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C e | almost an entire fallure. In the year 1866, e | there were 72 settlers placed on the colon!zr | M . | tion rosds, at an expense to the country of | m $03,000--or about ?900 for each settler. » | During the whole period of ten or twelve years, durirg which these roads had been carried on, there had been 1,972 settlers, at | ¢ a total coast of about a million of dollars. | B And of these many had gone away. Ol the | 405 setslers on the Hastings road, he was oredibly informed that not more than from 100 to 150 rcow remained. | W These were atartling facts, and proved that | oi it was folly to attempt to colon'!zs a oonn:x 4 which was unfit for settlement, and whi m was yisldiog us incalculable wealth in its | m plaoe timber. No# only 6i3 it cost a million dollars to placs these settlers, but probably | B eight or ten millions more in the injary done to the timbesr by fires and ctherwise. The | extent ard value of the timber trade was shown by the figures of the trade and navi-- gation returns. Daring the ten and a baif years jaat 'gom by, the amount received for | § produce of the forest was 8109,541,?43- about equal to the wholo exportsof ont | m agricultural productlons, animals ard their | @ goduoo. &o. A branch of industry which ought into the country every xoith a mil-- lion of dollars in gold, was oro worthy the best care and attention of ths Commisaloner t of Crown Latds, If the hon. gentleman now. ® cccupying that position devoted weeks and | al months to studying the interests of the lam-- ber trade, ho would be tha first Commis:--| sloner of Crown Lands who hadi shown that | x interest in the trade which its magnitude ed and importance deserved. Mr. Soott then read a statoment, showing the expenditure i by the lumberers in tho timber districts, amountirg annually to about $4,000,000 for | p« wages of men and teams, and $8 000 000 for | provisions, &9, ; in all, about $12 000000 | Abouthaif this vast trade belongs to Ontario; for he found that the qaantity of timber | exported from the late Province of Carada | was supplied in about equal proportions by | Upper and Lower Canada. It properly | M husbanded, enough revenus could be ratsed from our timber for tho next twonty--five years to pay all the expenses of the Govern-- | m ment, and leave alarge marzin bs:ides. Such | W a trade surely demanded tho earnest and thoughtfal care and attention of this Houre asd of thsGovernment, and should not be ligh'ly struck at by thors who did not un indortnd its workings. It bhai Aana maro for the settlement of the country, ten times | M over, than all that had bsen done by the Government, Mr. Soott proceeded t» enu-- merate various advantages derived by the country from the lamber trade. drawilog | gl special attention to the large traffic it far-- nished the railways, He then quoted from the Trade and I{ulgltlon Returns of Eng-- | 0 land, to show that while from 1856 to 1863, N the average annual value of Canadian timber reosived at English ports wis £2,750,731 | W sterling, the valus of other exports from || Cauada received in Eagiand. oanihtin? of |} cereals, &o., was but £1,965,891 sterling. | Ho then pointed out the importense of the d um ber trade as an clemect in tho | 8 queation cof reciprocal trade with the United States, and as farnishing a pow-- t erful inducement to the Amerlorns to negrtiate for a rerewal of the tiea'y.l 4 In order to recder the limits available, he explained that much improvement in atreams and roads had to be effected. On one claim 1 this way £83,000 had been expended. | § This would show hon. gentlsmen the exter | & sive interests involved in the question. As zthi. (Mr. Soott's) vi'fluh lnlrotmnoo to the | 4 ure management of the lumbor trads, he thought that if the Government would allow l these lcanses to extend over fifteen or twenty 14 {url. the resources of the country would be q usbanded. _ Where the tenure was nacertain 14 and very limited, undoubtedly there were | ; incentives to lszying wasto timber limits--at E all events there would be fow attempts at! husbanding. Under the presert Crown Land |4 | system of compelling the Hcsutlate to work r | his lmits or otherwise pay largs bonuszcs, he | | was forced to go on all the limits and work | them to the detriment of the limits and over-- | | stooking of the market,. He (Mr. Soott) |, would om&o so far as to limit the Moentlate | / in the quantity to be produced yearly, and |-- contended that such a plan would tend to || the benefit of the Iamberer aud of the coun-- | try at large. Ho concludsd by expreming |, his gratification at the general remarks o% i | the Commisaloner of Crown Lands, # Mr, CUMBERLAND also desirsd to add his congratulations to the Commisaloner. A more luc!d, argumentative, goo4 sound com-- mon tense speech on so diffisult a subjsot, be (Mr. Camberland) bai never heard. But his attention had teen struck by omts. slons of any breadth of s:atement on the aubjest of mineral lands Oa the ques»-- in of the adzwinistration of the department, ealluded to by the Commisaioner, ho (Mr. Cumberland) could not quite sgree with the Commisaioner. He (Mr. Cuamberlaad) could