COLONISATION.
Supplementary RETURN to an Address of the Honourable The House
of Commons, dated 14 March 1889;-for,
"COPY of the CORRESPONDENCE from COLONIAL GOVERNMENTS in
answer to the MEMORANDUM by the PARLIAMENTARY COLONISATION
COMMITTEE of the 1st day of May 1888, and sent to Colonial
Governments for their Consideration and Opinion, through Lord
Knutsford, during the Session of 1888."
Colonial Office, H. DE WORMS.
July 1889.
(Mr. Seton-Karr.)
Ordered, by The House of Commons, to be Printed,
4 July 1889.
LONDON.
PRINTED BY HENRY HANSARD AND SON;
And
Published by EYRE and SPOTTISWOODE, East Harding-street,
London, E.C., and 32, Abingdon-street, Westminster, S.W.;
ADAM and CHARLES BLACK, North Bridge, Edinburgh;
and HODGES, FIGGS, and Co. [Company?], 104, Grafton-street,
Dublin.
232.
18 COPY OF CORRESPONDENCE
CANADA.
No. [Number?] 2.
Lord Stanley of Preston to Lord Knutsford-(Received
25 May 1889.)
Government House, Ottawa,
My Lord, 14 May 1889.
CANADA. With reference to your Lordship's Despatch (No.1 in
- H.C. 106 -, April 1889.) noted in the margin,
requesting to be favoured with the views of my
Government with regard to a scheme of State-directed
colonisation as framed by a Committee of both Houses
of the Imperial Parliament, I have the honour to
forward, herewith, a copy of an approval Minute of
the Privy Council, submitting other papers and
concurring in the report of my Minister of
Agriculture upon the snbject [subject?].
I have, &c.
The Right Honourable (signed) Stanley of Preston.
Lord Knutsford,
&c. &c. &c.
Enclosure in No.2.
CERTIFIED COPY of a Report of a Committee of the
Honourable the Privy Council, approved by His
Excellency the Governor General in Council, on the
3rd May 1889.
The Committee of the Privy Council have had under
consideration a Circular Despatch, dated 31st May
1888, from the Right Honourable the Secretary of
State for the Colonies on the subject of emigration,
and forwarding a scheme of State-directed
colonisation as framed by a Committee of both Houses
of the Imperial Parliament, and also further Despatch
of the 19th March 1889 from Lord Knutsford requesting
an early reply thereto.
The Minister of Agriculture to whom the question
was referred, observes that the substance of the
proposed scheme, as set forth in the report of the
joint committee, is as follows:-
1. "Controlling Authority Colonisation Board with
Imperial and Colonial representation."
2. "Capital to be raised by public subscription to
a colonisation land rent-charge stock,
interest at three per cent. per annum to be
guaranteed by the Imperial Government for a
term of 30 years."
3. "Class of Colonist. Preference to be given to
colonists who contribute towards outlay."
4. "Colonist after second year to pay four per
cent. on amount advanced, secured by a
rent-charge, with or without an extra one per
cent. for contingencies."
5. "Rent-charge to be redeemed by colonist within
30 years."
6. "Colonial Government to give land free on the
most favourable terms for settlement, with
power to create a rent-charge when
necessary."
The Minister is of opinion with respect to the
first of the proposals of such scheme, that an answer
should be sent substantially the same as that
authorised by Order in Council, dated 2nd July 1887,
and subsequently by Order in Council, dated 11th
February 1888 (copies of which are hereto annexed-
(see pages 17 and 19 in - c.5361 -, April 1889.)), to
proposals involving the same principle, such answers
being to the effect that the Canadian Government,
while affording every possible facility of guidance
and information through its agencies, would decline
the responsibility of being represented on a Board
charged with the duty of making advances of money to
settlers, and of making collections in the form of
rent-charges from them.
The success of a scheme such as that proposed would
mainly, if not entirely, depend on the efficiency of
the business management.
The Minister is futher of opinion that the
proposals of the scheme numbered 2, 3, 4, and 5, as
above recited, refer to matters which properly
pertain to the responsibility of the Colonisation
Board referred to.
He
RELATING TO COLONISATION. 19
He however thinks it well to say that he sees no
objection to such proposals, as a method for
promoting emigration from the United Kingdom to
Canada.
The Minister, in relation to proposal number 6, is
of opinion that the Dominion Government should give a
free homestead of 160 acres to each colonist taking
up land, on the conditions of settlement defined by
the Dominion Lands Act.
