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| OPPOSED PROPOSED TAL iB | ht s tA h > i) DEPUTATION PRESENT VIEWS TO :, THE MINISTER OF MINES. + 2' Wiivadive lc ieamsitecoccusrarentle 32, Do Not Want Acreage Tax on Undevel-- 4 oped Mining Lands in the Lake Su-- + perior Country--Bill Will Probably "| _ be Introduced This Week. In speaking to a deputation which ! ~| waited on him on Saturday to expres® ; i| opposition to the reported proposed t.ax i : | on mining lands, Hon. Mr. Cochrane »t <| timated that the revenue to be denvt-'? ' as a result of any such measure would be used, in part, to encouraget the refin-- | '| ing and smelting of ores in this Pro-- l vince. _ He felt that the Government / would be doing something greatly in th.xf i ) interests of holders of mining land§ 1k | they could bring about such a condition. --| To him it did not seem right that On-- tario ores should have to be shipped | from Canada to another country for | 'treatment-. The place for that was I | here. To other objections to & tax on | mining lands Hon. Mr. Cochrane ex~ | pressed the opinion that it would be an | impetus to the holders of them to got f | to work to see if they could not be | ' made to produce mineral wealth, or i1 | ; they were not fit for agricultural pu«-- | poses. ; ! --The deputation was chiefly composea . . of legal and other gentlemen who on be: half of clients or themselves are largely | interested in mining. -- They spoke part} cularly in respect to mineral lands in | the Lake Superior country, considerable areas of which had been patented many years ago. -- In addition to the purchase price, these lands pay a tax of one cent per acre, and some of them, being now || in organized municipalities, also pay | such municipal taxes as mining lands | are subjected to. _ Hundreds of thou-- 1 sands of dollars. it was stated, had.! been spent in development work on | | | these lands. the net result simply being , in most instances positive proof that no minerals existed. -- In other cases : | ' there had been some discoveries, but : | owing to the distance of the lands from . | railways it had been impossible to work | the deposits. the transportation of sup-- | plies being far too costly,. _ Several sug-- gestions were advanced by spokesmen of the deputation ; one being that if it | was decided to impose a flat rate acre-- age tax on mining lands. productive or | otherwise, it should not go into effect | in the territory they weferred to for a / fixed number of years. _ Another was that as <the proprietors would not in ; many cases be able to pay the proposed : taxes, the action of the Government would practically amount to confisca-- tion. The Government should, there-- | fore, buy back the lands at the purchase | price plus the taxes at the rate now : existing. It was also urged that the | _ only proper basis of taxation was abil-- | ity to pay, and for that reason th»y _contended that there should be no taxa-- tion except on actual production. Hon. Mr. Cochrane met all these cor-- | tentions quite frankly, and although ; the discussion was quite good--na-- | tured, he seemed to 'be firmly of opinicn | that there should be an acreage tax on > mineral lands wherever situated on / which no work is being done. | Among those on the deputation were -- Messrs. J. F. Hellmuth, KC., Frank / Hodgins, K.C.. A. R. Boswell, K.C.. wW. W. Vickers, H. 8. Mara, A. M Wylie, Port Arthur, and Col. Havr. _ At the close of a Cabinet meeting | 'held on Saturday afternoon the Premicr | said, in answer to the newspapermen, | | that the mining taxation bill wonld be | | --simpe ou oq JiIm ol '193suU "th"'- t pus 3stue810 oi 'M pasmapy poC., | --ooulp ayq Jopun st saotoa 4qxis j0 _ * | ayy, jouojurq 'yorg owuoypsmesy >p!| pus '10u93 'uosiapuey 'g inyuiy 'ouvud.. .os fainxs cantrerr Amncg an mrma Slfil.;