SESSIONAL PAPER No. 18 tained at the same time in these Towns totally unfit to support them or afford them employment. Hitherto in order insure the removal of Emigrants successively as they arrive and to direct them to Districts where they may provide for themselves, and the Province reap the greatest advantage from their industry, several Townships have been prepared for their reception to which they have been encouraged to proceed. Their conveyance to the interior Townships is expensive, as well as the preparations necessary to be made for their employment; but by this mode large tracts of Land are brought into cultivation in one season. Officers and Settlers with Capital ready to take up their residence in Townships occupied by four or five hundred labourers, and where the value of land increases in proportion to the population placed near their Grants; the destitute Settlers either are hired by farmers on their route to the Townships to which they have been directed, or are employed by the settlers who enter the new Township with them; or by the Agents of Government, to open roads. A better course perhaps could not be followed both for the interests of Emigrants and the Province. The only exceptionable part of the system is the employing of Emigrants to open roads in the new Townships, as these could be made by persons accustomed to the work for one third of the expense now incurred in forming them and the destitute Emigrants might be employed in clearing fifteen or twenty acres on the lots intended for sale in different parts of a Township, and in planting potatoes and Indian corn for the supply of the settlers that may be located, and for the Emigrants employed in clearing the grounds. These crops would probably be sold for the price of labour bestowed in rais ing them. The improvements would induce persons of small capital to purchase the lots on which they were made, and the proceeds would defray the expenses of the year. I have no doubt that such a system would succeed. It appears in every respect preferable to employing Emigrants on roads; or to the project of clearing Land for large farms an undertaking which must fail unless conducted by superintendents of great experience, intelligence and integrity. The Salaries for the Superintendents of this description would add considerably to the outlay and the farms prepared for occupation could not be readily disposed of; but small improvements would be placed within the reach of Settlers of very limited means, and the value of land in every part of the Township would be equally increased. I shall direct the Agents in the new Townships to employ Emigrants at low Wages, in clearing land early in the spring for cultivation instead of continuing them on work that can yield no immediate profit. The representation contained in the annexed document from the Commissioner of Crown Lands has induced me to allow officers of the Navy and Army entitled to a remission of the purchase money for land according to their rank to receive their grants at the upset price, provided that they settle on their location a few months after their arrival in the Province. I have the honour to be, My Lord, your Lordship's Most obedient humble servant, The Right Hon'ble VISCOUNT GOderich, &c., &c., &c. J. COLBORNE. 64 VICTORIA, A. 1901 No. 3.-STATEMENT of Money paid by the Commissioner of Crown Lands, on account of Emigration to the 13th November, 1832, inclusive. (Archives, Series Q., vol. 377-1, p. 9). John W. Gamble-To defray the expense of employing indigent Emigrants on the Road Cheeseman Moe-Agent at Cornwall, to Superintend the forwarding of Emigrants District.. John Bastinch-For expenses incurred in forwarding Emigrants from Port Stanley to Anthony B. Hawke-Agent stationed at La Chine to superintend the forwarding of James Fitzgibbon-To disburse sundry expenses incurred in relieving the distress Roswell Mount--For expenses incurred in settling Emigrants in Adelaide and opening York Emigration Society.-For the relief of destitute Emigrants. Transport-Expenses incurred in the transport of indigent Settlers to the lands allotted Provisions-Furnished Settlers of the above description.. Francis Swan -To purchase bedding and furniture required for the sick and destitute Harvey Shepherd -Axes for the Men employed in opening the roads Robert Marchant-For enclosing and clearing a burying place for the reception of per- B. Madden-Messenger sent to J. W. Lount George Lount-Provisions... Samuel Lount-For exploring Sunnidale and making out a road leading from Kempenfeldt Bay to that Township...... Provincial currency Besides the sum of £8,582 10 11, Messrs. Chisholm and Gamble have been authorised to expend in the employment of poor Settlers on the roads the further sum of £500, to be repaid them after the 1st January, 1832. And there still remains, as by Mr. Patton's statement, unpaid £1,135 5 2 due the steamboats Great Britain, Queenston, William 4th and Niagara, &c., for passages furnished the Emigrants from Prescott to the different ports on Lake Ontario. No.4-SIR JOHN COLBORNE TO R. W. HAY. (Archives, Series Q., Vol. 377-1, p. 51). YORK, U. C., January 14th, 1833. My dear sir,-In my dispatch of the 10th inst. I have proposed a scheme for rendering the labour of Emigrants productive, by employing them in clearing 10 acres on certan lots for sale in new Townships, planting the acres cleared, and selling the improvements to Emigrants who enter the Township with capital. SESSIONAL PAPER No. 18 Emigration is now an affair of so much importance in this province that our chief attention should be drawn to the changes that are taking place. If Emigrants can be readily disposed of, I should intreat that the influence of Government