The "Colonisation Board" should be afforded all
facilities to make entries within the period defined
in such Act, in advance of the arrival of the
colonists in Canada, and that as respects power to
create a rent-charge when necessary, the clauses of
the Dominion Lands Act, as amended in the Session of
Parliament, 1889 (copy of which is herewith attached-
(Section 44 of the Dominion Lands Act is printed on
pages 19 and 20 of - c.5361 -of 1888. So much of the
amending Act of 1889 as relates to that section is
printed herewith.)), relating to a lien for advances
on homesteads, made for the purpose of aiding
colonisation, contain ample provision for such
objects.
The Committee, concurring in the report of the
Minister of Agriculture, recommend that your
Excellency be moved to forward a copy of this Minute
to the Right Honourable the Secretary of State for
the Colonies, in answer to the Circular Despatch of
the 31st May 1888.
All which is respectfully submitted for your
Excellency's approval.
(Signed) John J. McGee,
Clerk, Privy Council.
CHAP. [CHAPTER?] 27.
AN ACT further to amend "THE DOMINION LANDS ACT."
(Assented to 2nd May 1889.)
(EXTRACT.)
Whereas it is expedient further to amend "The
Dominion Lands Act," as hereinafter set forth:
Therefore Her Majesty, by and with the advice and
consent of the Senate and House of Commons of Canada,
declares and enacts as follows:-
3. As respects every assignment or transfer of a
homestead or a pre-emption right held or acquired
under the said Act, or any prior Acts relating to
Dominion Lands, in whole or in part, and every
agreement to make any such assignment or transfer,
made or entered into before the issue of patent and
previous to the date of the passing of this Act, no
such assignment or transfer or agreement shall be
ipso facto null and void, nor shall any forfeiture
accrue in respect thereof; but the Minister of the
Interior may declare any such assignment or transfer
or agreement to be null and void, and such forfeiture
to have accrued, or either, and such declaration
shall have force and effect as if herein enacted:
Provided, that no such declaration shall have force
or effect in any case in which a patent for any
homestead or pre-emption land has issued previous to
date of such declaration, unless the patent has
issued through fraud, error or improvidence.
2. Nothing in the next proceeding sub-clause
contained shall in any manner have force or effect as
respects any lands in relation to which the
subject-matter of the said sub-clause has already
been adjudicated upon, or is in question in any court
of competent jurisdiction.
4. Every acknowledgment entered into which purports
to be so entered into in accordance with the
provisions of Clause forty-four of "The Dominion
Lands Act," and which has been examined, verified
and certified by a local agent or a homestead
inspector, previous to the date of the passing of
this Act, is hereby ratified and confirmed,
notwithstanding and departure from the conditions of
the said Clause forty-four, and shall have force and
effect as if no such departure had taken place:
Provided, however, that no such acknowledgment shall
be deemed to create a charge in respect of any moneys
advanced or paid for any purposes other than those
for which an advance is authorised by the said Clause
forty-four, except the cost of materials for
buildings, house furniture, breaking land on
homestead, the entry fee for the homestead, and legal
expenses not exceeding ten dollars:
2. Every acknowledgment entered into in pursuance
of the said Clause forty-four, and which has been
submitted, with proper vouchers in support thereof,
to a homestead inspector,
20 COPY OF CORRESPONDENCE
inspector, instead of to a local agent as provided by
the said clause, and which has been examined,
verified and certified by such inspector, and
subsequently registered at the office of any local
agent, or in the books of the Minister of the
Interior, shall be valid and building in like manner
as if the same had been examined, verified and
certified by a local agent, as provided by the said
clause.
