?EM Ali?b.? pO RrUJ-
("Crisis," p. 3), which are shown to :be endtrely miaddig b o
maps ot the Land Department, and which perpetrat? -'.a . r - di"' ?g
honest land-seekers, are still being issued Ahreugh l1d0 o k r
bureaus. . - ";
THE "VOTES AND PROCEEDINGS'" OF. THE L V i l
MAY l6th, 26th, ETC., 1916, show that 5,160 acres of timber lads. In~tu , . ;,
Renfrew district, with 60,000 feet of merchantable timber to the acre, '.ee ..
illegally sold to certain speculators as second-class agricultural land at $2.60 [: i|
to $5.00 per acre, the government having received about $18,000, These were: , :
afterwards sold to the Puget Sound Lumber Co., registered, and fees paid on .
a declared valuation of $421,800. They are in the company's books as an i. .''
asset value of $689,000. The difference in value of timber on Crown-granted <.- ?l
land and that on licensed lands would indicate a loss of $345,670 to the? "- 1
province by this illegal transaction.. (See also "Crisis," p. 15.) -: I
MR. BOWSEl STATED IN HIS ORPIEUM SPEECH in reply to "The . '?:
Crisis" that the government "assessed and collected 50 cents.an acre" for the - L
lHeinze and railway subsidy lands in the Boundary and Crow's Nest country. - :
On March 21st Hon. Lorne Campbell told the house that no taxes had evyer . ? :
beeu collected on any of these lands, thus proving "The Crisis" correct.
TIMBER . ...
THE FORESTRY COMMISSION OF 1910, WITH MR. A. C. FUMERFET .
as one of its members, urgently recommended in the interests of the public
that timber license fees should not be fixed for more than one year at a time.
This was the most emphatic of all the commission's recommendations, yet the - ? I'
Timber Royalty Act of 1914 fixed these fees at $100 and $140 for the ext ...
forty years. Mr. Ross was Minister of Lands and Mr. Bowser Attorney-Genetal -~ *. ;-.
throughout this period. . - -
THAT AMERICAN SPECULATORS HOLD IMMENSE AREAS of B. C. . ^
timber ("Crisis," p. 15) is confirmed by Supreme Court proceedings pf June Ist / i:
and Sept. 20th, 1915, where it was revealed that ALVO VON ALVENSLEBENIM :i
HAD PURCHASED $2,200,000 OF TIMBER from the Red Cliff Lumber Co.1,
of Duluth.
FINANCES
IN THE LAST FOUR YEARS OF THE McBRIDE-BOWSR AD 1MINIS. -
TRATION (1913-1916) the finances of B. C. stand as follows:
Expenditure ........ ...... ....... .$54,628,305 .|.
Revenue ......................... 31,432,385
Deficit .......................... $23,190,920 :
Revenue for 1913 ......... $10,479,000; for 1916 (estimated) $5,94?4,000
Or a little over one-half for 1913 and less than half for 1912
Debt charges for 1913 .......$ 529,776; for 1916 (estimated) $5,472,84 I ;
Deficit for 1913 ........... .$5,475,865; for 1916 (estimated) $9,408,000* ..
Or nearly double for 1913 -.
The Public Debt of this year = $13.96 per head; Exepnditure = $39.13 per head 1:
N.B.-In the ESTIMATES FOR 1914 all debt charges on the loan of $7,275_000 lslsaedl ,. .i
April 1et of that year were suppressed. In the PUBLIC ACCOUNTS for that year. one half-. r .
year's interest on this loan was also suppressed. Only $541,736 was voted, but the-at ual : ?
amount was $1,161,827. It would seem that both Estimates and Public AcopuntBs ere i
falsified so as to deceive the public. -
.:?":.s~ ~ ~ ~~~~~~~~, -,.-,