PUBLIC RECORD OFFICE
Reference :-
H.C.O. 885.
| COPYRIGHT PHOTOGRAPH-NOT TO
ALLY WITHOUT PERMISSION OF THE BE REPRODUCED PHOTOGRAPHIC-
23 PUBLIC RECORD OFFICE, LONDON
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of money caused by (1) overborrowing; (2) uncertainty as to changes in the United States tariff; (3) the speculations of real estate agents. In consequence large numbers of general labourers, teamsters, road and drain makers had been discharged recently by the local authorities at Medicine Hat, Vancouver, Victoria, and other places in the West, and the demand for mechanics had fallen off in proportion. It would not be advisable for any mechanics to go out this year in search of work. In Ontario I found that there were more openings, partly in consequence of so many residents and immigrants having gone West, and that there was a demand for a limited number of mechanics and factory
workers.
In ordinary times mechanics do well, and wages are high, but outdoor trades are slack in winter. British immigrants are not always welcome; one immigrant agent protested that British plumbers were no good at all, that British carpenters were too slow for the rougher work of the country, and that painters were unable to hang wall paper. A contractor, on the other hand, told me that his British workmen did well after a little experience of Canadian ways, and that the tools in use differed little from those in England. It must be remembered that Trade Unions are very strong in Canada, many of them being worked from the United States; in Vancouver, for instance, it is difficult to get, or at least retain, work without joining the Union.
The high cost of living is a constant difficulty which the immigrant, and especially the married immigrant, has to face. The price of food is not so excessive and a man in a good position at Saskatoon told me that he could feed himself, wife, and three
young children for $40 a month. As someone has remarked, it is often not so much the high cost of living as the cost of high living that brings persons to want.
Rent is a very serious item, and is referred to below. Moreover a suit of clothes costs $15 to $25, and the multiplication of small expenses--such as five cents for a newspaper in the West, five cents for a tram, or five to ten cents for cleaning boots— has to be reckoned with.
On the other hand, wages run from $2.50 to $6 a day, and there is no doubt that a careful man can live very comfortably and put by money.
Home Reunion Associations are established in Winnipeg, Calgary, Saskatoon, Prince Albert, Vancouver, &c. They assist British workmen in Canada to bring out their wives and families by advancing them money on the guarantee of local citizens. They are very useful and are financially successful. But the collection of repayments causes some trouble. The easiest arrangement would be for the employer to deduct an agreed sum from the employee's weekly wages and pay it to the Association; but the employer does not like the trouble of doing this, and the employee thinks that it encroaches upon his independence. Under this system, during last year the Vancouver Association paid the passages of 404 women and children at a cost of $23,000: 707 persons were brought to Montreal, 914 to Winnipeg, and 1,304 persons to Toronto.
Land and Rent.
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The extension of railways is constantly making new land available for settlement and converting the prairie into town sites. But, unfortunately, the trail of the real estate speculator is over the West. He follows in the wake of, or even anticipates, the railway contractor. He buys up acre after acre of potential town and farm lots, and holds them till someone can be persuaded to pay the absurd price he asks. This retards settlement to an undesirable degree, fosters a spirit of financial unrest, and is one of the curses of the country. The same evil goes on in older districts; suburban farms are being bought and divided into residential plots, and held up in the hope that huge profits may eventually be realised. As much as $2,000 dollars an acre is asked for land a few miles from Ottawa, and $95,000 for a corner lot in Edmonton. Prices in larger places like Winnipeg are higher. Land has become so dear at Montreal and Calgary that the two chief hotels have some of their rooms underground, and light them by electric light, rather than buy more land. In fact, prices have become prohibitive and must come down before the situation becomes healthy again. The land remains unsold because no one has enough money to buy; and the speculator, being unable to sell, has nothing to live on.
As so much land is held up unoccupied, the rents of occupied portions have become very high. This does not matter so much to single men, because they can obtain board and lodging for $5 to $7 a week, and should be able to save money out of their wages. The above rates do not secure the whole of a room, or even the whole of a bed; at a superior boarding house which I went over at Saskatoon small rooms were occupied by two beds and four men. The English landlady told me " They don't seem to mind it in this country"; though one might remark that this ancient and unpleasant custom has by no means died out in England.