5. Sub-clause two of the said clause forty-four, as
amended by section six of chapter thirty-one of the
Act passed in the Session held in the fifieth and
fifty-first years of Her Majesty's Reign, is hereby
repealed, and the following substituted therefor:-
"2. If such a plan or project is so sanctioned, and
such person or company thereupon places any settler
upon a homestead, a statement of the expenses
incurred by such a person or company in paying the
actual bona fide cost of the passage, of paying for
the homestead entry, or homestead and pre-emption
entry, as the case may be, of providing for the
subsistence of such settler and his family, of
providing materials for buildings and of erecting
buildings of his homestead and of insuring the said
buildings (to which purposes one-half of the advance
may be devoted), of breaking land on such homestead,
and of providing horses, cattle, house furniture,
farm implements and seed grain for him, in which
statement a sum not exceeding ten dollars for the
cost of selecting the homestead, placing the settler
thereon legal expenses, and also an amount of money
to cover interest on the amount advanced for a time
to be agreed upon to enable such settler to obtain a
return from the cultivation of such homestead, may be
included, shall be furnished to such settler, and
shall also be submitted with proper vouchers in
support thereof to the local agent, a homestead
inspector or other agent appointed by the Minister of
the Interior, and the local agent, inspector or other
agent so appointed, shall examine and verify the
same, both by such vouchers and by an examination
under oath of such settler and of such person or
company or their representative, and shall certify
the result of such verification by a writing upon
such statement signed by him; and thereupon such
settler shall make and execute an acknowledgment in
writing of the amount so advanced to him, and shall
by such writing create a charge in the form L in the
schedule to this Act upon such homestead for the
amount of such advance, not exceeding the sum of six
hundred dollars, and for the interest thereon at a
rate not exceeding eight per cent. per annum:
Provided always, that it shall be competent for the
person or company proposing to make such advance to
take at once from an intending settler, an
acknowledgment in the form R in the schedule to this
Act, and that such acknowledgment shall operate as a
charge upon the homestead for which such settler
obtains entry, the extent that is certified by the
local agent, homestead inspector, or other agent
appointed by the Minister of the Interior, for any
sum not exceeding six hundred dollars, and for the
interest thereon at a rate not exceeding eight per
cent. per annum, upon presentation to him vouchers or
other satisfactory evidence that the advance for
which a charge is proposed to be created has actually
been made to the settler, and that the settler has
been actually placed on such homestead."
6. Sub-clause three of clause forty-four aforesaid
is hereby repealed and the following substituted
therefor:
"3. A duplicate of such acknowledgment and charge
shall be deposited with the local agent, and
thereafter the holder of such charge shall have the
right to enforce payment of the amount so advanced
and of the interest thereon by ordinary legal
proceedings: Provided always, that the time to be
fixed for the payment of the first instalment of
interest upon such advance shall not be earlier than
the first day of November in any year, nor shall it
be within less than two years from the establishment
of such settler upon such homestead; and provided
also, that such settler shall not be bound to pay
capital of such advance, or any part thereof, within
a less period than four years from the date of his
establishment upon such homestead."
"FORM L.
"Acknowledgment and charge.
"I, the undersigned holding as a homestead
the quarter of section Township
Range of the Meridian, upon
which I have been established since the day
of,18 , hereby acknowledge to have received from
as an advance under the provisions of 'The
Dominion Lands Act' and amendments thereto, in aid of
my establishment upon the said homestead, the sum of
dollars, as shown by the statement thereof as
hereto annexed, certified by the which sum of
money I undertake to pay to the said
RELATING TO COLONISATION. 21
his representatives or assigns in years from
the day of 18 , as follows:-
with interest thereon from the day of ,
18 , at the rate of per cent per annum payable
yearly on the day of in each year, the first
instalment whereof will become due on the day of
, 18 ; and as security for such payments I
hereby create a first mortgage and charge upon the
said homestead according to the provisions of the
said Act and amendments thereto.
"I create the said mortgage and charge upon the
condition that I am to have the privilege of paying
off the said advance at any time prior to the
expiration of the said years.
"In witness whereof the parties hereto have
executed these presents in triplicate, this day of
, 18 .
"Signed sealed and delivered L.S.
in presence of
"STATEMENT of Expenses. Dolls. [Dollars?]
For cost of passage
For cost of subsistence
For cost of entry fee
For cost of breaking land
For cost of selecting land and
placing settler thereon
For cost of legal expenses
For cost of material for building
and cost of erection
For cost of horses and cattle
For cost of house furniture
For cost of farm implements
For cost of seed grain
Interest on dollars, to, 18 ."
9. The following is hereby added to the said
schedule as Form.:-
"FORM R.
"Acknowledgment and Charge.
"I, the undersigned hereby acknowledge to
have received the sum of dollars from
as an advance under the provisions of 'The
Dominion Lands Act' and amendments thereto, in aid of
my establishment upon a homestead in Manitoba or the
North-West Territories of Canada, which sum of money
I undertake to pay to the said his
representatives or assigns in years from the
day of 18 , as follows:-
with interest thereon from the day of 18 ,
at the rate of per cent. per annum payable on the
day of, in each year; the first instalment
whereof will become due on the day of 18 ,
and as security for such payments I hereby undertake
and agree that the homestead for which I shall obtain
entry shall be charged with the said sum of money
advanced to me, with interest thereon at a rate not
exceeding eight per cent. per annum, according to the
said Act amendments thereto. I create the said
charge upon condition that I am to have the privilege
of paying off the said advance at any time prior to
the expiration of the said years.
"In witness whereof the parties hereto have
executed these presents in triplicate, this
day of 18 ."
Signed,sealed and delivered
in presence of L.S.
