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Hon. Mr.CAMERON said the hon. gentloman seemed very sensitive about the accusation against himself, but had no hesitation in ac-- cusing others. The information referred to . d not been given to private parties. * + _ ie en s l in any way in the matter. -- 'Len yemfl from the present time he felt satisfied | the pcople of the country would feel convinced that the _ sale had -- been _ prompted by a wise judgment,. | Be profeesed to know something ol] the lum. | ber trace. It had taken him two, years to | convince the hon. gentlemen oomf)oning the Sandfield Macdona'd Government that it was to the interest of the Province to stimulate the trace by abandoning the regu'ation then in force that lumbermen were to work all their limits ow pay double ducs. He had fougsht against that system for years and years. The hon. members for East Toronto ard Niagara would remember this perfectly well, 1e believed any line of policy he had ever recommended for the trade was in the interest of the country, The great terror of this country was, he _ said, _ direct taxation, arsd ho felt that we could avert that for at all events the rext haif century if _ our _ timber rescurces were properly managed. _ He thought that he fad proved the other day fiy figures that we had large resources that would yicld to this country $25,000,000, and wor!d at the same time give $25,000,000 to the parties who licensed the limits, A charge ind been made that the (iovernment bad made no explorations, 'They bad the reports of explorations sinco 1858, but no returns or explorations that could be made weuld give the people to understand what the vaive of the timber was. It was the moet difficult thing in the world to tell what was the value of a timber berth. He knew as a fact, and Ohe _ stated it from experience, that a lumberman who bad been working his limit for some time came to the conciusion that it would not last for more than another season, and sold it, that the purchasers worked it for fifteen or twonty years and then sold it to others, who still further worked it This was a fact well-- known in the trade. Hon. gentlemen should recollect how difficult it would be, in going through a forest, to reckon how many pire trees stoud on a single acro. It would take about two years to tell how many were in a single townshi When the late Government held their nYe of limits in Muskoka, they sent an agent up only three or four days before the sale to find its value, and then the report was given to private parties. HRon. ¥r. SCOTT--He was not long an officer of the Department, but immediately after the sale went into the firm of Dodge & Hon. Mr CAMERON -- Mr. Mill ar, who was en ofticer of the Department. Hon, Mr CAMERON--Mr. Miller was an officer of the Department at the time of sale. If he made the substance of the report known, that was not the fault of the Gor-- ernment,. Hon. Mr. SCOTT--Who held the report during the sale? Hon. Mr. SCOTT said the geu-- eral impression was that he -- did make it known. What he (Mr. Scott) wished to be understood was that it made very little difference how long the Government might take to have the country examined, the result would be of little value. Mr., RICHARDS asked if the hon. gentle-- man meant to say that some gentlemen had pot bought a large number of Cownships, and pot bought a large number of townships, and after the sale had them examined and then refused to complete the purchase. He him-- self knew of one such case. Hon. Mr. SCOTT said such might possibly have happened. It was impossible for the Government to force any:one to complete their purchases. Mr. RICHARDS asked if one or two per-- sons, instead of carrying ou} their purchase at the time, had not obtained from the hon. gentleman time to send up agents to examine the country for themseives. Hon. Mr. SCOTTV had beard of no such cases, A list of those who had not completed their purchases--someo tifteen or twenty-- weuld be sent to the House. He believed it would be advisable to have an Act passed which would authorize the Government to issue from time to time such regulations for the government of their timber business as were in the interest of actual settloment, and to withdraw from licensees such portions of their territory as was considered necessary to supply local mills with timber. He also thougbt an occasional revision of the tariff of dues a necessity,. W hothef_thin should be done every five years it would be consider. Hoe hoped or seven or for the House that this Mr. OLIVER understood that an Ordor in Council was passed, offering the timber 01 the mineral lands at half a dollar an asre over and above the one doliar an acre paid for the minerals. He as well as others had purchased timber limits under this Order. He did not know that there was any law to prevent a member of the Hoase from pur-- cbasing Crown Lands. These lands were open to the whols public. He had not bought as much as the hon. gentloman had Etated, but if the hon. gentleman wishod 1,000 acres of it at the price it cost him, he could have them. Mr. OLIVER _ said _ this _ was question which had _ been _ discussed very frequently, and was one which never lost its interest in the country. He had felt some doubt as to the propriety of selling theso timber limits, but ho must admit that there was a great deal of force in the argument that such a course was need. ed to promote the settlement of the territory. BPe krew that the lumberman was deeply interested in inducing settlers to go along with bim, becavse he must have supplies. and it cost him a great deal to bring his sup plies from the old settled portions, Both the timiber and ~mineral wealth of the country were made available by settloment. He was of opinion that some more time might have been given to examine the limits that were sold, but there was this difflculty about it--several parties would have hail to be sent up there, and it was possible that certain partics might have been favoured to the disadvantage of others. On the whole he was inclined to believe that it was wise to gell a portion of the timber limits when the price of lumber was higher. question bad been brought prominently be. | fore the notice of the people of Ontario that they would ca.rc'ful_ly .con'n.ideg' what was best Mr. RICKHARDS wanted to know if the report was true that the hon. member for Bouth Oxford had, either himself or with others, purchased 30,000 acres of timber in the mineral Jands of Lake Superior, at half a dollar an acre. Hon. Mr. SC'(}l'f--nThe wood--rangers for 1872 woere not appointed when he took oflice. Mr. RICHARDY asserted that they were, and repea is/opinion that the late Go-- vernment were the credit of tha additicnal rew#rue. He repeated the old story that Mr. Softt had, while a member of the liouse, acted as the paid agent of the lum-- termen. _ Ho came with a deputasion of Ivmtermin to the late Government and ar-- gued in favour of granting the lumbermsan a license for twernty one years. He deriod that Mr. Scott was entitled to any credis for the regnulations of the Crown lands; that credit was due to him when he was at the bead of the Department. He proceedsd to cendemn the proceedings connected with the gale in October. MNr. RICHARDS was of opinion that the late Government were entitled to tho credit of the sdditional revenue from timber, be-- cause the accrua's were from timber cut be-- fore the present Government went into office. and most prudent in the interests 05 t ma' Province, and he believed they would .* i / be doing that which was best in the intere & of the Iumbermen _ If, in future years, the | trade would bear a higher duty the profit of the Jumbermen would increase accordingly. He thought that the lumbermen should be placed in possession of their limits on 'some ruch footing as would grevent them from | denuding the forests, and endezvouring to get all their srofita within a short period He considered he was able to prove that the system of licenses was the best that could be adopted, and that we should %et from ten to tifteen dollars an acre more than the people of the United States do. There were gentle-- men who came to the sale in October and leit in disgust, saying fhat they could do better in Michigan, where they could buy from $150 to $180 an acre. In New Bruns-- wick the system was to restrict the licensee to a piven number of years, he thought thres or four, and then to resell The result was that, as cash licenseo endeavoured to get as mrch as possible from the land during his time of possession, after two or three sales the limit was useless. Our sys-- tcm thowed that bo'h the Government ai1 the licerseo had a mutual interest, T.i# licensce cou'!d ; rotect the limits from plu dir u uch better than the Governmeat coul ' It was rlmplg impossible for the Governmen' to protect the lands that were not under Vicense, In cenclusion, ho raferred the «exuce to the large increase that had this \wir ts} n place in the collectioas made by +is Ihfpartment. He rested his defencs on th--se fgures, perfectly assured that they ihov«@d that he had been scting in the intercst cof the people rather than in the intercst of the lumgermen. (Applause.)