CANADA WASTE LANDS.
RETURN to an address to HIS MAJESTY, dated 13
September 1831;- for,
COPY of the REPORT of Mr. Richards to the
COLONIAL SECRETARY, respecting the WASTE LANDS
in the Canadas, and EMIGRATION.
Colonial Department, Downing-street, }
12 March 1832. } HOWICK.
Ordered, by The House of Commons, to be
Printed, 30 March 1832.
ON EMIGRATION.
IN taking up the subject of emigration, I am
aware of entering upon difficult ground, as it
has been already investigated with so much more
talent than I can pretend to.
Much was said to me in the colonies upon the
two questions of spontaneous and regulated
emigration; and the great evil of which they
complain was the entire absence of wholesome
regulation. I feel, therefore, fully convinced,
whatever course may be ultimately adopted, even
if the present loose mode is to go on, that the
necessity of reducing it to a system will be
forced upon us; that is, whether we consider
the poor man's comfort on leaving his native
soil, his establishment in the wilderness of a
new country, the manner in which he is to be
received by the province, or his means of
adding to its prosperity, they are all
questions of high import, and have a claim to
consideration, and provisional arrangement.
Many regard the transmission of a part of our
redundant population in the exclusive light of
parish or national relief; of which, indeed,
there was an example while I was in Quebec, in
the arrival of the ship 'Two Brothers' with 153
emigrants dispatched by the magistrates, after
their passage-money had been collected by public
subscription, and so acknowledged in their
letter to the superintendent of the
Emigrant-office. So much liberality and
kindness had been uniformly manifested by the
inhabitants of the city to desultory arrivals,
that it is not surprising (as these came under
the appearance of authority) that a great
dissatisfaction should have been created; and
it is to be feared that it may end in the
passing of some provincial law to check the
future indiscriminate shipment of paupers.
It is well to state here that they have an
emigrant hospital at Quebec, supported by
provincial grants, into which 91 patients
were received during the month when I was
there. But some charity for the widows and
orphans of emigrants ought to be extended
from hence.
In case any regulated plan should be
seriously got up, that part of it relating to
embarkation and passage will be easily
arranged; some person should be appointed at
every port of embarkation to give the
necessary facilities to their departure, and
guard as much as possible against their
suffering, for these poor people now undergo
much misery unknown to others, and which might
be prevented.
The cost of passage is pretty well regulated by the
force of competition; adults are taken from
Liverpool at 3÷. per head, from Dublin and
Cork at 2÷. 10s., and from a western port in
Ireland at 2÷.; their provisions will cost
about 35s. or 40s. from Liverpool,
and 25s. or 30s. from Ireland and
Scotland; so that the total of passage and
provisions for an adult may range from 4÷. 15s.
to 3÷. 5s.; children under 14 years at half,
and under seven years at one-third price.
These prices may not be precisely exact, but
they are very nearly so; they are however
regulated upon the idea of a full complement
of passengers, who are always to be ready at
the ship's time; and the ship finds berthing,
water, fuel, and cooking utensils.
There is so much spare tonnage outwards to the
provinces, by the manner in which the timber
trade is carried on, that its peculiar
facilities ought not to be overlooked. During
the year 1829 the ships cleared from the ports
of Quebec and St. John's to Great Britain and
Ireland consisted of above 340,000 tons; and
as three passengers are allowed to five tons,
and in some roomy vessels three to four tons,
the mutual and reciprocal advantages of the
passenger and timber trades are plainly seen,
and the benefit accruing is altogether national.
Thus far we have advanced without difficulty,
the whole case being one of simple calculation.
But when we come to place the emigrant in the
wilderness of a new country, unless he is to
move under some regulated system, got up under
foresight, reflection and previous arrangement,
it will be like giving him a stone when he asks
for bread. At present many go on without knowing
the boundaries of their lots, or whether they
have any, or indeed whether they will ever
obtain a title. In all such instances are sown
the seeds of disorder and disaffection to
Government.
It may be well first to consider the expense
actually incurred in locating individuals
upon the late experimental settlements. The
emigration of 1823, after deducting cost of
passage, gave 15÷. 8s. 9d. per head. That of
1825 gave 13÷. 11s. 8d.; and a more recent
experiment in the town of Ops, in Upper
Canada, gave 3÷. 2s. 6d.; but it would be
unsafe to assume either of these as data for
further proceedings; for in the two first
cases many abandoned their lots and increased
the average cost, although their places have
been supplied since; and the situation of Ops
was to near to other settlements to call it a
beginning in the wilderness; on this account
the sum of 400÷. was limited to it; but I
understood from a gentleman who had access to
the disbursement accounts, that 1,000÷. would
probably be sufficient to set a new settlement
fairly off with, but without the expense of
mills.
