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A WEEKLY JOURNAL OF POLITICS, LITERATURE AND NEWS.

A , me ea eee —

gpWARD WHELAN]

——_ 2 _ . ‘ Vor. Vil.

Chis is true Liberty, when Free-born Men, having to advise the Public, man speak free.—-EURIPIDES.

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[EDITOR axp PUBLISHER

No. 41.

Colonial Legislature.

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HOUSE OF ASSEMBLY. PUBLIC ACCOUNTS. Wepnespay, 3ist March, 1858.

House in Committee on the Report of the Special Committee on the Public Ace®unts. Mr. Perry in the Chair.

[On the first day of the session it was resolved that a Com- mittee of seven members be appointed to examine and report on the Public Accounts; and it was ordered that Mr. Macdonald, Mr. Macgill, Mr. Perry, Mr. Muirhead, the Hon. Mr. Haviland, the Hon. Mr. Longworth, and the Hon. Mr. Montgomery, do compose the said.Committee. }

Mr. Perry, the Chairman, having first read throughout the report of the Select Committee, as agreed to by a majority of the said Committee, and reported to the House by the Chairman thereof, Mr. Macdonald—it was agreed that the same shonid be w-read, and submitted, paragraph by paragraph, to the con-

7 deration and determination of the Committee.

The first paragraph was then accordingly re-read and sub- mitted to the consideration of the Committee. It contains the general account of the financial state of the Colony, charging against it all Debentures, issued under the authority of 16 Vic., cap. 18, for the purchase of Township Lands in this Island, and all Warrants and Treasury Notes afloat; and—giving credit

- forcash in the Treasury. and Bonds for Duties in the Treasurer's Mei Attorney General’s hands, and for the amount of sales of

; Public Lands, as they stood at the end of the financia! year, 3lst

January, 1858,—exhibits a balance of £14,868 3s. Jid. against the Colony.

Hon. Me. HAVILAND.—Before the question shal] be put on the report, es far as it has been read, | wish to cali attention to the fact, thet although a majority of the Special Committee were in favour of the report which is now in the hands of the Chairman, yet it did not receive the sanction of the members of the Special Committee appointed from this side of the House, as it exhibits in our view a very fallacious statement of the

isting habilities of the Colony. By referring to the report of the Specie! Comittee on Public Accoun's, in the Isst session —a report of a committee consisting wholly of the supporters of the Governmen', and which report was adopted by the House— it will be seen that the public debt of the Colony was acknow- ledged to amouat to £22,803 14s.; yet, according to the report now on the table, in which the exvenditure of the past year is admitted to have been £7066 10s. 12. in excess of the revenue for the same period, the liability of the Colony is reduced to £14,868 3s. 39 '.; and this is made to appear by credit being given fur sume stated to be due on alleged sales of public lands, to the amount of £14,226 I4s., and on certain bonds handed over by the vencors of the Worrell Estate, for sums stated to have beer due for sales of land, made previously to the purchase of the estate by the Government; but for much the greater portion of the sum of £14,226 14s. no vouchers are to be found m the office of the Commissioner of Public Lands, beyond the entries which appear in his books. In many instances no amount of deposit has eer been paid ; and, in other cases, very trifling sums appear to have been so paid. In our opinion, the special comaittee might, with equal propriety, have declared the 45,4032 acres of public lands which remain unsold to be avail- able assets to the credit of the Government; and so thought another member of the committee, who subsequently, however, changed his mind, and agreed to adopt the report now before the committee, as you, Mr. Chairman, may remember. I will now, Mr. Chairman, proceed to read the report prepared by the members 6f the special committee from this side of the House, aud which at one time conveyed the views of that cammittee of the present financial state of the Colony.

