The next consideration is, to what should the duty be reduced, so as not to affect our revenue? This is a question easily answered.
In the Report on Timber Duties, Appendix Number 10, we have. in round numbers, for the year 1833:--
+==========================================+========+==========+ Loads. Duty paid.
+------------------------------------------+--------+----------+ (pounds) +------------------------------------------+--------+----------+ Timber exported from Canada and American +------------------------------------------+--------+----------+ provinces, calculated in loads 719,000 300,000 +------------------------------------------+--------+----------+ Timber from the north of Europe, in ditto. 444,000 985,000 +------------------------------------------+--------+----------+ 1463,000 1,285,000 +==========================================+========+==========+
Now it is certain that, wherever the timber may come from, the same quant.i.ty will be required; we have, therefore, to fix a duty upon timber coming from all parts of the world, by which the revenue will not suffer. A duty of 25 shillings per load will give, upon the whole importation, a revenue of 1,453,000 pounds, not only an increase of revenue upon the timber at present imported; but there is every reason to suppose that it would occasion a much greater consumption of timber, and of course a great increase of revenue. I do not consider that it would be advisable to make this reduction immediately. There is a large tonnage, employed in the Canada trade, which might as well wear out in it; and it would be but fair to allow those who have embarked their capital in the trade, to have time to withdraw it. As the Canadas are not yet prepared to send other produce to the market, we can, with great propriety, confer this boon upon the present timber trade. The reduction of the duty should be gradual, and extended over ten years, at which period the final reduction to 25 shillings per load should take place; by which time, if Canada be cherished, she will have other produce for the market.
The more I consider the question, the more I am convinced that this alteration would be a benefit to all parties. We then should be able to build ships at a moderate price; we should have a fall in house-rent; and, indeed, it would be of advantage to every cla.s.s in this country; and, however interested people may argue, the removal of this protecting duty would be the greatest boon and kindness which we could confer on our transatlantic possessions.
Let us now inquire what are likely to be made the future prospects and produce of the Canadas as the population increases, and the resources of the country will be developed.
Lower Canada is a sterile country; not that the land is in itself bad, but from the severity and length of the winters. The climate of Lower Canada is precisely the same as that of Russia, and so might be its produce. The winters are tedious, but not unhealthy, as they are dry.
The summers, like all the summers in the northern regions, although short, are excessively hot. It is owing to this excessive heat of the summer that the maize, or Indian corn, which will not ripen in this country, can be grown in Lower Canada, and it is the princ.i.p.al corn which is raised. The French Canadians who inhabit Lower Canada are but indifferent and careless farmers, yet still they contrive to live in apparent comfort: but the question is not whether the inhabitants of Lower Canada can support themselves, but whether they are likely to be able to produce any thing which might become an article of export to England. I should say yes: they may produce _tar_ and _hemp_, two very important articles, and for which we are almost wholly dependent upon Russia. Tar they can most a.s.suredly produce; and, with the same climate as Russia, why not hemp? Hemp will grow in any climate, and almost in any soil, except very stiff clay, and I consider the soil of Lower Canada admirably adapted to it. Up to the present time the French Canadians have merely vegetated, but as the country fills up, and they gradually amalgamate with the other settlers, there is no doubt that they will rapidly improve.
Upper Canada has been, and is still, but little known. At the close of the war, there was not a population of 40,000 upon the whole province: even now there is but 400,000 upon a territory capable of receiving and supporting many millions. It is, without exception, the most favoured spot in North America, having all the fertility of the southern and Western States, without being subject to the many and fatal diseases which are a drawback upon the latter. Although so far north, its climate is peculiarly mild, from its being so wholly surrounded with water, which has the effect of softening down both the cold of the winter and the heat of the summer. It abounds with the most splendid timber; is well watered; the land is of the richest quality; the produce is very great, and the crops are almost certain. I particularly notice this as I consider Upper Canada to be the finest _corn country_ in the world.
At present the resources of the Canadas are unknown; the country has not been explored; it is without capital, and I may add without credit, but its prospects are very favourable. The timber trade to England will in a few years, even allowing the present bonus to be continued, be of little advantage to Upper Canada; they will find a much better market as the Western States fill up, as then there will be a great demand for lumber, which will be obtained cheaper from Canada than from any portion of the United States. Even now lumber is sent over from Upper Canada to those portions of the United States bordering on the lakes. I have pointed out the want of timber in the Western States, that is, of timber fit for building; they have some in the State of Wisconsin, which will soon be absorbed, and then the Canada timber and lumber will be in demand, and I have no doubt that there will be a very extensive exportation of it.
