The Norwegian forest concession law of 1909 and concession policy 1909–28

ABSTRACT

This paper employs a case study of the Norwegian forest concession law of 1909 and concession policy from 1909–28 to examine the expansion of state resource regulation at the start of the 1900s. The case is studied by examining the main aims of the law and what concession policy was conducted for forests between 1909–28. The forest concession law of 1909 regulated the sale of forests, requiring all buyers of forest property larger than municipal limits to acquire concession. Strict limitations were set on domestic companies’ ability to purchase forests, while foreign companies were effectively barred. Non-local Norwegian citizens were also required to acquire concession. The forest concession law had four aims: (1) Improve local political and economic conditions, (2) Stop foreign acquisitions of forests, (3) Avoid monopolies and unhealthy competition, (4) Avoid speculation on forests. The Norwegian forest concession policy was, in nearly the entire period, to support local and municipal forest ownership and restrict both foreign and domestic companies’ ownership of forests. The law was similar to Finnish and Swedish forest regulations in promoting social goals such as protecting farmers and crofters but was somewhat more protective than the Finnish and Swedish regulations.

KEYWORDS:

• Forest
• concession
• resource
• regulation
• Norway

JEL-CODES:

• N44
• N54

Acknowledgements

I want to thank Pål Thonstad Sandvik at the Department of Modern History and Society, NTNU for his valuable help and feedback during the writing and revision processes. I also want to thank the editors Espen Ekberg and Klara Arnberg, and the two anonymous reviewers, for their highly helpful and constructive feedback.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Notes

1 According to the tax law of 1882, tax income from forests were dependent on the indebtedness of the owner (Stortinget, 1909, p. 1621). Companies could therefore reduce their tax burden by having high debt and low capital to back up the debt. This changed with the 1911 tax law, which made major changes to the taxation of forests (Rygh, 1923, p. 347). Among these changes was the switch from taxing the yearly production of forests to taxation based on the yearly estimated growth of forests. This form of taxation did not allow for utilising artificially high debts in tax adjustment (Espeli, 2001, p. 257), a change which would help stabilize and possibly increase municipal tax income. The tax law of 1911 did still allow for tax deduction on non-local and company property, but only up to 25 percent of the property value (Rygh, 1923, pp. 152–153).

2 Municipal concession limits were by default 500 hectares, but the Department of Agriculture could change these limits between 100 and 2500 hectares.

3 From 1921 state forests were subjected to local taxation (Rygh, 1923, p. 356).

4 See Figure 1 for statistics on concession applications.

5 Riksarkivet Oslo (RA), Landbruksdepartementet - Konsesjonskontoret K (S-1252), Konsesjoner (F), Konsesjonstillatelser (Fa), Konsesjonstillatelser Telemark (Fag), Box L0004: ‘Tillatelser 1919–20’, Journalnummer LD6.1921.K & LD2582.1920.K.

6 RA, S-1252, F, Fa, Konsesjonstillatelser Hedmark (Fac), Boks L0003: ‘Tillatelser 1913–15’, Journalnummer LD1098.1913.S & LD85.1913.S Storelvdalen municipality in Hedmark county.

7 RA, S-1252, F, Fa, Konsesjonstillatelser Telemark (Fag), Boks L0001: ‘Tillatelser 1913’, Journalnummer LD2764.1910.S & LD1309.1910.S. A/S Vafos Bruk was granted concession on properties consisting of 640 hectares forest in Sannidal municipality in Telemark county in 1910.

8 RA, S-1252, F, Fa, Konsesjonstillatelser Sør-Trøndelag (Fan), Boks L0001: ‘Tillatelser 1911’, Journalnummer LD1904.1910.S & LD1155.1910.S. Lars Garberg was granted concession on a farm consisting of 464 hectares forest and 15 hectares farmland in Høylandet municipality in Sør-Trøndelag county.

