Volume 2 - ElectricCanadian.com

174 HISTORY OF THE BANKof which the officers of the bank suffered at the outset.Theadministration was criticized naturally, perhaps, but unfairlyfor these things. The matter received attention at the earliestpossible moment, but as was proved later, the installation ofan efficient drainage system and water supply was a task of avery large order. The camp had grown up overnight, as itwere, the officials were all worked to death, Ottawa was a longdistance away, and it took time to submit the requirementsto Ottawa and to devise remedies. At the same time, noman of unbiassed views who lived there in the early days willdeny that there were some real grievances. The royalty often per cent, on the gross output of a mine, with a paltryexemption for working expenses of only $2,500, later increasedto $5.000,* may be included in these, as it retarded the developmentof the mining industry. There would have been nocomplaint against such a tax on the net result to the miner,but owing to the extremely high cost of food, wages, transportationand everything else, the tax in many instancesresulted in a loss to the miner who was operating low-gradelfrhe Department of the Interior has very kindly supplied the following informationas to the various rates of royalty imposed from time to time on placer gold mined inthe Yukon:By an order-in-council dated July 29, 1897, which came into force on September11 following, provision was made for a royalty at the rate of ten per cent.on the output of placer mines up to $500 per week, and after that, at therate of twenty per cent.By an order-in-council dated January 18, 1898, which came into force on March5 following, provision was made for a royalty at the rate of ten per cent, onthe output of all placer mines, with a yearly exemption of $2,500.By an order-in-council dated March 30, 1899, which came into force on June 1following, the exemption from payment of royalty was increased to $5,000.By an order-in-council dated March 13, 1901, which came into force on April 17following, the royalty was reduced to five per cent, on the output, less theexemption provided for.By an order-in-council dated May 21, 1902, the royalty was reduced to two andone-half per cent, on the value of the gold shipped from the Yukon Territoryafter May 1 in that year, the gold to be valued at the rate of $15 an ounce.No exemption was provided for.Since the date mentioned, the royalty collected has been at the last-mentionedrate, without exemption.