{the hon. genleman then read his report, which, as wil] be seen on reference, to and comparison of, the two reports, dif- fere from that of the report of the majority of the special com- mittee in all except the first and the last two paragraphs. |

This report sta'es the public debt of the Colony, at the termi- nation of the past financial year, to have been £29,870 43. 43d. The remainder of the report does not differ materially from the report before you, except in that particular where the proceeds of sales of Crown jands are improperly blended with the amount received for puvlic lands, for the past year. 1 shall content myself at present with moving that the paragraph relating to the financial state of the Colony be struck out, and that which I

£1, £2, or £3, as the case may be, the Commissioner gives him a receipt for the money paid, and enters his name in his books, as a purchaser of 50 acres, with credit for his deposit ; but the man gives no voucher of his purchase ; and the only possible voucher thereof, besides the receipt which he takes away, is the record of the transaction in the books of the Land Commissioner. And, as to the 938 acres, on which it is said no deposit has yet been paid, the facts are these ; the persons who have applied for, and whose names are entered as purchasers of these 938 acres, in different quantities, in the Commissioners books, are persons who have been employed by the Surveyor General, and whose claims upon the Government for work performed by them, on the Public Lands, will, when adjusted, severally amount tothe several deposits to be paid by them. The Surveyor General! has given in plans of the several tracts, so sold, to the Commissioner, who will give credit to the individual purchasers, for the amounts severally due to them, by the Government, for work performed by them ; and these persons, satisfied that they have, in this way, secured their lands, will now go on contentedly improving them; but, even should they not take them, the lands are there, and worth the money at which they have been valued. ‘The parties, however, believe they have paid, in labor, the deposits which entitle them to their Deeds. If, however, those hon. members of the select committee who do not agree with the majority in their Report, are of opinion that the Government ought not to be allowed credit for the sale of these 938 acres, why have they not taken them into the acconnt of wilderness lands, amounting to upwards of 45000 acres ? The 638 acres are there ; and the Government must have credit for them in one shape or another. But the fact is, the hon. members in the minority in the select com- mittee, and, generally speaking, the standing minority of the House altogether, having found nothing whatever substantial to grasp at; by which to verify their predictions of the evi! results of the working of the Worrell Estate, by which to Camage the Government inthe opinion of the country, have vainly endeavored to lay hold upon a shadow, It is also invidiously noticed, inthe report which has just been read, by the hon. member for Princetown, that, in some cases, a trifling amount of deposit only nas been paid, while by a section of the Land Purchase Act, a deposit of 20 per cent is required to be paid before the Deed is issued. Well, what would they have? Is not this perfectly in accerdance with the law, although they evidently wish it to appear to be in violation thereof? The report says, ‘* while, by a section of the Land Purchase Act, a deposit of 20 per cent is required to be paid before the Deed is issued ;’’ thereby leaving it to be inferred that Deeds have been issued before the legal depesits had first been paid ; which is not the case. ‘I'he Auditors have been wrong in charging the £20,550 of debentures against the Government; and [| feel thankful to the hon. gentleman who, by his honest decision, has determined that question, in the House, in favor of the Goveru- ment. (Hon, T. H. Haviland. The debentures ought not to have been charged against the Colony at the beginning.] ‘The

decision is certainly a correct one; for the holders of the}

debentures cannot make them available against the Govern- ment, except for interest, until the expiration of the ten years, for which they were issued; and neither can the Government enforce payments for the sales of pubsic lands, otherwise than by instalments and interest, until the expiration of ten years. between the report of the majority of the select committee and that of the minority, is that the minority, although charging the £20,550 of Debentures against the Government, refuse to give them credit for £15,000, due on account of sales of public lands; whilst the majority, in questionably charging the De- bentures against the Government, have yet, very justifiably, given them credit for the amount due on the sales of public lands. The hon. member for Princetown says, that it appears strange that after spending £7,000, in excess of the revenae, the public debt should appear to be £8,000 less than it was at the close of the previous financial year ; but this is easily ac- counted for. The balance due on the sales of public lands is £15,000, and when credit is given for that amount, as it ought

to be, and as it is in the statement on the table, the balance |

against the Colony will be only £14,868, and not £29,870, as set forth in the hon. gentleman’s proposed amendment. For

to have been charged against the Colony from the beginning, and

the true balance will be only £9,325.

rm ) » This mode of ascertaining

have read be substituted for it. Before I sit down, I must |the balance, isthe proper one ; and I hope it will be satisfactory

express my dissent to the manner in which the debentures, issued by the Government for the purchase of public lands, have been charged in the ‘S'reasurer’s accounts.

my opin on, be confined in the meantime to the annual interest required to be paid on them, and the debentures themselves not charged against the public lands until the expiration of the period for which they were issued.

