formerly supplied with Ontario logs. This decrease in Michigan, Wisconsin and Minnesota was given as 478,000,000 feet. At the annual meeting of the Toronto Board of Trade on the same day, the retiring President, Mr. A. E. Kemp, M.P., referred in his