@bc @ulnuialihcralh,

AND

PRINCE EDWARD ISLAND ADVERTISER.

Vol. VI.] CHARLOTTETOWN, SAT

RE—COLONIZATION OF CANADA.

HOUSE OF COMMONS, AUG. 15.

mg proprietpr should always be the minimum of the value placed on .his estate. The proportional interest of each pro- prietml‘ of Wlld lands being thus ascertained, I do not pro- )0 i '

(Mr. Buller’s Speech concluded-) betsiesdteahitrlfiebG :1? lgiiieln, on mkmg the la'nd’ Sho‘lld com-

There is, no doubt, absolutely a large class of persons in F . y- a a payment 0“ the esmnmgd pummse “fie country who possess small means and at the game time money. oi, iecpllect yvhat the actual value of the land to ‘h d_ T V h IT a a ,_ ~ _ 1 those proprietors is. It is totallv unproductch; it brings no

6 isposi ion emit e a ti ity to contend With the hardships- . t. ' ' - ‘

“h H. r l . . _ ‘ .ien , no money can be raised on it even by way of mom 0 e ie 0 a sett ei in the back-woods of Laiiada' hilt ‘u- r 1 y ' ‘ ‘ '~ " com al‘afivel ‘ H ‘ , _ _ . a ) gage. t ms a kind of fancied value in the market; but even

p y, a sum pomon of those in this country who u ' I ' - ‘ can labour, POSsess such means - and if you rely merely out “5 vall“3 IS a (mared one. A‘ the present rate 0‘ seme- . ‘ . ‘ f ' i . ' ’ _ »ment tie ro u'ietor cannot cm i o , ' i " 1‘0! ’3".eq“g'fl"°“ 0‘ “3‘” Class: .VO" W1” “ever “from Sl‘mc'em 1 his land fdi' irinnv lonu years Ii]li'lk'alg’eiillg’livl135lflflell'iilli'l‘éf relief to the labouring population of this country and you f ~ 1-. I. j! i ." I ’ 1' w.“ I ' _ a V ole, we may all ysay that the Goveinment taken that which

,i never give the due impulse to the prosperitv of Canada. 1 -‘ ‘ « ' . .

‘Vhen 1 consider th " ff ' . _ f C 3i 1 l iiings in no present income, and cannot at piesent be sold. com mmtive Che n 9 Vs??? P‘Ole‘ty 0_ 1‘1"“ “9 11" he ‘ If the Government, iii taking the land, ensures to the pro- smpll it as fie “11"I 9:; 0d? "i 113553.291!” “7 Old-“Pt "3 00”" 1 [file-[0r a. payment ofits value at as early a period as he would

“"1 _ i I8 '11; i3 E” H‘s ‘ '3 rerKl‘vSt 01“ Bl 0" 091‘ 8"" get itiii if left in his own possession, he is up |oser;iftlie Go- } .s caplita am a ml". 1 cannot coiitentedly tell the snf- vemmem, having got possession of his wilderness can by

e... . A. .‘f"’ th'e'itno;11]0::§ltl(ls 31h: “le‘t‘lillll'lilll lewlt'f‘g .lo (ilfl‘lagu fit means ofa sound atid Vigorous system of colonisation,se|l the

b i 11“ ‘9 many l IOUSM" 5 "mle W 0 95”" , laudlasterthan he could, heisagainer. Ishouldpropose,there-

to do so, that the relief which they seek is not to be found 1 fore. to pay the proprietor by debenmreg in a pmd stock of . . , . . , ,

:so easily; or that Canada is not available to the poor emi- which the mm] amoum shoum consist urns mm, d. ._ .. . _ . . ~ . y poun s i2:“.§olifili.ei§fii“i.ii‘ 12:13.32: :J:.'.?,"::i:.:,:'.°airlift? r32: . sham word w ourdm it; seemq to me [o l . C Id _ ' ,Hl- ' .,ty iesumed, and of which each proprietor’s share should Ya ~ 9 fem 6| “"4 a dull d i e to 0'“ be of the amount at which his own lands were estimated. Reogllei “T1 0"" People “Villlal’le_ [0 Cmmda- (Hear, hear-l ‘ On these debentures I would pay no interest, because 1 see coqngggr;:h;:;lgl:hg’;zf(said: tgtlégfi nooyustice in .a claim for interest where the property taken Ionismm’n h v i 0 vi , l ‘ ' g g .P . , I ' bringsni no income. But as the Goyernmei‘it sold the land 7 y 33 "r "=- “3 S'mu t“"“'0“3,e"‘.‘g'3lmn 0F calll‘ it should pay each purchaser a dividend. until the whole tal and labour. We must tempt the capitalist to embark lllS' ‘ ' money in the improvement of Canada, by ensuring him la- bour for the cultivation of his property; and we must invite the labourer thither by holding out to him the certainty of being employed by others, until he shall have accumulated sufficient means for becoming a thriving proprietor. This we can only do by applying to Canada the principles on which our colonisation should be conducted elsewhere. There” as elsewhere, the placing a sufficient price on waste lands must furiiisb the means of colonisation, while it would serve ‘the yet more important purpose of concentrating the popu- lation, which your former system seemed devised with a View ~of'scattering as widely as possible.