Hon. COLONIAL TREASURER.—TIt is not within the province of the Treasurer to interfere with the mode iu which the Accounts of the Commissioner of Public Lands are made Up; but f thnk with the hon. gentleman, the member for Prince- town, that the Debentures which have been issued for the purchase of Lands should not be charged against the Colony until they shall become redeemable ; and particularly so as a large quantity of the lands, for the purchase of which they were lesued, is yet unsold.

Hon, COLONIAL SECRETARY.—There is a discrepancy incongruity in what the hon. member for Princetown has justread. If it be his opinion that the £20,550 of Debentures should not be charged against the Colony, until after the €xpiration of ten years, the period for which they were issued, “an opinion in which { perfectly agree with him—why has he itcluded it in the balance which, by his amended Report, is exhibited against the Colony? If that amount were withdrawn, a it ought to be, from the debit side of the Government Account, the balance against them would be only £9,320, instead of £29, 70! But since he and his friends have chosen to retain te £20,550 of Debentures in their statement of account against the Colony, they ought most certainly to have given credit for the £15000 due on sales of lands; and tuen the whole balance against the Colony, even although now charged with the £20,- 590 of Debentures, would not be quite £15000. If the Colony | is to be charged with the £20,550, and is to have no credit on account of the 80.000 acres of land, to effect the purchase of which Debentnres to that amount of money were issued ; nor for the amounts due to the Government on account of the sales of this land, for the payment of which, by instalments, ten years are allowed ; it is not possible that the Colony should appear to

be otherwise than in debt. The hon gentleman (Hon. T. H. Haviland) seem, not to underst

Government credit of £15000 ; but I will endeavor to They admit the p/opriety of givin £4058, due on Deeds issued ; but the Credit for the amgunts paid on Deeds Cularly to their Paving credit on account of 938 a on which, they say, no deposit has yet been paid. respect tothe Deeds not yet issued, but on which various!

‘cent. more than it was worth before it was sold.

to the country.

[Hon. T. H. Haviland | Every acre is now worth 20 per

cannot all be given at once. The Commissioner told me, the |

e . : | other day, that he had, since the opening of the session, i-sued deeds for upwards of £600. When a number of deeds are |

ready, he notifies the parties fer whom they are intended that | required to be driven, several of the length of seven or eight feet; and

they are so, and the parties, if they have paid, or are prepared to make good the full amounts of legal deposits, come and take them up; or when he visits the estate, he carries a num- ber of deeds duly prepared with him,and delivers them to all who are prepared totake them up. But he does not refuse to take very small deposits, and give receipts for them, at any time ; and, thus, when a man has paid only £1 as an instalment, he feels satisfied that he has secured the parcel of land which he wishes to purchase: and, in this way, several smal] amounts | of deposit, not amounting to 20 per cent. have been paid, and entered in the Commissioner’s books. Understanding that there had been some disputing on this head, amongst the mem- bers of the select committee, I cupied off a few items of the kind from the Commissioner's books, which I will now read :— ‘On Lot 38, Jonatiian Best has purchased 100 acres for £35, and | paid a deposit of £10; John and Alexander McDonald have

purchased 300 acres for £150, and paid a deposit of £30; John

Jay has purchased 176 acres for £70 8s. Od., and has paid a de- posit of £20; and George Jay has purchased 50 acres for £17 103., and has paid a deposit of £5,;’’ and, much after the same ratio, many oihers have become purchasers, and paid deposits ; but their deeds, althougn they are entitled to them, have not yet been issued. Now, when it is known to all that if such purchasers, as well as they who have paid smaller deposits, do not take out their deeds, they must forfeit their deposits, I am surprised that any hon. members should seriously object to the credit which is given, in the financial statement now on the table, for the several amounts due on such sales. The indi- viduals who, as I have before explained, are accounted the pur- chasers of the 938 acres, on which, the report states, no de-

posits have been paid, are persons who have paid their instal- | and the propriety of giving the | ments by labor, but who have not yet come forward to have on account of Public Lands to the amount | their claims adjusted, and take out their deeds; and two of shew the justice of doing so. | them, whose names have been entered, as purchasers, in the g the Government credit for! Land Commissioner’s books, are and have been unfortunately, y demur to their having | for a considerable time, prisoners in the jail of Georgetown ; not yet issued ; and parti-| and consequently it has not been in their power to come forward cres of land, and claim their deeds.

