THE GREAT COLONIZATION RAILROAD OF NEW BRUNSWICK.

[The subjoined extracts are taken from the Report of the Select Com- mittee of the Lords, obtained by Lord Monteagle " to consider the means by which Colonization may be made subsidiary to other measures for the improvement of the social condition of Ireland, and by which, with MI regard to the interests of the Colonies themselves, the comfort and prosperity of those who emigrate may be promoted." The main subject of the extracts that we have now taken is the project of a great trunk railway from Halifax to Quebec, and the employment which the construction of that railway can furnish for emigrants as a preparative to their settlement on the land; but part of the evidence relates to the similar accommodation which emigrants have derived from employment on the construction of common roads; next, to advantages immediately expected from certain minor railway works; and partly also to the fitness of Irish emigrants for the occupations of a settler. We shall complete this series of extracts next week.] ME. GEORGE Prrainutrrow. (Native of Ireland; Member of the Executive Council in 1837, of the Legii- lative Council in 1841.) " To what do you attribute that tendency on the part of the emigrants to pees from our own Colonies into the United States ?"—" In the United States they have much more extensive public works, mostly constructed by capital borrowed from English capitalists, than any going on in Canada; and the first object, of course of a destitute emigrant is to find employment on his landing; and when he has been unsuccessful in finding that employment, in the most obvious mode by labour on public works, if he finds he can get it by going into the United States he leaves

Canada and goes there." • • "You have stated that there is a tendency on the part of emigrants to pass from British North America to the United States, and that that proceeds, in your

judgment, from the greater amount of public works carried on in the United tes ?"—" Yea" "If the same course were adopted on our own side of the frontier, would the

prosperity of the British territory be equallyrapid with that of the United States ?" —"I have no doubt of it."

M. MOSES HENRY FEELEY.

(Government Emigration Agent and Commissioner for Indian Affairs in New Brunswick.) " The Committee observe upon the face of the Reports which are before Par- liament, that the number of immigrants into New Brunswick in 1844 was only 2,489, and that in the year 1846 they amounted to 9,690: has that increased number of emigrants produced any very great increase of difficulty in providing them with employment? "—" I had no difficulty last year in providing them with employment." " Therefore those 9,690 have been practically absorbed in one way or another, either in the labour-market of the Province or in the United States? "—" They were absorbed in the Province or by passing on to the United States." "It appears that a considerable proportion of those 9,690, namely, no less than 4,500, passed over to the United States: how do you account for their migration from the British territory to the United States ?" —"Many of the 4,500 came there with the intention of going to the United States; in fact their passages were paid through to Boston by their Mends, and they came to St. John merely to pass on; but a certain proportion of the 4,500, perhaps 2,000 of those, would probably have remained in New Brunswick had there been employment for them." "But still, after deducting the 4,500 who have passed into the United States in

the year 1846, there remains a very large excess of emigrant labour introduced into the colony in the year 1846 as compared with the year 1844? Can yon ex- plain to the Committee how that excess of labour came to be readily absorbed in the Province? "—" I can explain that. Last year there were large grants from the Provincial Legislature for the road service—about 40,0001. Ship-building also was in a very flourishing condition. We built a large amount of ships in the Province last year; nearly double what had been built in previous seasons. A number of new steam saw-mills were also erected; and in St. John, what gave employment more than anything else was, that a gas-light company and a water company were each laying down pipes for gas and water in the city of St. John. All those circumstances combined gave employment at good wages to a certain extent."

"Then some part of those 5,000 emigrants were employed on public works by the Colonial Government? "—" On the roads." • • "You stated that last year, in consequence of the appropriation of money for

roads, you had found an easy mode of absorbing the emigrant labour: has there been any incidental consequence connected with these works beyond the mere benefit of extending communications in the colony? Have they facilitated settle- ments as well as given a demand for labour?"—" The opening of any new road in ayoung colony like New Brunswick, which is a densely-wooded country, imme- diatelyleads to the formation of settlements and the cultivation of land; that is the almost instant effect: it enhances the value of land very greatly; and the 'people who are employed in making roads learn the use of that indispensable im- plement the axe; they become acquainted with the work of the country, and they are thus trained to become settlers."

"Do you ever find European settlers make good axemen? "—" Yes, after a short time."

"But in the first instance a European settler is employed upon those branches

of labour to which he has been accustomed in his own country, and the old colonist is employed in the labour of the wood? "—" Yes. The Irish emigrant is employed at first with a pick and spade and wheelbarrow while the people of the country use an axe, and do other parts of the work connected with the woods."

"Supposing an emigrant placed upon the road, do you know any instance of

the mode in which he passes from the condition of a labourer upon the road to be a settler and a possessor of land ? "—" When a man has been employed upon the road during the summer, the probability is, that during that season he makes acquaintance with some farmer with whom he will engage for the winter. When engaged for the winter, he will be employed in taking care of cattle, and chopping wood for fuel, and in clearing land. if at all an active man, possessing a rea- sonable amount of intelligence, before the winter is out he will have learnt the use of the axe; and those emigrants who do learn the use of the axe in the first season, and are at all quick, get their wages doubled, or even quadrupled, imme- diately."