I believe the township of Cavan, in Upper
Canada, was settled also without advance.
In Lower Canada the unoccupied Crown
reserves in the townships of Inverness and
Leeds have been sold to settlers who are
doing very well, and free of cost to
Government; so much so, that the country in
which they are, contained, the 1st of May 1829,
only 523 souls, and in September 1830, it
exceeded 2,000, which was almost entirely
owing to the increase of those townships.
More settlers might also have been added last
autumn, but they were deterred by an
insufficiency of provisions on the spot, and
the expense of drawing them from a distance.
But again, this settlement of reserves, as the
name implies, was a secondary one.
Among the Reports of Committees of the House
of Assembly in Lower Canada, 1829, I find an
interesting communication upon the settlement
of new lands, with an estimate of the cost of
locating 150 poor families, stated at 900÷.,
or 6l. each, with the idea not only that it is
to be repaid in six years, but of the
probability of as much more being gained by
the advance, exclusive of the value of the
lands settled; and this effect is proposed to
be produced by supplying the settler with
labour upon the spot, in the shape of a public
farm, from which he is to receive payments in
provisions, and no other public work to be
affected.
Many respectable people are of opinion of
the safety of advances to settlers, and even
regard it as a profitable operation. But I
can only say that my experiences obliges me
to take the other side decidedly; and without
even considering the risk, it is to be
remarked that the advances alone would gather
rapidly to a very heavy amount, in case an
extensive system of emigration should be
acted upon, which might gradually and
insensibly swell so much as to create
dissatisfaction and disgust, and finally
either break up the whole system, or cause
its falling by its own weight.
But if it be ultimately determined upon
aiding the settler in the first occupancy
of the wilderness, or to bring the waste
lands of the Crown into action, my advice
would be, first, to determine, with
consideration, where the settlements are
to be, and then to survey the lands into
townships and lots of 100 acres each, and
this will take up six months previous
arrangement at least.
Afterwards I should be decidedly of
opinion to prefer giving assistance by
finding labour for him to earn the
supplies he wants, to any advance of money
or funds to be used at his own discretion.
Emigrants arriving with a few ponds in their
pockets are said to hang about the town and
spend all before they move, and especially
such have been assisted by the parish; and
the changes of circumstances, from parochial
relief to competent rations, regularly
distributed, and the independent feelings
attached to the ownership of land, all
conspire to work a change in the moral
feelings of the man, and the provincial rate
of daily wages lifts him above absolute
dependence. Upon his gratitude I should place
no reliance, nor much security upon the
increased value of his lot, which, if
unoccupied for a few years, returns to its
former valueless condition. The fact is, he
requires to be kept in a constant state of
excitement and exertion against his first
difficulties; some stimulant is necessary,
and money is a sedative.
If labour is found for him to resort to,
whenever his own farm does not require it,
during his first year's occupation, it would
remain for us to discover some profitable
investment for it. I should therefore adopt
the public farm, as recommended in the Report,
which would soon produce a portion of all
the provisions required for the young
settlers, and thus far have in itself the
means of paying them for their labour: but
I would also find labour upon the public
roads, leading to the settlement, and
through it to others.
The greatest desiderata in new settlements
are mills and roads; mills should be supplied
by private enterprize, but roads come under
the regulation of the law, hence the
inability of young settlements to accomplish
them till they rise into opulence, and the
consequent retardation of their advance.
The House of Assembly, in Lower Canada,
has voted 58,000l. for internal
communications, and about 16,000l. for roads,
in 1829, a great proportion of which is for
the new settlements with scanty populations,
and laying at distances; the opening of roads
would therefore be a work of public utility,
and stamp a permanent value upon every lot in
the settlement.
In suggesting the above ideas, I have
endeavoured, as much as possible, to
incorporate the leading objects of all the
different parties who have thought seriously
upon the subject, advancing assistance to the
emigrant, according to the Emigration Report,
offering labour on a public farm, according
to the Canadian Report, with my own addition
of the labour on roads. I would beg, however,
to be particularly understood that the public
farm is only recommended where settlements are
in a manner to be forced, and that the land so
improved, might afterwards be resold at advance.