Now, with) itself; and first of that part of it wherein it is remarked, by the

But [ will now speak of the report

| committee, that they find there were paid to the Clerk of the

§ino : ; 7 ae ; } , : A : ‘

are — of sonar have been paid, but for which it is said there | Executive and Legislative Councils, for his services, last year,

— ra lers, it ought to be remembered that, by the !aw, £270, and £20 to an Assistant ; although it is declared, by "Purchasers are not entitled to their Deeds until they have | statute, that his salary shall be £120, in lieu of all fees of

ba . id 20 per cent on the purchase money ; and that persons, | fice, allowances or emuluments.

Now, to understand this,

age : ‘ n te ; : é a to secure tracts of land, by purchase from the Govern- | it must be remembered that the Legislative Council exercise a ma, BO to the Land Commissioner 8 Office as soon as they | power, independently of our control, by which they make suita-

€to make anythiag like a deposit at all, and pay such} ble provision for remunerating their officers for the performance

e*posite, be *. tracts of land on wich they have set their hearts. who may have selected 50 acres for himself, procures a f i description thereof from the Surveyor General, which €8 to the Commissioner ; and, on the payment! of a deposit |

they ever co small, into his hands, in order to secure 'of any extra labour within their official province; as, for ex- Phusa/ample, before the introduction of the present system of Go-

vernment, a smal] sum was regularly voted, every session, by the Legislitive Council, to be paid to the Clerk for indexing

the Journals; and, no doubt, the sum voted to him, for that,

The only difference which [ see |

political purposes, parties endeavour to make it appear that the | the Governmeet to that effect ; and, on his declining the further | balance ugainst the Colony is £29,850; but take away the | superintendance of the work, Mr. Doirant was engaged to £20,550 of Debentures, which amount it is admitted ought not | prosecute it in his stead.

I maintain that the deposits, and the lands | | which are the securities for the payment of the balances, are As they were not | preferable to the bonds in the Treasury. pryable for ten years, the charge in such accounts should, in|] —When deeds are given.}

The deeds |superintendance and direction of

CHARLOTTETOWN, PRINCE EDWARD ISLAND, MONDAY, APRIL 19, 1858.

‘noticed in the report. But thé indexing of the Journals 1s very far from being the chief part of the extra or increased | labour performed by the Clerk of the Councils. into power, we wanted to refer to a certain Bil] in the original | manuscript, which should have been in the keeping of the Clerk (of the Executive Council, but on enquiring for it, we found that lit was in the office of the Queen’s Printer. A question then arose as to the impropriety of the laws, in the original manu- scripts, being sent to the printing office, where they were taken apart, and distributed, sheet by sheet, or leaf by leaf, amongst | the compositors ; tothe great danger of portions of them being defaced, lost, or destroyed ; if not positively altered and falsified We then came to the conciusion, that, for the future, effectually to guard against accidents or evils of so serious a nature as the loss of a leaf, by which a whole Act would be lost, or the alter- ation of a word, by which the import and intent of a law might be wholly changed, the Clerk should be ordered to engross copies of the several Jaws, passed in any session, for the use of the printer, retaining the originals in his own possession, and comparing the printed copies therewith, as they pro ceeded through the press. This has been done ever since; and when it is remembered how great has been the number of Acts passed in different sessions, since this extra duty was im- posed upon the Clerk of the Councils, the addition made to his salary on that aecount cannot, [ think, be held, even by the most economical, to be more than he is well eatitled to—for the increase of jJabour is not only serious in amount but of the most important nature. That the precaution which has caused so much extra engrossing, on the part of the Clerk of the Councils, was not needless, the explanation J have already given is suffi- cient to prove; but if the most direct proof of it be required, we have in the fact—that, through the very careless and dangerous manner in which the oripinal copies were formerly ased, and comparisons made between the printer’s proofs and the manu- seripts—in the Election Law, a Township was actually put into a wrong District. The Committee, in their report, also take exception to the amount (£67) which bas been paid by the Go- vernment to John Do:rant for superintending the erection of Oyster-bed bridge, and to a further sum of £115 53. paid to the same individual for superintending the erection of Prince-street | wharf, in Charlottetown, alleging that all such superintendence ‘comes within the special province of the Superintendant of | Public Works, as a part of the duty forthe performance of which |he receives his salary. ‘T'his, however, [ maintain, and hope to ‘be able to shew, is a very erroneous idea indeed. ‘The chief | duty of the Superintendant of Public Works is to visit the sites ‘of intended works; to draw plans and specifications of such | works ; to estimate the cost of their erection, tor the guidance of the Government ; and also to visit, survey and inspect them i\from time to time, whilst their erection is progressing. The | Superintendant of Public Works is not the superintendant of such works in Charlottetown only, but of all public works | throughout the whole of the Island. Were he, from the com mencement of any public work of magnitude, to be stationed at it, as its daily superintendant, until its completion, that particular work, begun, continued and completed under his immediate supervision and direction, might be ali thatit ought to be; but, whilst the public had been benefiied in an especial manner by his superintendance of that particular work, it might at the same time, in different quarters of the Island, have suff red loss to twice the amount of his salary, from its having been apossible for him, whilst so stationed, to visit other and distant public works, at the same time in course of erection; which, lacking the scientific inspection and architectural directions, 30 neces- sary to be made and given, from time to time, to ensure their proper construction. might be finished in a very imperfect and insecure manner. Knowing what very serious public loss had, at different times been sustained, and public inconvenience experienced, by the very unfaithful 2nd inefficient manner, in which contracts for the building ef wharfs and bridges, in the Colony, had been performed, toe Government, in order to’ en- sure the proper construction of Prince Street Wharf, at first, engaged Mr. Benjamin Davies to superintend the erection of it; but (finding that the faithful superintendance of the work required more of kis time, and a closer attention, than his pri vate avocations would admit his bestowing upon it,) he notified

