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huts erected, at an expense, including the cost of conveying the families to the spot, of from 7. 10s. to 107. currency for each, had been tried with success. Mr. Hawke stated that the system might be carried out on an extensive scale. We have found no plan amongst those referred to us by your Lordship which appears to offer a more reasonable prospect of benefit to the settler, in case he must be placed on land, and consequently of security for his remaining on the spot in which he has been placed.

In the plan for the settlement of a township in the Canadas, submitted to your Lordship by the deputation headed by the Duke of Argyle, we think there are objectionable features.

The proposition of interposing for ten years equal portions of waste land between the several locations intended to be cultivated, is the renewal of a system, which, in the case of the Crown and the clergy reserves, has signally failed, and is now, we believe, universally condemned.

The smaller size of the alternate reserved lots would make some difference, but still we apprehend that the objectionableness of the principle would make itself felt.

We cannot approve of any plan of settlement, the success of which is contingent on the performance of settlement duties--that is, the clearance and cultivation of part of the land. The experience of the past has taught us that whenever this system has been tried it has failed. If the duties are not performed, the object is defeated; and, although the penalty may be forfeiture of the land, yet it has been ever found impracticable, or at the least not worth while, to enforce it.

And independently of the complication of the details, which in any scheme of colonization to be managed by the Government is decidedly objectionable, the expense to the public involved in the proposed plan would be very great, and would extend over a long period. Not only is Government required to send out the emigrants, but also to maintain reli- gious and educational establishments, and to furnish employment to the settlers, paying them the usual wages of the colony. It is true that part of the scheme contemplated the repayment of these advances by the sale of the waste lots, at the expiration of ten years, but this source it is likely would prove wholly inadequate for the purpose, even if the settlement succeeded, which would be still more problematical.

Having now offered to your Lordship the preceding observations upon the general bearings of the question submitted to us, and having reviewed such of the different applications and proposals which have been made to your Lordship's office during the past year, as appeared to require any particular comment, we now beg leave to conclude, with submitting to your Lordship the following recommendations:

1. That application should be made to Parliament for a sum not exceeding 50,000, for the purpose of assisting emigration to Canada.

2. That this sum should be placed at the disposal of the Colonial Land and Emigration Commissioners, who should be authorized to expend different portions of it, as required, in promoting the objects of the grant. 3. That lists and descriptions of candidates should be addressed to this Commission by parishes, proprietors, or companies, according to forms of application to be prepared for the purpose.

4. That after approval, the proposers of such candidates should, upon paying to the officer appointed on our behalf, one moiety of a certain assumed price of conveyance to Canada, be entitled to passages accord- ingly, in one of the ships chartered or approved by this department, the remaining moiety being defrayed by the public.

5. That the outfit of the emigrants, and their conveyance to the place of embarkation is to be at the expense of parties by whom they are pro- posed; and that there shall be a prescribed outfit, without which none shall be allowed to embark.

6. That the extent to which candidates shall be accepted is to depend not merely on the funds at the disposal of the Commissioners, or the numbers of eligible applicants, but on the information the Commissioners may from time to time possess that there are sufficient prospects of the permanent establishment of the emigrants in Canada.

We have only further to add, that under this scheme we reckon that

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the amount of public aid, with the share to be contributed from other sources, would in all probability be sufficient to convey and settle between 3,000 and 4,000 families; but that the advanced period of the season, and the uncertainty which must exist as to the means of disposing of so large a body of emigrants upon their arrival in the colony, and the embarrassed state of the provincial finances, as stated in the dispatch of the Governor- General, and the consequent suspension of all public works, serve to render it improbable that the whole scheme could be effectively brought into operation during the present year. It will be a great gain. however, to have made a commencement, and to have laid the foundation for more extensive undertakings hereafter, should they be desired.

We have the honour to be.

Your Lordship's most obedient. Humble Servants,

T. FREDERICK ELLIOT,

R. TORRENS,

EDWARD E. VILLIERS.

PUBLIC RECORD OFFICE

Reference :-

TLC.O.

885

PUBLIC RECORD OFFICE, LONDON ALLY WITHOUT PERMISSION OF THE BE REPRODUCED PHOTOGRAPHIC- COPYRIGHT PHOTOGRAPH-NOT TO