This also appears to me the most economical
mode of procedure; it would not require more
expenses than seem now almost indispensable;
the surveying is absolutely so; that of agents
is equally wanted to forward the emigrant to
his destination, and place him upon his lot;
the extra charge would be only that of finding
provisions, which, if supplied in payment of
labour, can be more easily regulated, modified,
or dispensed with, than a cash advance, which
always carries with it something in the way of
bounty. This mode would enable the agent to
proportion his assistance to the meritorious
settler, and the indolent would not resort
to the settlement; the price of land would
rise with the success of the operation.
Moral discipline and order would grow out
of it spontaneously, the best foundation
of all institutions; and it might not be
too much to ascribe all future success
to this original preparation of the soil.
In all systems of settling new lands the
strictest economy is to be observed, and
the rule to be applied is for the lands
to supply their own means of improvement
of [as?] far as they possibly can. This may
be accomplished in the fertile lands and
moderate climate of the upper province;
but in Lower Canada, and also in New
Brunswick some assistance is absolutely
requisite, and it is only the poorest
classes who will lead the way into the
woods. It does not appear necessary at
present to go further into details,
which, if wanted, may afterwards be
explained. It would however be well to
appoint different agents to reside in
the country, either from provincial-born
subjects or those who have been some
years in the colony. If people of some
capital or better education could be
induced to embark in the undertakings,
it would be very desirable; nor would
it be of trifling import if some
encouragement could be extended to the
Canadian seigneur, or some modification
of the old French mode of settlement be
adopted, not at variance with our laws
and customs; for it is to be observed by
their mode of settlement that they
establish a denser population, a people
more attached to their soil, more
exclusively so to their own habits, and
those habits the natural supporters of
the monarchical system; and that it is
the only part of the continent of North
America where this is the natural
tendency of social institutions. But
when we view a country to be redeemed
from the wilderness to a state of
agriculture by the gradual advance of
lot by lot, without an original
investment of capital or improved
education, or in fact controlling minds
of superior classes to direct, lead or
concentrate public feeling, it is to be
feared that such a mode of procedure
would be in hostility to the best
interests of our institutions.
But with the Americans such a retail
occupation of the wilderness is by no
means objectionable, as it harmonizes
with their habits of progressive
advance;- First, settlement of any kind
attracts attention to the district, then
speculation creeps in, and various
interests get engaged in it; enterprising
young men of the professional classes soon
follow; villages grow up; and if anything
like commercial enterprize can take root,
the bank completes the machinery of social
life.
An impulse so sudden is not to be
expected in the Provinces; the better
classes who go on, mostly come from
different parts of the mother country,
and require some time to understand
themselves. They take up lots for
individual occupation, have no idea of
speculating beyond their own farms, so
that there are no means of concentrating
energy for public purposes; and the
district, however numerous its
inhabitants, seems to be without any
common principle of action. In the
absence of such exciting causes
Government, seems more called upon to set
the machine in motion; but the call is
still louder, from the number of emigrants
now annually going to North America. In
the year 1830 there can scarcely be less
than 50,000 gone to the Provinces and the
United States; and from appearances at home
and the general satisfaction of those who
have departed, it is morally certain to be
capable of great increase. In the two years
of 1827 and 1828 about 29,000 emigrants
arrived in Canada, and scarcely any settled
there. In 1830 about 25,000 arrived, and
nearly 10,000 are supposed to have settled.
The course now found to be in progress is,
that those who settle write to encourage
others to come out, and frequently remit
funds to aid them. Such has doubtless for
many years been the practice of those
settling in the United States; and if the
current could be turned into the Provinces,
it would be attended with results of great
national advantage.
I hope to be excused for the length of this
Report, and especially for dwelling upon
subjects apparently of small importance, or
upon such as Government may already be
possessed of.
The instructions upon which I embarked upon
my mission from the late Right Honourable
Secretary were in a great measure verbal, who
enjoined upon me to communicate freely and
fully with the Governors of the different
provinces, and to obtain from them, and all
other sources, whatever information I could,
for the use of His Majesty's Ministers, as
to the agriculture, soil, commerce, resources
and capabilities of the Provinces, especially
with a view to their means of receiving
emigrants, and the best mode of locating them.
And if my attempts at the performance of this
duty should meet the approbation of the Right
Honourable Viscount Goderich, I shall esteem
myself particularly fortunate, and subscribe
myself with great respect,
His Lordship's very obedient and very
humble servant,
John Richards,
Commissioner.