But here, in the outset, the difficulty meets us, that almost the whole waste land of Canada is at the present moment appropriated ; that the Government has no power to make it available for any sound system ofcolonisation; and that the greater part ofthe proprietors not only cannot be induced ’to adopt the best system, but do not even use their land at all. It would be useless, as 1 before said, to attempt to try :any better system on the comparatively small portion of stir- veyed, or even on the large extent of'unsurvey'ed, waste latids which still remain in the Crown; because every right step taken with respect to them will be neutralised by the bad system allowed with respect to the land ol‘individuals. It is quite obvious that while a large extent ofproperty is allowed to lie uncultivated in the possession of individuals, the im- provement ofa colony is hopeless. The experience of every colony has proved this. The public feeling of every colony has determined that no respect for private property must al- iow it to become a public nuisance; and the lcgislationof every colony contains some device or another for preventing the mischief. The two most common plans have been a law of escheat, whereby property, of which a certain proportion had not. been reclaimed after a certain period, becomes for- feited to the Crown ; and a wild land-tax, which in one form or another is generally adopted over the United States, and in some of our present colonies. My report to Lord Durham recommended the imposition of'a wild land-tax, which was to be payable in land, and which would inevitably have had the effect, in course oftime, of bringing almost the whole of the wild lands into the possession ofthe Crown. [have not the slightest misgiving as to the correctness ofthe reasoning by Which this proposal was supported. But 1am inclined to think that a much more speedy process for getting the wild lands into the possession ofthe Government is Wanted in the present state of things than any which could be effected by a wild land-tax, unless you mean it to be a measure of summary confiscation. Put on a wild land-tax, such as that preposed in my report, of 2d. an acre ; the present absentee proprietors will be unable to pay it in money,nnd their lands will gradually become the property ofthe Government. But the process will not, have effect for a great many years. It will be a long time even before the amount oflaiid thus ac- quired by the Crown will produce any sensible effect on the land market; and the application ofa sound system to the Crown lands will be still fiirther thwarted by the immense quantity of land which the proprietors will throw into the market at low prices, under the alarm oflosing it altogether. 'NeVertheless, unless the: nuisance of this immense amount -of wild lands be removed-in some milder way, the proprie- tors may make up their minds to being loaded With a very heavy tax on them. lftlie provincial Legislature does not ’impose one, the District Councils, which have now by law the power, will be sure to do so with very little scruplen 1n the Eastern Townships, by an ordinance which was disal- lowed, it is true, but which did not the less show the dispo- -sition ofthe Council ofthnt District, that body I understand imposed on the British North American Land Company one simple rate of so enormous an amount as by itself to_be equivalent to direct. confiscation. In the French Districts the disposition would be quite the same; only luckily, from -the unpopularity of the mode in which the municipal law was passed by the authority of the Special Council, the French District Councils have hitherto taken the line ofmak- ing no use at all of'tlieir powers. But the danger is, that the powers oflocal taxation vested in these bodies will ere long be used, and without measure, against the wild lands. 1 think, therefore, that sortie precaution should be taken to :secure the rights of the existing pt‘opl‘lemrs, even while our main object is that of securing the settlement of the Wild lands.