}

Of the wisdom and benefit of em- pieying such a man as Doirant, to superintend the erection of ‘such public works, we have ample proof, to mevtion only one ‘instance, inthe bridge at Souris. The abutments on one side of the bridge, not having been duly superintended, during their erection, gave way bef re the violence of the first heavy storm which arose afier their erection; but those parts of the work which were constructed and completed, under the Dotrant, have remained firm, and withstood the most violent assaults both of winds and waves. Inthe proper erection and construction of such works, much iron is used, and a great number of bolts are

it is quite clear that fur the due performance of such work, by some workmen or contractors, there can be no sufficient guarantee but the |

‘constant and vigilant superintendance of 4 faithfuland skilful architect. |

Occasional surveys or inspections of such works, by the Superintendant of } Public Works, would not alone be sufficient to insure a due and efficient | performance of the contracts; for, in his absence, much work might be

| very imperfectly performed and very insecurely fastened, and yet be so | concealed by fair outward appearance that the imperfection could only |

be discovered when it would be too late to have it remedied at the | expense of the dishonest contractor; that is, not until it should have | given way and become a wreck and aruin beneath the force of storms, which, if properly constructed and faithfully erected, it would have been | ‘able to withstand. The money which has been paid to Mr. Doirant, for his superintendance of the construction of pul lic works on which he has been stationed, has therefore, I say, been wisely expended, and on prin- | ciples truly economical. But to argue or conclude that,—whilst it is | absolutely necessary for the Superinteudant of Public Works not only to | visit, inspect and regulate matters about lighthouses, but also, in their |