The next article of produce to which the Canadians should direct their attention is the fisheries on the lake, which may be carried on to any extent and with great profit. The trout and white fish, both very superior to the Newfoundland cod, are to be taken with the greatest ease, and in vast quant.i.ties. I have mentioned that the Americans have already commenced this fishery, and the demand is rapidly increasing.
As the West fills up, the supply would hardly keep pace with the demand; besides that it would also be an article of exportation to this country.
There are millions and millions of acres to the north and about Lake Superior, fit for little else than the increase of the animals whose furs we obtain, and which will probably never be brought into cultivation; yet these lands are rich in one point, which is, that the maple-tree grows there, and any quant.i.ty of sugar may be collected from it, as soon as the population is thick enough to spare hands for its collection. A maple-tree, carefully tapped, will yield for forty years, and give six or seven pounds of sugar, fully equal to the best East-India produce, and refining well. A few tons are collected at present, but it may become a large article of export.
The United States appear to be rich in most metals, but particularly in lead and iron; [note 1] the metal which they are most deficient in is copper. It is said that the copper mines in New Jersey are good; those in the West have not yet proved to be worth working. Canada, as I have before said, is as yet unexplored, but I have every reason to believe that it will be found rich in minerals, especially copper. I argue, first, from its a.n.a.logy with Russia, which abounds in that metal; and secondly, because there is at this time, on the sh.o.r.es of Lake Superior, a ma.s.s of native copper weighing many tons, a specimen of which I have had in my hand. We must not forget to reckon, among the other products and expected resources of Canada, the furs obtained by the Hudson Bay Company. Of course, if the Canadas are wrested from us, we shall have to depend upon the Americans for our supply of this necessary article.
The value in Canada of the furs exported to this country, by the company, amounts, as I have observed in my Diary, to about a million and a half of dollars.
I now come to what I consider will be the most important export from the Canadas. I have stated it to be my opinion that Upper Canada will be the first corn country in the world, and in a very few years we may expect that she will export largely into this country; already having had a surplus which has been sold to the Americans. It must be recollected that America, who used to supply the West-Indies and other parts of the world with her flour, has, for these last few years, in her mania for speculating, neglected her crops, and it is only during these last two years that she has redirected her attention to the tillage of her land. She will now no longer require a.s.sistance from Upper Canada, and the yearly increasing corn-produce of that province must find a market elsewhere. After supplying the wants of Nova Scotia and New Brunswick, this surplus will find its way into this country. As the population of Upper Canada increases, so will of course her growth of wheat be greater, and in a very few years, we have reason to expect that there will be not only a constant, but even a more than requisite, exportation of corn to this country. Now what will be the effect? Corn from Canada is admitted at a fixed duty of 5 shillings per quarter, therefore as soon as the supply from thence, is sufficient, the corn laws will be _virtually_ repealed, that is to say, they will be exchanged for a permanent duty of 5 shillings per quarter.
I think that the remarks I have made will incline the reader to agree with me, that the reduction of the duties on timber will be a real boon to all parties: to the Canadians, because at the same time that the supplies of lumber to the West Indies and elsewhere will give a certain profit, they will no longer have the true interested of the colony sacrificed for the benefit of parties at home; to the mother country, because it will relieve the expenses of the builder, lessen house-rent and agricultural expenses, and at the same time increase the revenue;-- to the ship-owner, as it will enable him to build much cheaper, and to compete more successfully with foreign vessels, with the prospect also of the carrying trade soon reviving, and the freight of the corn proving an indemnification to him for the loss of that on the timber. That a few interested individuals would complain is undoubted, but it is high time that a monopoly so injurious in every point, should be removed; and the profits of a few speculators are not to be for a moment considered, when opposed both to the interests of the colony and of the nation.
I may as well here remark that it would only be an act of justice to the provinces, and no less so to ourselves, to take off the prohibitions at present in force against the importation of goods from France and other countries. The boon itself would be small, but still it would be a stimulus to enterprise, and the time has gone by for England to impose such restrictions on her colonies. I say that we should lose nothing, because all these articles are imported by the Americans; and if the Canadians wish to procure them, they can obtain them immediately at Buffalo, and other American towns bordering on the lakes. At present, therefore, all the profits arising from these importations go into the pockets of the Americans, who are the only parties benefited by our restrictive laws. We should therefore remove them.