A plan for this obiect has been suggestedijif which 1 will 'éhriefly state the outline, for the purpose of!“ being fully .considered both here and in Canada. The Government insight at once determine to take into its own llal‘ltls'he whole .of'the wild lands in Canada, compensating the prometh rathr the present value of'them. FOl' this PurPOSO *1 gnieral vvaluation of all the appropriated Wild lands of the Provnce vswould be the first step necessary; a process doubtless .6- 9. quiring some time and expense, but nothing like what th, vmention ofa general valuation suggests to us_in this coun- ‘try. For it would be wrong, as it would be llllP°S§lblei "1 tCanada, to fix a special value on each acre._ Th9 Vaer Ora]! .Qstate there is mainly determined by conSideratmps ofposi-

tion and general character, which apply 10 vast territory; and every valuation, therefore, must be 1' .3 large scale. The present value of all those land easily be ascertained; for though, ifall broughti market now, they would probably not sell at all, still th re is A’inrevery district of Canada a price which it is calculated mt .u purchaser wishing to buy any particular lot would giVe r ‘it, and below which the proprietors would generally ente *tain no offer of purchase. This would be the value; but 1 .should he provided, as I think is just in all cases of compul- -.sory appropriation for public purp0ses, that the compensa- ~tion should always equal any sum actually paid for the land t. 'by the present proprietor. The value might be as much T higher as the valuers might think that altered circumstances not ‘ng to remedy it; but a Goyernment that really took_l1p bud rendered just; but the price Actually Plld by the exist- c010 ‘sation in earnest and on system, would pr0V1d° 5.8m“

acres of surveyed and appropriated but wild land in Upper ,Cunada; and that the value ofthis were to be taken at four millions—l have really no reason for fixing this value, but take it quite arbitrarily, because I inust take some number ——I would create a stock offour millions. Suppose one proprietor has 10,000 acres, Valued at 11. a-picce; another, also 10,000 acres, estimated at 25. a-picce. The first should have 10,000]. of the stock, the latter 1,0001. Neither should receive interest; but, supposing 100.0001. to he got in the year by land sales, over and above prior charges on the pro- ceeds, I would apply this sum to pay offthe stock, which I should thus reduce 2% per cent, and the first proprietor would get 2501. and the latter 251. lftbe land sales produced an applicable fund of 1.000,0001., a quarter of the whole stock would be paid off. and the first proprietor would get 2,5001. and the second 2501. (Hear, hear.) My argument to recommend this to the proprietors would be very simple. 1 should say to them that by this arrangement they would get as much as they cancver expect under the present sys- tem to get for their es 'V what in the hands ofthe Goyern- merit, vigorously err ‘ itself to give a value to those lands by a sound systh - 'sposing ot'them,and by alarge measure of colonisati', , " whole price would be much sooner got than it could, [.1 .alized by the absentee proprie- tors; and that whereas I (Ty now get no annual return, eac'i proprietor would, in proportion to the Government sales‘, and without any exertion oti his own part, get an annual in- stalment of greater or less amount. Isliould fiirtlier remind them, that, atany rate, by this arrangement, they would se- cure themselves the origiiinl purchase money of their land, and something more ifthe present value was greater than the original cost; and that ifthings are left as they are.tlicy will infallibly, according to the general practice of North America and the received notions of piihlic justice current there, be subjected to a Wild land-tax, imposed either by general or by municipal authority, which Will more or less ra- pidly take their estates from them, Without any compensa- tion at all. The arrangement, therefore, is one which mtist be advantageous to them. (Hear, hear.) The advantage to the public would be, that the Government would thus get the whole of thc granted wild lands into its hands; and .might establish a plan for giving an increased value to them and its other lands by a sound system ofdisposing of them, subject to no obstruction from private competition, and by applying the surplus proceeds to promote extensive coloni- sation.

I would do this by reverting to the precise recommenda- tions of my report to Lord Durham. 1 did not, or rather Mr. Wakefield did not, therein, liy any means insist on ap~ plying the proceeds of the land-sales to defi'aying the pas- sage ofemigrants. 1 am rather surprised to find Lord Sy- detiliam, in one of the letters recently published, arguing against the application of Mr. Wakefield’s views to the colo- nisation of Canada, on the ground that it is not to be effect- ed by selling land at a high price in order to get the means of carrying otit emigrants. In that report, which contains Mr. VVnkefield’s own deliberate application of his principles to Canada, it is not proposed to set a high price on land; nor is it proposed to apply the proceeds in the first place to emigration. The means are varied to attain the great end of colonisation. In new colonies. especially in those ofAus- tralia, the great difficulty of colonisation is the carrying out the emigrant to the colony; and this is the expense which it is of most urgent necessity to defray by the proceeds ofyour land sales. The people will not, cannot get out without; and the getting them to the colony is the first ne- cessity. But with respect to Canada the case is exactly the reverse. There, as we see. the means of getting across the ocean are within the reach ofa vast number ofthe poorest of the population, not only of Great Britain btit also of Ire- land. Without any aid except that which friends, which parishes, and which liberal landlords have been in the habit of giving, a vast influx of labourers and their families has taken place. 1 should propose that, in the first place, at least, we should leave emigration to be carried on indepen- dent oftlie home Government; and I should suggest, as my

