No more masts 
     
     and planks to be 
     
     sent from f/e 
     
     Saint-Jean. 
     
    
   
   
    
     The woods 
     
     are being cut 
     
     needless/y. 
     
    
   
   
    
     Measures to 
     
     conserve 
     
     the wood. 
     
    
   
   
    
     1729: 30 April — (at Compiégne) to Beauharnois (lntendant at Rochefort) 
     
    
   
   
    
     l have written to Monsieurde Mezy to stop sending masts and planks from lle Saint- 
     
    
   
   
    
     Jean. 
     
     [PAC, AC, Series B, Vol. 53, fol. 135v] 
     
    
   
   
    
     1729: 22 May — (at Compiégne) to Pensens (Commandant on lle Saint—Jean) 
     
    
   
   
    
     I have received the letter that you wrote to me 31 October of last year. The 
     
     masts of lle Saint-Jean that Monsieur de Mézy sent last year to Rochefort are of poor 
     
     quality and of little use in the service of the ships. Regarding the planks, they are 
     
     good and well made but dearer by a sixth than the spruce boards which cost 10 livres 
     
     and are of a quality and proportions superior to these planks. I am writing to 
     
     Monsieur de Mézy to refrain from sending any more of them as well as any masts 
     
    

    
     [PAC, AC, Series B, Vol. 53, fols. 599-599v] 
     
    
   
   
    
     1729: 22 May — (at Compiégne) to Mézy (Commissaire at Louisbourg) 
     
    
   
   
    
     l have received the letters that you wrote to me 30 November and second December 
     
     of last year. l have already pointed out to you that the quality of the masts that 
     
     you sent last year were not suitable in the service of His Majesty’s ships. You will 
     
     abstain from sending them in future as well any planks. Those that you have sent 
     
     being a sixth dearer than the spruce boards which cost only 10 livres delivered to the 
     
     stores, the quality and proportions of which are superior to the planks of lle Saint- 
     
     Jean. 
     
    

    
     [PAC, AC, Series B, Vol. 53, fols. 606-607] 
     
    
   
   
    
     1732: 19 June — (at Compiegne) to Saint-Ovide and LeNormant (Governor and 
     
     Commissaire respectively at Louisbourg) 
     
    
   
   
    
     Monsieur de Pensens, who is in France until next year for the recovery of his health, 
     
     has reported matters concerning lle Saint-Jean to me, and I have been satisfied with 
     
     the clarifications that he has given me on the number of settlers, their cultivated lands 
     
     and the fishery. I have noted that the woods are cut needlessly there and without 
     
     any plan or thrift, in such a way that they could become very rare and even lacking 
     
     before the island is at the point of being settled, which would make living there hard 
     
     and difficult. It is necessary to take measures to prevent this disadvantage and the 
     
     King’s intention is that you establish the order and regulation needed. It is essential 
     
     that one cuts down the woods on the lands that they want to sow, but at the same 
     
     time it is of importance that these cuttings be made only on the area that they are in 
     
     a position to prepare for sowing; that each concession conserves a part of its land in 
     
     standing wood; that in remote places and in those places where there will be no 
     
     clearing, that they conserve the wood with care; and that when necessity will require 
     
     that they cut some, that this be only to the foot of the tree so that the roots are in 
     
     a state to regrow and to perpetuate the regrowth of the woods, whether for heating 
     
     or for building. | ask you to give the most strict orders so that all will be exactly 
     
     followed. Without this precaution this colony would lack wood and would soon be 
     
     destroyed and abandonned. It is of great importance to prevent it. 
     
    
   
   
    
     [PAC, AC, Series B, Vol. 57, fols. 741-741v] 
     
    
   
   
    
       
     
    
   
   
    
     7O