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174 '"'Under the act of 1891 the price of mining lands ranged from $2 to $450 per acre, and by the act.of 1892 the maximum price was reduced to $3 50. In 1894, owing to the business depres-- sion of that time, the prices were fur-- ther reduced to a range of $150 to $3. The present buoyancy of trade and bus-- iness with the accompanying activity in mining enterprise appears to justify a small increase. Prices and rentals are graduated according to distance of lands from railways and the situa-- tion as to surveyed and unsurveyed territory. Discovery and development in the older narts of the Province with-- in the last three or four years, and not-- ably the proven occurrences of gold ore and corundum in large qutntities, jus-- itify the course taken in the bill of abandoning the distinction of different prices and rentals for mineral lands | in the older and newer portions of the | Province. $15,000."~ 1t was "paid ~ $5,000, and for 1897 $1,8603 for 1898 $8,654 27, but the $3,000, and for 1897 $1,8603 95, and it claims! for 1898 $8,654 27, but the proofs of claim . have only been received to--day." Mining Locations. ' Dealing with'the subject of mining. development, Hon. Mr. Gibson said t--, "In 1898 the Crown disposed of 798 lo-- cations, having a total area of 68,440 acres. There were sold. 292 loca-- tions with am area of 19,529 acres, and there were leased 506 loca--| tions with an area .of 48,911 acres. The revenue from sales--was $40,468 87, from leases on account of the first year's rent $48,063 63 and from rental of leases issued prior to 1898, $9,.-- 429 62, or a total .. or $97,-- 962 12. For the seven years,»1892--98, the number of locations sold has been 1,171 | with an area of 81,618 acres, and the | number leased has been 1,908, with an | area of 196,453 acres, being in all 3,079 locations, with an area of 278,071 acres. | The revenue from sales during the seven years has been $172,306 87, and from the first year's rent $192,043 66. | Adding rents subsequent to the first | year of lease (31,111 03) the revenue from | mining lands sold and leased has been $395,461 56, which, together with miners' | licenses, fees, etc., collected in the Mi-- ; chipicoton mining division in 1897--8; ($6,244 50) make an aggregate for the | seven years of $401,706 06. 5 54 is very desirable that opportunity | should be given for examination of it' upon the easiest terms, and under con-- litions to prove what it may be worth as a mineral--bearing country. R "The provision in section 3 of the act is intended to encourage exploration in parts of the Province far distant from surveys and sottlements. The cost of taking a survey 20, 50 or 100 miles acts as & deterrent on exploration in uns known districts, but if the prospector is allowed to stake out a location and is required to do substantial development work upon it within two years, he will be able to satisfy himself as to its value before incurring expense for a survey, or paying in the purchase price or first year's rental as he is obliged to do un-- der the mines act. The area of unex-- plored lands in the Province is probably not less than 100,000 square miles, and it Encourages Exploration. for *"The production of gold bullion i Province during the year 1898 :wa: }é' ? 075 ounces, worth $271,906 48, not includ-- ing the output of one mine for which the returns have not yet been received. Compared .with 1897 it is by weight i 4.633 ounces.and by value $31.662 48 more | than in that year. Extensive develop-- i ment work was carried on in various parts of the Province last year, and with the mills now in course of erection | it is hoped that a large increase in pro-- | duction will be shown this year. Copper and Nickel. "There was produced at mines andI works in the Sudbury district last year over 40,000,000 pounds of matte, the ' metal contenz' of which are computed | at 8,373,560 pFunds of fine copper and ; 5,567,690 pounds of fine nickel. At the , selling price of matte at the works the | value of copper was $268,080 and of : nickel $514,220, being in all $782,300. The | industry employed 609 men, whose earn-- | ings for labor were $315,501. During the seven years, 1892--98, the aggregate production of the Sudbury mines has been 34,570,560 pounds, and of nickel 30,705,190 pounds. The value of cop-' per computed at the selling price of | matte at the works has been $1,302,805, and of nickel $3,294,060, being for both metals in the seven years $4,596,865. The amount of wages paid for labor in the seven years has been $1,929,894." In his concluding remarks, Mr. Gib-- son stated that the work of the Min-- ing Bureau was greatly increasing. The establishment of new mining enter-- prises here and there all over the Pro-- vince had necessitated further work and imposed further responsibility upon not only the officials but the head of the department. _ While that was the case, however, the increased mining activity which prevailed all over the Province might be considered a source of congra-- tulation. Mr. Matheson admitted that the prin-- ciple underlying the resolutions which had been submitted to the House was a good one. He doubted the wisdom, however, of giving a bonus for the use of any very large quantity of foreign ores. Mr. Whitney strongly approved of the resolutions. The policy embodied in them was a measure of judicious pro-- tection which the Government was jus-- tified in extending to this industry. He was sorry Mr. Pattullo was not present, because he would like to have heard what that gentleman had to say in regard to the Government's policy of protection. 5 _ The resolutions were_reported. and the bill amending the mines act was read a second time. S Prorogation Uncertain. Mr. Whitney wished to know what the chances were of proroguing before Easter. o & 6 Hon. Mr. Hardy could not give any very definite information. By sitting next Friday and Satmday the business of the House might be closed at the end of the week, but a lot of printing would require to be done before proro-- gation could take blace. _ The Muni-- cipal Committee would sit as late in the week as Wednesday morning, so that it would be seen there was still pansiderable business to be dealt with.