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But for married men with families rent is a serious item, and several wage-earners told me that their wives had found the expenses and difficulties of housekeeping too much for them and had gone home in despair. Others said they would not like to bring their wives out at all. The cheapest house I saw was at Ottawa, where a workman earning $10 a week was living with his wife and six children; the rent was $8 a month, but the house consisted of only two bedrooms, a sitting-room, and a kitchen. At the charming country town of Belleville nice little houses cost $8 to $12 a month, with water laid on to the yard. At Winnipeg a house of six rooms and kitchen, with a little bit of ground, costs $35 a month, including the furnace for heating; but the cooking stove is extra, and costs about $30 to buy. At Medicine Hat a small house costs $30 a month, and many persons were living in tents at a rent of $4 a month to save this expense. At Edmonton a waiter told me that he paid $25 a month for two unfurnished rooms for himself, wife, and child, or three to four times as much as he would pay in London; his salary was $40 a month, and he began work every morning at 6.30. A Danish hairdresser at Victoria, B.C., was paying a rent of $25 a month for himself and wife; he was paid $3 a day and commissions; but he told me he was not much better off than when he earned 3 krone a day at Copenhagen, excepting that in Victoria work was certain and that in Copenhagen he had to hunt for it. A country butcher in British Columbia, who came from England twenty-one years ago, did not complain of the high cost of food, as was, perhaps, only natural: his complaint was that big concerns as so often at home-were swamping the small trader. At Nelson, B.C., & pretty detached house, with five or six rooms and bath, costs $35 a month. It should be noticed also that many houses in all parts, even at these rents, have not got water or light laid on inside; in some of the newer townships a barrel is placed outside the house, and is filled by a water-cart daily.
Farming.-Ordinary farms can be bought for about £10 an acre, but fruit farms and land near towns cost much more. The best farms, generally speaking, are in Ontario. The country round Hamilton, London, and the north shores of lakes Ontario and Erie is some of the most attractive in Canada, and the farms and farm houses are excellent. British farmers who want to change would find prosperous homes here after they had become accustomed to the country. More adventurous emigrants might go to the West, but even these would be benefited by a previous experience of the more skilled farming of Ontario. In some parts of the West ready-made farms, i.e., farms where some of the land has been prepared and buildings erected for settlers in advance, may be bought and paid for by yearly instalments. This system has obvious advantages and I met several settlers who were going to establish themselves in this way. But such a farm of 160 acres will cost a settler from £800 to £1,000 before it becomes his own, and the price is thought by many to be excessive. In any case the system is meant for those only who have considerable capital.
Fruit land in British Columbia is especially high in price. One man remarked to me that you could buy cleared land in England cheaper than uncleared land in British Columbia. I saw some planted land near Penticton which had been recently sold at $950 an acre with buildings, and this price is often exceeded. It seems impossible to make fruit farming pay if the land costs so much: $600 an acre is about the limit of price: an annual profit of $200 an acre is looked for. There are many attractions which the free and easy life, the pleasant climate and society, and the beautiful scenery of British Columbia offer to a fruit farmer, but, owing to the high price of the land, the absence of co-operation, and the variableness of seasons, profits seemed to be doubtful. Some 20 acres are sufficient to start on. The trees take eight years to mature, but tomatoes may be grown meanwhile, Irrigation is necessary, the average rainfall being 12 inches, though this year there was too much rain. Snow lasts for about five months in the year round Vernon, and a shorter time round the southern end of Lake Okanagan, where good peaches are grown. I visited the famous Coldstream Ranch, near Vernon, which is now owned by a company, and employs some 200 men fruit, hops, cattle, timothy, young apple trees for planting, and other crops are produced.
land
There are fruit ranches also along the beautiful Kootenay Lakes, where uncleared may be bought for $400 an acre.
I visited parts of Vancouver Island where general farming, potato growing, dairying, chicken farming, &c. are carried on. Life there is very pleasant for a man with a little capital who is not looking for large profits, and land is not so dear as in the Okanagan Valley. But even here uncleared land costs $250 an acre, and cleared land with buildings $600 an acre.
I made enquiries about Dr. Grey's farm in Alberta for public school boys from this country, and was hoping to see it. But I learned that it had not been a success, owing to
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