PUBLIC RECORD OFFICE
Reference :-
C.O. 885
PUBLIC RECORD OFFICE, LONDON
ALLY WITHOUT PERMISSION OF THE BE REPRODUCED PHOTOGRAPHIC- COPYRIGHT PHOTOGRAPH-NOT TO
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from this source, and especially in Ireland. We have been informed indeed by an Irish proprietor, that in several parishes with which he is connected, the rate-payers are about to sign an application to the Poor Law Commis- sioners for leave to raise such sums as they are by law entitled to levy for the purpose of assisting emigration. The only difficulty which would occur in employing such contributions in combination with any funds which the Go- vernment may place at our disposal would be in the nature of the selection. Those whom the parishes would most wish to get rid of, the colonies would least wish to have. We conceive, however, that the right of selection should rest with us, and that it would be our duty to take care that, without needless exceptions, no kinds of persons should go out who would not, from their age and callings, have a fair prospect of success in the colony. We should be prepared to make the regulations less stringent than in the case of selection for the Australian colonies, for we would encourage families of children as having a tendency to repress the wandering propensities of the settlers. The families should not, however, be too large, or they will be a burthen upon the parents, greater than they can bear, under the new and difficult circumstances in which they will be placed.
III. The next resource to be considered consists of the colonial land funds. We are not distinctly apprized how far these revenues are still within the control of the Executive Government, or to what extent they may be already burdened with charges from which they cannot be relieved. But we do not hesitate to say that, whosoever may have the application of them, nothing, in our opinion, would contribute more essentially to the prosperity of the North American colonies, both in a political and economical point of view, than the judicious application of the land-funds to purposes of emigration. Whatever be the pecuniary obligations of Upper Canada, we are persuaded that they could be more satisfactorily met, and that the burden of them would be less oppressively felt, if the resources of the colony were made to receive their fullest developement, by holding out every encouragement to the introduction of an orderly and industrious population. And should the impo- sition of a tax upon appropriated but uncleared lands, as contemplated" in your Lordship's dispatch of the 7th September last to the Governor-General, prove the means of placing in the hands of the Government large tracts of land in either of the Canadas, which are now held in a barren and unprofitable state, we hope that the arrangements with the local legislatures may be such as not to require the funds arising from the sale of these lands to be directed from their most useful purpose-the promotion of an extensive emigration to the colony.
Perceiving, however, that the Governor-General has announced his inten- tion of reporting on the subject at large, we shall not enter into detail, but content ourselves with stating that the success of any scheme of emigration from this country must mainly depend upon the cooperation which it shall receive from the executive and legislative authorities in Canada.
IV. Turning now to the three companies incorporated for the purchase and settlement of lands in the North American colonies, we can assure your Lordship that we have given our best consideration to the different plans anci suggestions which they have made to your Lordship, and we have been most anxious to see if they could in any way be made available to the important object we have in view. We beg to offer or remarks upon them in the following order.
BRITISH AMERICAN LAND COMPANY,
It appears that among the different propositions which had for their object the relief of this Company from a part of their public obligations. and which were made to Government in the commencement of the year 1838, the only one the Government was disposed to view favourably was that by which a moiety of the Company's annual payment should be
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employed in preparing plots of ground for the reception of emigrants, instead of being applied, as heretofore, to services connected with the gcneral Government of Lower Canada. Lord Durham, to whom the point was referred, expressed himself in favour of the principle of this proposition, but as he looked forward to the speedy adoption of com- prehensive measures on the subject of emigration, he objected to any small exceptional measure in the meanwhile. In the month of July last, the Company appears to have renewed the same proposal; and looking at the advantageous position of the eastern township, and the great extent of improvements already effected in the district occupied by the Company, we should have been disposed to recommend the proposal to your Lordship's favourable consideration, subject to the condition suggested in a letter from Sir G. Grey, that the expenditure should be made under the immediate direction of the local Government, and not by the Company. Upon conversing, however, with a deputation from the Company, who attended at our office, we found circumstances had latterly led them to look rather to the disposal of their property to the Crown under proper valuation, than to the agreement on the part of your Lordship to any specific propositions connected with the obligations of their purchase. We further understood them to say that' the opinion of the Governor-General upon this question had been required by your Lordship, and that they were waiting the result of the reference which had been made to him. Under these circumstances, we do not see in what manner the British American Land Company could promote, with advantage to themselves and the public, the emigration to Canada during the present year.
CANADA COMPANY.
The statement made by this Company is, that one of the main objects of its establishment was to provide for and facilitate the settlement of emigrants upon their arrival that by the terms of their agreement with the Government, they are liable to a heavy expense for settlement duty upon all lands which they have paid for, and which remain unsettled, as well as for the provincial tax on waste lands; that from political and other causes, over which they have no control, emigration has almost entirely ceased, and that unless it be renewed and promoted by the Government, they will be exposed to very serious losses, and to the jeopardy of those prospects of advantage to themselves and to the colony upon which the Company was formed, and for which they have already invested so much capital. It further appears that the sum of 60,000%. is still due from this Company to the Government, and that it will be paid in the course of three years, by six half-yearly instalments of 10,000l. cach. As this sum is the purchase-money for the waste land which they have bought of the Crown, they beg that the principle which has been so successfully acted upon in the Australian colonies, may be applied in their case, and that the whole of this sum of 60,000 in which they are indelted to the Government, may be employed in conveying emigrants to Canada. In the reasonableness and propriety of this request, we need hardly say to your Lordship that we entirely concur, and it would afford us much satisfaction to know that your Lordship could accede to it, consistently with the agreements which may have been entered into with the provincial Legislature. 'pon conversing with gentlemen connected with this Company, and upon proposing to them such plans as occurred to us for the promotion of emigration to Canada, we could not discover that they were prepared to make the resources of the Company available in any other way than that upon which we have just offered these opinions.
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