may be exerted to promote emigration to the utmost extent to this Province. The effects of the late importations are already apparent in every district, and the necessity of filling Upper Canada till it overflows is obvious. Have the goodness to show to Lord Goderich the accompanying estimate of the outlay and return for one year, in assuming that 100 Emigrants might be constantly employed in clearing 100 acres every month. The calculations are made on the supposition that 100 acres may be cleared and planted before the 10th of June, that the crops and improvements might be sold to Emigrants located in a new Township before September, and that all the lots improved might be sold in the course of the year for the value of the labour of the men employed. Thus, if four thousand persons should be directed to a new Township in the ensuing season, and a fourth of them in indigent circumstances, and employed in clearing, there would be no difficulty in selling their labour at the rate of £4 an acre on the improved lots, in addition to the upset price. The greater part of the money advanced for wages would be returned in September. I have consulted many experienced Settlers on this project, and they are all of opinion that it will succeed. The exertions that I found it necessary to make last year to disperse the emigrants as they arrived, and to prevent such an accumulation of them as might have destroyed half of the number that entered the Province, as well as their neighbours, led to an expense far beyond the sum allowed for the purpose of Emigration; but the emergency demanded the active and expensive arrangements which were adopted, and had they not been sanctioned panic and confusion must have prevailed during the whole season. I am quite satisfied that Lord Goderich will be convinced that the expense could not have been avoided without producing serious consequences. Many families well able to pay for their conveyance were forwarded; but it was not easy to separate the destitute from those that had means to proceed. The alarm was great and it should be recollected that we had not only to provide for the removal of Emigrants from the St. Lawrence but also for their conveyance to remote Townships, and employment. I cannot regret any portion of the outlay. The Province, generally, has benefited by it, and the Western District particularly. The population of that District has been increased in a few months from 10,000 to 14,000. The account of the expenditures are nearly completed. The sum expended wiil amount I believe to about £10,000. The territorial revenue will bear this charge without inconvenience. I must again advert to Emigration, persuaded that the subject should absorb our chief attention at home and abroad, as far as this Colony is concerned. The experiment of colonization on a large scale has never been tried; nor has it ever been attempted with the many favourable circumstances under which it may be now encouraged. With prudent regulations the capitalists can be made to support the destitute Emigrants while they are establishing themselves, and we may see a magnificent Colony raised up in ten years, firmly attached to the institutions of the Mother Country advancing her interests and commercial views, without looking towards separation, and by its numbers and opinions influencing every portion of the Canadas that requires a good example. The inclosed report on the Emigrant tax also deserves Lord Goderich's attention. The estimate for the outlay in employing Emigrants to clear land will bear a rigid inspection, the charges are all made at a high rate. I trust that the Secy. of State will think the scheme of so much importance that his opinion of its merits, and as to the expediency of adopting the plan proposed may be forwarded to me by New York; so that I may receive his instructions in April. I remain, my dear sir, R. WM. HAY, Esq., F.R.S., &c., &c., &c. Very faithfully yours, J. COLBORNE. 64 VICTORIA, A. 1901 No. 5. ESTIMATE of the probable expense in employing 100 emigrants in clearing land, from the 25th of March, 1833, to the 25th March, 1834, and also showing the increased value of land, and the value of the crops. To Wages of 100 men for one year at £2 10s. per month. Building 120 log houses on the 120 different lots on which the clearings are made at £2 10s. Od. each. Carriage of Implements and Utensils, 20 cwt. at 5s. Seed Potatoes-10 bushels per acre for 100 acres- -1,000 Bushels at 2s. 6d. Carriage of 1,000 Bushels of potatoes at 1s Planting 100 Acres of Potatoes at 10s. per acre.. Digging 100 Acres of Potatoes and taking care of the same at 20s. per acre Extra wages to 10 men acting as overseers one to each settlement at 2s. Depreciation in value of Teams, Implements, &c., in Statement 25 percent Conveyance of 100 Enigrants from York to Sunnidale at 10s. each. Add 5 percent to cover contingencies.... £ s. d. 3,000 0 0 300 0 0 30 0 0 125 0 0 50 0 0 50 0 0 100 0 0 270 0 465 5 0 54 19 4 50 0 0 6,300 4 4 315 O 3 Allowing each man to clear one acre per month, 100 men will in one year The 100 acres of Potatoes will probably produce in September 15,000 bushels Total receipts. 6,615 4 4,800 0 300 0 0 1,500 0 0 6,600 0 0 No.6.-STATEMENT of the cost incurred in furnishing 100 Men with Teams, implements, &c. SESSIONAL PAPER No. 18 No. 7.-The following Statement shows the Weekly arrivals of Emigrants at Quebec and Montreal during the year 1834, Specifying the Number of Males, Females and Childre, nunder 14 years; also, the number of Voluntary Emigrants and those that receive Parochial Aid. (NOTE.-The additions do not agree with the figures in the columns.-D. B. EMIGRANT DEPARTMENT, QUEBEC, December 12, 1834. A. C. BUCHANAN, Chief Agent. |