9 RA, S-1252, F, Fa, Konsesjonstillatelser Vestfold (Faf), Boks L0001: ‘Tillatelser 1908–15’, Journalnummer LD3130.1910.S & LD682.1910. Fritz M. Treschow, large landowner and owner of a wood processing company, was granted concession on properties in Andebu municipality in Vestfold county in 1910.

10 RA, S-1252, F, Fa, Konsesjonstillatelser Hedmark (Fac), Boks L0003: ‘Tillatelser 1913–15’, Journalnummer LD2773.1913.S & LD987.1912.S. Arthur Mathiesen was granted concession on 220 hectares forest in Sollia municipality in Hedmark county.

11 RA, S-1252, F, Konsesjonsavslag (Fc), Konsesjonsavslag etter fylke (Fca), Boks L0021: ‘Konsesjonsavslag – Vestfold 1909–31’, Journalnummer LD2829.1920.K & LD2686.1920.K Våler municipality in Vestfold county.

12 RA, S-1252, F, Fc, Fca, Boks L0035: ‘Konsesjonsavslag – Sør-Trøndelag 1909–25’, Journalnummer LD2481.1922.K & LD1849.1922.K Selbu municipality in Sør-Trøndelag county.

13 RA, S-1252, F, Fc, Fca, Boks L0035: ‘Konsesjonsavslag – Sør-Trøndelag 1909–25’, Journalnummer LD2481.1922.K & LD1849.1922.K.

14 RA, S-1252, F, Fc, Fca, Boks L0034: ‘Konsesjonsavslag – Møre og Romsdal 1919–45’, Journalnummer LD3359.1919.K & LD1093.1919.K.

15 RA, S-1252, F, Fc, Fca, Boks L0008: ‘Konsesjonsavslag – Hedmark 1918–35’, Journalnummer LD149.1918.K & LD1854.1918.K.

16 RA, S-1252, F, Fc, Fca, Boks L0021: ‘Konsesjonsavslag – Vestfold 1909–31’, Journalnummer LD1332.1921.K & LD3038.1920.K.

17 RA, S-1252, F, Fc, Fca, Boks L0001: ‘Konsesjonsavslag – Østfold 1917–43’, Journalnummer LD1527.1919.K & LD11662.1917.S.

18 RA, S-1252, F, Fc, Fca, Boks L0037: ‘Konsesjonsavslag – Nord-Trøndelag 1908–31’, Journalnummer LD115.1922.K & LD2265.1921.K.

19 RA, S-1252, F, Fa, Konsesjonstillatelser Akershus (Fab), Boks L0017: ‘Tillatelser 1926’, Kongelige tillatelser, Journalnummer LD1200.1926.K & LD1085.1926.K Nittedal municipality in Akershus county.

20 RA, S-1252, F, Fc, Fca, Boks L0032: ‘Konsesjonsavslag – Rogaland 1921–42’, Journalnummer LD3738.1922.K & LD1725.1922.K Egersund municipality’s concession application on a farm of 7 hectares farmland and 200 hectares forest in Eigersund municipality in Rogaland county in 1922 was refused.

21 RA, S-1252, F, Fa, Konsesjonstillatelser Oppland (Fad), Boks L0019: ‘Tillatelser 1929’, Kongelige tillatelser, Journalnummer LD237.1929.K This concession case was put in the wrong box when archived.

22 RA, S-1252, F, Fa, Konsesjonstillatelser Oppland (Fad), Boks L0019: ‘Tillatelser 1929’, Kongelige tillatelser, Journalnummer LD237.1929.K, P.M.

23 RA, S-1252, F, Fc, Fca, Boks L0035: ‘Konsesjonsavslag – Sør-Trøndelag 1909–25’, Journalnummer LD634.1927.K, LD6561.1926.K & LD2046.1925.K The farm consisted of 400 hectares forest and 12 hectares farmland in Høylandet municipality in Sør-Trøndelag county.