Mr. TOBIN.

May I ask the hon. gentleman (Mr. Fowler) a question ? Do I understand him to say that he can take a raft of logs and tow it across a lake at 25 cents a thousand feet ?

Mr. TOBIN.

Mr. Speaker, when the honi member for North Ontario said that basswood would rot, he spoke of basswood! which was blown down, and we are well aware that basswood after it has been blown down and laid on the ground one year, is useless for lumber. Cedar may lie years on the ground without damage; but as regards hemlock being worth $15 a thousand feet, the hon. gentleman knows that he can get at Midland, Ontario, any amount of hemlock at less than $15 a thousand feet. A few weeks ago the Grand Trunk advertised for a lot of hemlock in the Midland* division. The firm with which I am connected tendered at the rate of $12 a thousand feet. The dimension of timber was eight by ten, ten by twelve, twelve by twelve. And we put in a price of $12 a thousand feet. But they li'ad another offer I understood of $11.25 a thousand feet, f. o. b. cars. This timber, I understand, is twenty miles from any saw mill, and it has to be cut down and hauled. I venture to say that hemlock timber at $2 a thousand stumpage is charged all that it is worth. In no place in the province of Quebec, could you get $1 per thousand stumpage at a point twenty miles from n mill. When the hon. gentleman says that there are other hon. gentlemen on the other side who know about the value of fimber and that the member for Richmond and Wolfe (Mr. Tobin) knows nothing about it, I take issue with him at once. I do net pretend to know anything about professional matters, but when he says that basswood is worth $30 a thousand feet he has to refer to the hon. member for Addington (Mr. Avery), who tells him that it is worth $25 a thousand. And what percentage of basswood is-worth even $25 a thousand.

Mr. TOBIN.

But it will not be contended that this timber would average over $25 a thousand. You have only 100 acres of land, twenty miles from a sawmill. If the hon. minister got $100 for the cut basswood and, for the hemlock and elm stumpage charged $2 a thousand, he got a very good price indeed.

Mr. TOBIN.

I bought them in my own line of business.

Mr. TOBIN.

Is the hon. gentleman aware that the wholesale price for beans last year was from $1.80 to $2 according to the quality ?