turns, to visit, inspect and report concerning all the principal public | works at any time in progress throughout the Island,—he should be re- | ‘tained to superintend and direct the progress of any particular work, either in Charlottetown or elsewhere, is positively absurd. Hid the Select Committee on Public Accounts thought it necessary to apply to the Government for any information concerning the moneys paid to | Mr. Doirant for his services, which I esrtainly think they ought to have | done, before agreeing to that paragraph of their report which, by impli- cation, casts a censure both upon the Government and the Inspector of | Publie Vorks, that information, as they must have known, would have been readily afforded them. That the whole paragraph in which, as I have shewn, reference isso unnecessarily made to the amount paid to | the Clerk of the Councils for his extra official services and to the sum paid to Mr. Doirant for bis service in superintending the erection of Prince- street wharf, should be struck out of the report, is what 1 think no one who takes a fair view of the servicee therein adverted to caumleny; and therefore, when that paragraph comes under our especial consideration, I shall move that it be struck out of the report. Hon. Mr. HAVILAND.—That the amount paid to the Clerk of the. Councils, for his services, is adverted to in the report, is not because it’ is or has been considered, by any one who is capable of judging justly concerning the extent, nature and value of his official labours, that he is too highly remunerated for the performance of them; for, I believe, all such individuals agree with me that no government or legislative official js more deserving of the remureration awarded to him, tor his special labours, than Mr. Desbrisay, the Clerk of the Councils. ut the amount paid to him has been noted because there is something anomalous, if not quite contradictory, between the fact that his annual salary is by statute positively fixed at £120, and the evidence that the amount of remune- ration paid to bim for his services for one year hasbeen £270. That the | salary fixed by statute is a very inadequate remuneratien for the services | to be performed, no one competent to estimate their value will, I think, deny. Why then, now that the average annual amount of his official labours can be pretty accurately ascertained, should not his salary be raised by law to such an amount as it is evident he is justly entitled? Hon. COL. SECRETARY.—The amount of his labours is very far from the same im every year; but, on the contrary, varies greatly according to the amount of legislative business transacted in different sessions. |

Now, were we to fix by law the salary of the Clerk of the Councils, even |

as bigh as £200 per annum, this amount might not always be ace vunted sufficient by the Legislative Council, who, in the exercise of that disere-

tionary power which by usage is tacitly vested in them, might occasionally | . : . . think it right to increase it, by sessiopal allowances, considerably beyond , worth ; but the amount of eredit on this latter score would,

| require.”’

| lands.

— ——— sonic Seon ee —

| service, last year, makes a part of the increase of his allowance | that amount. The discretionary power which, in this respect, is ceded

to the Legislative Council, we might, do doubt, constitutionally cireum- scribe; but so long as they continue to exercise it, as they have hitherte done, in accordance with the princ!ples of justice, our proper course will,

When we came) 7 think, be to leave them in the full and undisturbed enjoyment of it;

as thereby they may, at all times, proportion the sessional allowance to the amount of labour actually performed. For a short session, in which but few Bills have been passed, the extra allowance will be but small; but for a session in which. as has been the case, forty or fifty Bills may be passed, it will be proportionally large.

Hon. Mr. LONGWORTH.—If the only difference between the report of the majority of the special committee and tle

;amendment submitted by the hon. member for Princetown,

(the Hon, Mr. Haviland,) be, as the Hon. Col. Secretary says, that, in the one credit is given to the Government for £15000, the amount due on sales of public lands,-and in the other credit for those sales is not given ; his objection to the amend- ment appears to me to be altogether untenable, if not quite baseless. The only credits to which the Government can justly lay claim, on account of the sales of public lands, is given them by the amendment ; and that is for the sum total of the several amounts which ave been paid upon those Deeds. How, with any shew of propriety, the Hon. Col. Secretary can lay claim, on behalfof the Goverment, to credit on account of lands sold, for which no Deeds have been issued, and on which deposits amounting to only £1, £2, or £3 have been paid, I cannot imagine. The securities, where Deeds have been issued and Bonds given, are good and valid; but in all cases in which such trifling deposits only have been paid, the lands should still be accounted wilderness lands. I think that credit should be given for the sums received, and for the amounts due on Bonds, or on Deeds, but only upon such Deeds as have been duly executed. In cases in which Bonds haye been given, or Deeds executed the securities are good and valid ; but, in all cases in which the deposits paid do not amount to more than two or three pounds, and consequently no Deeds issued, there is no security for the performance of their implied contracts by alleged purchasers ; and most, indeed all, of them, mighé, alter having each cut and disposed of £20 or £30 worth of timber, for his own advantage, uncerémoniously abandon their presumed purchases, and throw them upon the hands of tho Government, depreciated in value to, at the least, the value of the timber taken from them, under the color of purchase and pretence of ownership. This is my reason for chjecting to the credit which has been given, by the majority of the select committee, on account of the sales of lands for which no Deeds have been issued, and for lands on which no deposits have been paid.