I shall now support the arguments in this chapter, touching the relative value of the corn and the timber trade to the Canadas, by some extracts from the evidence given in the Report of the Committee on the Timber Duties.
_Q_. "Have you ever formed an opinion of what rate per quarter wheat could be exported to this country, so as to yield a profit to the exporter?"--_A_. "I cannot call it to mind accurately, but I think the estimate I once made was between 40 shillings and 50 shillings."
_Q_. "Would it not follow that, unless the price of wheat in this country were to rise to 40 shillings or 50 shillings per quarter, the population that your former answer would transfer front the timber trade to the agricultural would not be able advantageously to employ themselves?"--_A_. "No; I do not think it follows necessarily. If all our population were devoted to agriculture, our settlements would be more dense, and their roads more perfect; in fact, all the social offices more perfectly fulfilled; which would enable them to bring their wheat to market at a more moderate price, and thus they might obtain a larger profit even with a lower price. We should bear in mind, in relation to their agricultural produce, that the farmer of course first feeds his own family, and that price affects him so far as it relates to his surplus produce, and that price rather affects his luxuries than his means of subsistence. I am not aware that the present prices would prevent a farmer obtaining that return which would enable him to purchase at least all his necessaries."
_Q_. "What do you suppose is the average expense of the conveyance of wheat from the remote parts of Canada to Montreal?"--_A_. "I believe the cost of bringing wheat from Niagara to Montreal was about 15 pence colonial currency, but I am not certain; it is not now lower. I once made a table showing the cost of taking produce of all kinds from three points on Lake Ontario and on Lake Erie, and sending up articles to the same places."
_Q_. "What is the freight from Quebec to England?"--_A_. "The ordinary rate has been from 8 shillings to 8 shillings 6 pence a quarter for wheat."
_Q_. "Do you know the price of wheat in this country?"--_A_. "I believe the last average was 40 shillings."
_Q_. "If at 40 shillings you would probably allow 10 shillings a quarter, by your present statement, as a fair deduction for the expense of bringing it into this market?"--_A_. "I should think so."
_Q_. "Do you think the price of 30 shillings would pay the agricultural producer in Canada for the production of wheat; would afford a return for the investment of capital in the production of wheat in Canada?"--_A_. "I should be loth to speak to a point on which I have not sufficient knowledge."
_Q_. "Is it not indispensable to form an opinion upon that point to justify the opinion you have already given?"--_A_. "I think not. I have that feeling, that the consequence of their not having the timber trade would be, that they would produce other articles, and that their condition would not be deteriorated. I am led to that conclusion by seeing the present condition of the State of New York, which once depended on the timber trade; I look also to Vermont; and when every man tells me that he laments and has lamented that he ever meddled with the timber trade, I think that I am justified in my opinion, for no one will pretend to state that the land of Vermont, or even of New York, equals that of Canada. While speaking of the soil of Canada, I would observe that Jacobs has estimated the average return for wheat on the Continent at four to one, of Great Britain seven to one, and Gourlay has estimated the return of Upper Canada at _twenty to one_. Many state that Upper Canada is _unrivalled_ in comparison with any other piece of land of equal extent."
_Q_. "Are you aware of the extent of exportation of agricultural produce from Canada?"--_A_. "I am; I can state it from memory. The largest quant.i.ty of wheat exported in any year was in 1831, and I think amounted to 1,300,000 bushels."
_Q_. "Can you make the same statement with reference to corn and provisions as to other articles?"--_A_. "Canada exports a great deal of corn."
_Q_. "Which Canada?"--_A_. "Both Upper and Lower Canada."
_Q_. "Does Lower Canada grow corn enough for her own consumption?"--_A_. "I should think Lower Canada did, and more."
_Q_. "Does Upper Canada?"--_A_. "Upper Canada a great deal more."
_Q_. "Have you the amount of the exports?"--_A_. "I have the exports of 1833; the two Canadas exported 650,000 bushels of wheat."
_Q_. "How much flour?"--_A_. "About 91,000 barrels."
_Q_. "Have you any account of the imports of flour from the United States into Lower Canada?"--_A_. "I have not with me but can give it very nearly."
_Q_. "Do those exports of which you have spoken just now comprehend the United States flour?"--_A_. "No, they are exclusive of Colonial production."