of the land-sales should he devoted, should be the opening

public works, so as to render it accessible; and to the buil- ding churches, schools, and other public buildings, which would render it really habitable 'by a civilised community. (Hear, hear.) By the great public works now in progress we shall establish those great lines of communication which are destined to make Montreal and Quebec the outports of the vast country which lies on both sides ofthe-great lakes. lint at present this will be effected by facilitating communica- tion with the Far West of the United States, and the trans- mission ofits produce through Canada. If you wish to ren- der the great mass of our own territory available for feeding this main stream, and making it the highway for bringing in- ‘w the market Canadian produce raised by our own peOple, 11h system of communications must be completed by exten- ding to each separate portion of the provmce its own sys- tem ~f minor internal communications, and rendering each "0‘ 01W accessible but habitable. (Hear. hear.) For really the great obstacle to the settlement of capitalists, great or Small, in Canada, is the desolation and discomfort of the life that awaits them. Tempted by the prospect of getting, a large ‘luaMlly of land, they embark their fortunes in a pur- Chasei they find that their lot is cast in a Wilderness, and that their life is to be one ofsolitude and hardship; they are cut Ofi' rI‘Oln their kind, and can neither enjoy life nor ay the f'OUHdntlmis of wealth; even the Observances ofa niinon worship are often denied them, and they. see their 'ldren grow up without the possibility of educating them.

stock was paid ofi'. Thus, suppose there to be 14,000,000 of

report does, that the primary object to which the proceeds

up the interior ofthe country by roads, bridges, and other

.- - ' ‘ ' ‘ ' . do . single settler who finds himself in this posuion c'in , which would always “mush

lany debt contracted for the improvement of

URDAY, SEPTEMBER 16, 1343.

:such monstrous evils by a few roads, a few churches, and a ifew schools, which would, at a small expense, provide in Ievery dlSll‘lCt. for the comfort of large numbers. It would Ilay open variou districts by roads made beforehand; and ,concentraie settlement round churches, schools, and mar- kets previously established. These provisions for the ‘comfort and well being of a civilized community would ;tt:iiipt the capitalist to resort to what would then be no Ydesert; and they would enable you to plant your labourers i in districts already prepared for settlement. The con- ,strnction of such works would in another way facilitate {the emigration of-poor labourers, by affording them a cer- \"tain means of getting employment on their arrival in the co- ,lony. Government, ifconducting the whole operation on a icombined plan, would do right in employing emigrants l ili preference to other persons on their works; and would direct them thither on their arrival. As the labours ofthese men opened up the country, capitalists would be in- duced to purchase and settle, and would employ another I portion ofthe labouring emigrants. These labourers, either in public or in private employment, would be. sure, in course [of time, to accumulate sufficient savings out of their wages, [to enable them to purchase and stock small liiruis; they would then not only make way for it fresh supply of labour- ing emigrants, but would create a fresh demand for labour. This is the stire result ofa sound system of colonisation: the more labour and capital that are supplied to a colony, the larger is the field laid open for additional capital and labour (hear, hear); and the means of employing both go on con- tinually augmenting in geometrical progression, while there remain any waste lands to be reclaimed. (Hear, hear.)