Hon. COLONTAL SMCRETARY.—Such lands, even if stripped of timber, as the hon. member for Charlottetown (the lion. Mr. Longworth) supposes they may, or might be, would still be worth the price. per aere for which they have been sold ; for the barrens which were thought to be worth nothing bring 10s., an acre. I agree that if credit should only be given for the amount due on Bonds and on Deeds issued ; then in that ease, the Government should not be charged with the £20,550 of Debentures. If, on the other hand, the Govern- ment are to have placed to their debit the amount of debentures issued by thein, they ought certainly to have credit given them for the amount of lands actually sold, but for which Deeds have not yet issued, if not also for the vaiue of the lands remaining unsold. Let the committee, I say, do either the ene or the other ; and, then, the balance struck will a correct and satisfactory one.

Hon. Mr. MOONEY.—It seems to me that it should be no very difficult matter to make up fair debtor and creditor account, justly and fully shewing the position of the Govern- ment with respect to the public lands. The purchase of these lands, in large quantities, by the Government, for the purpose of selling them again in small quantities, is in the main, just like the ordinary speculations of our merchants. For example, one of them imports, say from Halifax, £2060 or £38000 worth of goods, and commences retailing them. Some he seils for ready money, and some on credit, wholly or in part; and at the end, say of twelve months, he wishes to ascertain how he stands, with respect to his speculation. In the first place, I fancy, he will debt his stock with the cost thereof, and all expenses, 2s well as damage and loss, if any. Then against that he will give the concern, or his stock, eredit for cash sales, for moneys due on account of sales, and lastly for the value of the goods on his shelyes, or in his warehouse ; and the difference between the two sides of the account will shew the true state of the concern. Just so with respect to the public lands; let the amount paid for them, be first of all charged against them, next the interest of the debentures, by means of which they were purchased, and then the expenses incurred by the management and sales of them ; and, against these, let the concern or speculation have credit for the moneys received on account of sales, for the amounts due on bonds, or on deeds, or on agreements for deeds, and lastiy, let it have credit for the goods on the shelves, that is for the lands remaining unsold ; and the balance will then shew the true state of the speculation; and prove whether or not it has

‘answered or is answering the expectations of its prejectors. If

the account were made out in this way, it would shew that the estate is not only solvent, but in such a state as must be satisfactory to every reasonable man, and truly gratifying to every sincere friend and well-wisher of the people. But to admit this, will by means suit the views of the opposition ; and they have labored and will labor.—but in vain | am satisfied——to convince the country that the concern is bankrupt, and that nothing but their return, in @ majority, at the next election, can save the country from utter ruin.

Ion. COLONIAL *SECRETARY.—By the 22nd elause of the Land Purchase Act, it is provided that ** all sums of money and fees, psid by any person, purchasing lands, under this Act, from the Commissioner of Public Lands, on account o the purchase money thereof, or for preparing the conveyance or duplicate thereof, or otherwise, where required by this Act, shall be paid to the Commissioner of Pablic Lands, who shall enter the particulars of each payment in his books, and give the person making the payment such certificate, acknow- ledging the same, on his part, by endorsement on the back of the Deed, or otherwise, as the cireumstances of the ease may Now, on a fair consideration of this clause, does it not fully appear, that what hon. members in opposition are

so strongly disposed to represent as altogether irregular, —I

mean the practice of the Commissioner of Public Lands, in at first receiving and giving credit in his books, and receipts to pur- chasers. for less than 20 per cent on the sales of lands, efore deeds ean lawfully be claimed or issued on aceount of such sales, is merely a earrying out of the intention of the Act in that respect, wherein it provides that acknowledgment of money paid on account of a purchase of land shall be made by indorsement on the back of the Deed, that is if the Deed has been issued ; or otherwise, that is by a simple receipt and an entrv in the Commissioner's Books, if the Deed has not been issued? Aud, even after instalments or deposits have been paid, amounting to 20 per cent, or more, a moment’s econsi-

‘deration might serve to shew, that Deeds cannot always be

issued immediately ; it may not always be convenient to procure the signature of the Governor ; and in so large a con- cern all deeds which can be duly claimed cannot be issued in one day. : .

Mr. POPE.—I do not quite agree with the hon. member

‘for Princetown (Hon. Mr. Haviland) in bis views concerning

the liabilities of the Government, on account of the public In the accouat of public lands all the liabilities of the Government, on account of them, should, in my opinion, be plainly and broadly set forth, on the one hand; and on the other, they should be credited for the amounts due on bonds given and deeds issued, and also for the quantity of lands on hand or unsold, at what they are considered to be

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