_Q_. "Is not Lower Canada, as well as Upper Canada, in the habit of supplying herself, to a certain degree, with American flour and wheat, and exporting her own produce, on account of the state of the corn laws last year?"--_A_. "Yes, it is done to a certain extent. I have some indication as to the quant.i.ty which comes from the United States into Upper and Lower Canada being small. In the returns of the traffic last year through our Welland Ca.n.a.l, about 265,000 bushels of wheat pa.s.sed through, of which 18,000 British and 22,000 American only went to Montreal. All the rest went to Oswego, for the New York market: but the destination in future will probably depend upon whether the internal communication is improved in those colonies, and on the state of the market in New York and in the Canadas."
_Q_. "If there is sufficient capital, is there any reason to suppose it would not be beneficial to engage in both?"--_A_. "I do not think it is a question concerning the abundance of capital, but the good to be derived from the preservation of the Canada timber trade by enormous protecting duties. I am confident that _the timber trade is inimical_ to _the best interests of the Canadas_; it would be possible to make the timber trade more beneficial than any other pursuit in the country, and the way to render it so would be to give immense protecting duties to the timber trade of Canada, allowing all other articles of produce to be open to general compet.i.tion; but, by such a course, England would not be benefiting _Canada_."
_Q_. "Can you state the average prices of wheat at Quebec the last four or five years?"--_A_. "I think 5 shillings or 6 shillings. Canadian currency; the latter rate is equal to 5 shillings sterling, which is 40 shillings a quarter; but I do not suppose an average of several years would be over 4 shillings, 2 pence, that would be 33 shillings, 4 pence.
There are peculiar circ.u.mstances that attended the last three or four years."
_Q_. "Has it been higher the last three or four years than the three or four years previously? _A_. Considerably higher than the ten years previously."
_Q_. "Do you think 30 shillings a quarter would have been the average of the ten years preceding?"--_A_. "I should think so, but I cannot now speak positively."
_Q_. "Are the committee to understand it to be your opinion, that if the timber establishments were broken up and no more timber exported from Canada, there would be no loss to that country?"--_A_. "There might be an immediate loss, and a _very great subsequent gain_. I think there would be an immediate loss attending on the mills, possibly 150,000 pounds to 200,000 pounds."
_Q_. "Has it not been the fact that there has been a constant and gradual increase of tonnage into Quebec for the last fifteen years?"--_A_. "Yes."
_Q_. "Presuming that those establishments were to be broken up and no more timber exported, do you think that gradual increase would still continue?"--_A_. "No; the first consequence, I think, very possibly would be a very material decrease."
_Q_. "Subsequently the _same tonnage_ would be required for the _carriage of corn_ as at present?"--_A_. "Some years hence, for corn and other articles."
Note 1. The following description of the iron mines at Marmora are worthy the attention of the reader. It is from the engineer who was sent to survey them.
"To Isaac Fraser, Esquire
"The water power at Marmora, and its sufficiency for all hydraulic purposes, may be better imagined than explained to you by me, from the fact, that the falls occur upon the Crow River, at the foot of untold lakes falling into Crow Lake, the deepest inland lake in the province, and just below the junction of the Beaver River, which latter has its source in the Ottawa or Grand River, or the waters flowing parallel therewith, and by the outlet at the Marmora Falls: these head waters, on the confluence with the waters of the Otonabee, and Rice Lake in Crow Bay, six miles below the works, form the great River Trent, second in importance and magnitude only to the St Lawrence. It is sufficient for me to add, that I deem the water power at the works abundantly equal to all the purposes of machinery and manufacture, which can for centuries be established there.
"Immediately adjoining the works there is an ore bed, from the partial development of which, and from the opinions I have received of its superior quality, it would appear to be of the purest kind of iron ore, except native iron, in the same veins with which is an admixture of red paint and yellow ochre, and in separate veins and beds at this locality, those paints occur in some quant.i.ties, several barrels of which, especially the red paint, Mr Hayes disposed of at 25 shillings per barrel, at the works, and it seems probable they would become profitable articles of commerce. Here also there is a bed of purely white marble, not seemingly stratified, but in large blocks; and a quarry of superior stone for lithographic purposes, the quality of which has been tested and reported favourably upon. This ore bed would be from its situation within any wall constructed for the custody of the convicts, but from the great jumble of mineral substances, which the careless opening of those veins has occasioned, it is not possible to hazard an opinion as to the probable extent of minerals here, but from, if I may judge by appearances and from geological a.n.a.logy, the few acres surrounding, it is probable they are sufficiently extensive to be an object of consideration--several hundred tons of ore have already been taken out for the furnaces. There is at this place a well-built bridge and a wharf at which the ore brought from the lake ore beds is landed, and from thence carted or wheeled up to the ore bank.