Of course it cannot be, supposed that 1 mean any exten- sive improvement ol the country to be effected merely by the actual produce of the land-sai'es in the first years ofap- plying this system. I contemplate, as was proposed in my report, anticipating that produce by a loan. (Henr, hear.) The payment of the interest, and then ofthe principal of that loan, would be the first charges on the purchase-money ofthe land. ButI should propose that this House should guarantee the payment ofthe interest; and this, not because I believe that it would ever be called upon actually to pay, but because such a guarantee would admit ofthe money be- ing raised at a very low rate ofinterest. (Hear, hear.) Sir, even ifthis country should actually have to take the debt up- on itself, and pay the interest for ever, 1 would not scrnple, considering the Object to be attained, to propose our taking the burden upon ourselves. (Heinz) Suppose that a loan of two millions should be raised at 4 per ceiit., which would amount to an annual charge of 80,0001, and that by mean ofthe system thus established we could, as I feel very cott- fident we should, double the present annual amount of'emi- gration to Canada. Who would refuse to pay 80,0001. a-ycnr, in order to enable 40,000 more ofourcountrymen to emigrate every year? It would be carrying on en'iigration at the rate, after all, of 21. a-head. And ifthcse 40,000 emigrants were landed in Canada, and, from paupers fed by our bounty, be- come customers demanding and paying for our goods, the cost incurred on their ' account would be paid over “and over again by tlieinlerc addition to our revenue which would result from the increase in our trade which they must create. (Hear. hear.) But I lay this down merely as a po- sition, which [should not scriiple to defend, ifdriven to it. 1 have not the slightest fear of the produce ofthe land-sales proving insufi‘icieiit for the discharge hfevcry claim upon it.

It is a question whether the Government, by taking the waste lands of the province into its bands—by disposing of them on a uniform and sound principle, and by rendering them accessible and habitable by means ofthe expenditure of a loan raised on the security of future land sales—would so augment the valtie ofits lands as to obtain from the sale oftliem the means of repaying the original purchase-money without interest, and the necessary loan with interest. It is impossible to make any calculations ne‘ar enough to the truth to render it worth our while to discuss them hypothetically. It is impossible even to approximate to the actual value of the wild lnlitls, for which stock would have to he created. What loan would be requisite, at what times, and how much at a time would have to be raised, and consequently, What annual amount ofinterest Would be payable each year; and at what price and with what celerin the land sales would proceed: all these are points, of which some kind of esti- mate must be given in order to found any calculation of the l‘ea‘llltF, and of'wliicli I see no ground for giving any plausi- ble estimate. I will not, therefore, Sir, give an estimate at- tor the usual fashion of projectors, by gravely Workll'g ,0“ with arithmetical accuracy the most precise results frnni perfectly hypothetical premises. 1 would rather trust to very general reasoning for leading us to general conclusions. Imaging to yourselves the contrast between a property situ- ated in the midst of the forest. witl.out a passable road to connect it with your neighbours or with your market during half the year; and the same property, with no change made in its condition but that of'a village near it, and good roads connecting it with the neighbouring properties and town: and tell me whether you think it would be at all extrava— gant to say that the property would be tripled in yalue by that single change? Nay, as 1 am stire that your in'iaginutions will give you but a feeble conception of the importance of mere roads to the Canadian settler, I would beg you to l00k to an extract given in the 85th page ofLord Durham’s Report, from the evidence ofthe Chief Agent for emigrants in Upper Canada, who states that in 1834 he himself met a settler from the township of \Varwick, who was returning from a grist mill at \Vestniinstcr, about 45 miles distant from his home, whither he had been compelled to carry bushels ofwheat to get them ground. ,“ He had a yoke of oxen and a horse attached to his Waggon; had been absent nine days, and id not expect to reach home till the following evening. Ligtgas his load was, he assured me that he had to 'ltnload who ly or in part several times; and after drivmg his wag- gon through the swamps, to pick out a road throuin the woods, where the swamps and gullics were fordithle, and to carry the bags on his back, and to replace them in the wag- gon.” The witness then goes on to calculate that it would have been cheaper to send the wheat from Toronto acrOss the Atlantic to be ground at Liverpool and brought back, than it must have been to get it thus ground. (Hear, heat) Neighbours, a mill in the next village, and a decent road, would have enabled this poor man to do in an hour what it cost him, his horse, and his oxen, ten days to do for thirteen bushels ofwlieat. This is, no doubt, an extreme case; but it is but an extreme case ofa great class of difficulties, des- troying the comfort ofthe settlers, and obstructing the set- tlement of Canada. It is bnta sample ofthe mischief result- ing from the want ofroarls. Judge then for yourselves w at increased value mere roads would give to the lands of Ca- nada. (Hear, hear.) Is it extravagant to count on that in- crease, and on the impulse given to the settlement of the co- lony and the sale of your land, being suclras to ensure your lpaying ofi'the entire debt contractedbotli for_the acquisition and for the improvement ofthe lands in a few years? But even ifit could be supposed that the sale of these lands alone Would not suffice, and more than suffice, to repay the debt, recollect that the Crown has, in addition to all these surveyed lands, a vast reserve of unsurveyed territory of its own,—-va|ueless, it is true, tintil the surveyed lauds he settled,