NEW BRUNSWICK:

ITS RESOURCES, PROGRESS AND ADVANTAGES.

CHAPTER I.

TO INTENDING SETTLERS.

In the ensuing chapters an attempt will be made to describe the Province of New Brunswick as it really is at the present time. The actual circumstances of the country being narrated, the reader can judge for himself what its advantages and disadvantages are. It may be here premised that the Province has a large area of fertile soil unoccupied, but available for immediate settlement; that it is well watered; that the climate, though sometimes severe, is healthy; that fuel is cheap and building material plentiful; that the means of internal and external communication are complete; that opportunities for the investment of capital are many and safe; that the soil and climate are well adapted for mixed agriculture, as well as for cattle and sheep-raising; that the markets are good; that the forest wealth of the country is great, and its mineral resources very varied; that its fisheries, sea and inland, are extensive and of great value; that taxation is comparatively light, and the educational

system of the highest character; that the government of the country is democratic, but its institutions are those which have stood the test of centuries; that life, liberty and property are safe; that it is a country where sudden storms and floods and malarial diseases are unknown; and if it is not a place where the majority can expect to make great fortunes, it at least affords a comfortable living to all industrious workers. To claim that the Province has no disadvantages would be preposterous; no country in the world is free from them; no adventurer has as yet reached a land where everything is as heart could wish. A settler in New Brunswick must expect to work for his living; and if he takes a new farin he will find that the labor of clearing the forest requires strong arms and plenty of courage. He may lack in the first few years of his life in his new home many comforts to which he has been accustomed; but in this respect he will be much better off in New Brunswick than he would be as a pioneer in the western countries, as in this Province all the advantages of an advanced and long settled community are within a few hours' journey of every section. If he selects good soil, if he is industrious, frugal and temperate, if he devotes himself to his farm, the settler in New Brunswick may, with reasonable certainty, expect to enjoy every necessary comfort after a few years and an independent competency during the decline of life. He can give his children a good education, settle them upon farms or fit them for such pursuits as their inclinations may lead them to select. He can enjoy the fullest rights of citizenship, and to him and his sons every position in the land is open.

The following extract from a letter written by Mr. James Williams, formerly of Marbury, near Nantwich, England, and now of Andover, Victoria County, New Brunswick, was published in the Chester Chronicle, and will serve to show how New Brunswick life impressed an English settler.

After mentioning some exceptional circumstances connected with the harvest of the year (1882), Mr. Williams says:

"So, I suppose, we must have had a bad year; but it is very much better than the best we had in England. We are getting cordwood; when dry it is worth three dollars a cord. We should be glad of an Englishman to help to fell; then we could keep the horses drawing home. A man can earn his money summer or winter. We are going to sow turnips and potatoes on the new land. If anyone is too far from town to sell wood, the first crop of oats or bulbs pays for clearing. We are blest with the best of wood to burn; in some parts of the West there is no wood, and what they fetch frota a distance is soft and soon gone. Wood and water are two essential things. We have both, and the crop is ready to harvest in fourteen or fifteen weeks. We are paid for all we do in a few weeks. Last year we had to buy everything to live upon for fifteen weeks, and also the seed. This year we have plenty, and wood to sell, which will be very different. We can drive one or two horses without duty. We are hampered with nothing, no disgusting agents to find fault. People drive wagons. for a pair or single horses-sleds the same. Poor people from Ireland, who came here 40 years ago, they and their sons have first-class turn-outs. Crockery is Crockery is very dear. Common white plates are one dollar a dozen. Dinner napkins are in general use. "The first settlers here think English people live better than they do. They consider themselves careful, and will use all the profit from six cows in their own family, but, we think, if they were in England they would be in the workhouse. The young people wear rings and ear-rings, their cashmere boots and woollined overboots to drive in, buffalo rugs to sit upon and cover them in the sleds, which are very comfortable; and you will hear in a letter to my mother what a happy Christmas we spent. No intoxicating drinks are used here, but everything that is good to eat. What are called luxuries in England are considered necessaries here. There is only one family needing help here; he is an Englishman who came from London last summer, and has very delicate health, and is not suitable for farming business. His.

family have been well cared for, and our minister has proposed sending him to pass his examination for a teacher, as he has been well educated.

"There are excellent cheese made in this neighborhood. I intend making some this season with the rennets you gave me; the cheese sell well here. If you know anybody who wishes to come here we will keep them a little while, and they can soon have a suitable farm. If a man reaches here with £300 he is independent at once. One who came here last spring gave £40 for a log house and barn, a pig and wheat. Then at harvest he had 40 bushels of wheat, 70 of oats, 30 of potatoes, and a lot of turnips and beans. He has now bought another cow of us, and is very comfortable. He had 12 acres of land cleared, and is now clearing 10 more; he will sell his oats and buy a pair of young steers to work his land; so if a man has £40 he can do well, but if he has £300 all the better. A man that can work can do well if he has no money. Laborers and tradesmen are wanted, and are well paid for what they do.

"It is never very cold more than three days at a time. The sun is very bright, and the weather mild. The coldest days we never feel cold in the body, only the hands and feet. We wear mittens and several pairs of warm socks, and we have overboots to admit of them. Then we are very comfortable."

In this letter we have a candid statement of a farmer fresh from English experience. Its frankness will commend it to all readers.

Referring to Mr. Williams' observations respecting persons without means, while it is undoubtedly true that many persons have come to New Brunswick without a shilling, and have by industry and good management acquired a competency, while in every section of the country there are those to be found who have made their way from the smallest beginnings to positions of comparative wealth, yet men with no capital are not recommended to emigrate to New Brunswick, except with a view of finding employment as

farm laborers, for whom there is fair demand. After a time such laborers can easily become land owners. If a settler has a small capital, say £100, left after paying his passage, he need have no fear in commencing life as a farmer in New Brunswick. For men of this class, or for those whose capital does not exceed £5,000, there is probably no better place in the world than New Brunswick, and for persons of larger capital the opportunities for safe and profitable investment are as good as they are elsewhere.

IMPROVED FARMS.

In nearly every part of the Province of New Brunswick, as in nearly every part of North America, improved farms can be bought at prices which to a European farmer seem very low. The speculative mania is strong all over the new world, and although farmers are numerous who cannot be tempted to part with their estates, many land owners will sell their property if they can get what they consider a good price for it. This is the outcome of the condition of society and education in the new world. A man may be a humble farmer on a poor farın, his son may be "the lumber king of Canada"; another farmer's son may fill a cabinet office and receive imperial honors; another may see his sons become the head of great commercial houses, or take a high place in the learned professions. It is a country of change, and one where a man is free to follow the bent of his own inclinations, so long as he respects the rights of his neighbours. Old country ideas as to real estate cannot be expected to prevail in a new one, where there is free trade in land, and therefore a settler with means will experience no great difficulty in procuring an improved farm. These observations apply not to New Brunswick alone, but to every part of America.

A settler in New Brunswick can purchase an improved farm in the older settlements at prices varying from £100,