"What wages would they receive at first? Can you give any instances within your own knowledge of the progress of an unskilled labourer upon his arrival to the condition of a skilled labourer receiving higher wages, till he reaches the point of having the means of acquiring land and becoming a landowner? "—" I can mention one case. I sent a young man to a first-rate farmer in the country, who wrote to me for an active young man." " Was the emigrant an Irishman? "—" From the county of Cork; the son of a small farmer in that county. He brought me a letter of introduction, stating that he was of a decent family. I sent him up to a first-rate farmer, who gave him 30s. currency per month; with which he was not well satisfied; that is equal to 25s. sterling. He had his maintenance and washing and lodging in the farmer's house. He proved himself so active and useful, that in the second month his wages were advanced. Before the close of the season and the setting in of winter, he had learned the use of the axe very well, and was engaged by a lumbering party in the woods at 51. per month." Feeding himself? "—" No; they found him everything in the woods, except

clothing. He proved himself so good an axeman, that at the end of the year, when the men came down with the timber, and he was paid off, he brought to me a sum of 301. currency, and wanted to know what he should do with his earnings. I advised him to buy. 100 acres of land, which would cost him 121. currency; to put the other 181. in the savings-bank, and hire out another year and by that time he would be in a position to establish himself comfortably as a farmer."

"In stating that case, do you state it as a remarkable case, or as a case fre-

quently occurring, or as at all ordinarily occurring in the province? "—"I have known within the last three or four years several such cases. This probably is a strong one; but I have known many, cases where emigrants have gone on nearly as successfully as that, and have had 201. at the end of the first year." • • * "Are the settlements principally formed on the banks of the rivers? "—" The principal settlements are on the alluvial banks of the rivers; the finest land is there, of course; and other settlements are forming in preference where the great roads pass through the forest."

"Are there in the Province of New Brunswick other principal lines of commu-

nication of a similar kind in contemplation, where settlements similar to those you have described could be established ?"—" A number of roads have been contem- plated, and have been laid down on paper for years, the making of which cannot proceed from the want of means." "Are they lines of road which would afford means of executing the same plans as were earned into effect upon the line between St. Andrew's and Fredericton ?"— " They would have the same effect. I will mention one peculiar case. Frede- ricton is the seat of government on the river St. John. Dalhousie is a seaport at the month of the river Restigonche, at the head of the Bay of Chaleur. By the present road to Dalhousie, that by which the mail travels, the distance is 225

i miles, whilst it is only 100 miles in a straight line from Fredericton to Dalhousie across the country. We have not the means of making that road and opening up that line of country." "Has it been from the want of means of procuring labour, or from the want of fends "—" From the want of funds."

"Is it an easy country for a road? "—" Few White men have explored it; but there is believed to be much good land in. it, and that no unusual difficulty would prevent the making of a road." •

" Do you think that the execution of this short line [from St. Andrew's to Woodstock, and afterwards to Quebec] would not only have the consequences you have described from it, in augmenting the facility of communication, but that it would, as an almost immediate consequence, add considerable value to all the wild lands within the vicinity of the line? "—" I have stated that the minimum Govern- ment price of waste land through which this line of railway would pass is 2s. sterling per acre. On a fair moderate estimate 'I should conceive that the value of the land fit for settlement, immediately the railway was opened, would be 1/. an acre."

" Then Government would be more than repaid the value of the land which they give to the railway company, six or seven times over? "—" Yes, by the en- hanced value of the residue.

" Would not the construction of the'main line. immediately lead to the con- struction of cross railways? "—" It would do so; a great number of short feeders would be brought into it."

" Would not the construction of the main line and of those short feeders also lead to the establishment of agriculturists, and to the establishment of saw-mills, and various other establishments connected with converting a forest into a civilized country ?"—" The impression in New Brunswick is, that for every. emigrant la- bourer who may be employed upon the railway itself, four other emigrant labour- ers would find employment throughout the province in other works which would spring up in consequence of the construction of the railway; such as the establish- ment of new settlements, the founding of towns, the establishment of foundries, for es, and furnaces, the erection of mills, the making of roads, construction of bri es, and in an infinity of other ways."

" that expectation founded upon any experience in the United States?"— "It is from experience derived from the opening of railways in the United States, and the influence they exercise, and from what we have seen as consequent on a small scale upon the opening of lines of great road in New Brunswick." * * * " You calculate that the shorter line of railway, the Woodstock line, might provide for a thousand additional emigrants, representing a population of about 5,000 in the whole. Supposing the great scheme of the line from Quebec to Halifax to be undertaken,have you made any computation as to the additional number of emigrants which that work might absorb? "—" I think I have already stated, that that line, if commenced in sections in the three colonies at the same time, would absorb forty or fifty thousand emigrants; that is, forty or fifty thou- sand souls ; and as the work of clearing the country advanced, and other inci- dental works progressed, greater numbers could be thrown in. Emigration begets emigration."

" Do you mean forty or fifty thousand at once ? "—" In one year in the three colonies.

" Do you mean the same number in the second year? "—" Nearly double;.I should say about 80,000 in the second year." " And more in each succeeding year?"—" Yes; but not in so large a propor- tion, but still in an augmenting ratio."

Ma. JAMES BOYLE UNIACKE.

(Reps esentative of Cape Breton since 1830 rai the Legislature of Nova Scotia; son of the Attorney-General of that Province.) "Having stated that there are works of a productive nature capable of being undertaken in the colony, has your attention, or has the attention of the colony generally, been called to works of that description? "—" The attention of the colony latterly has been directed to opening a communication between the St. Lawrence and the Atlantic by railway. It is considered by those most conver- sant with the subject that it would be an important undertaking. It certainly would have a great effect in opening a country into which emigrants could pene- trate, because it passes through a very large portion of good wilderness land quite at the disposal of the Crown.

"That is the line of communication between Quebec and Halifax? "—" There are not any very large blocks of land in the Province of Nova Scotia, through which that railway would pass, under the control of the Crown at present; but they would all be available for settlement as soon as the railway was opened: "Are those blocks of land of which you speak in the hands of private indivi- duals? "—" Yes; but those individuals are not cultivating and improving them; and consequently, as soon as the country becomes accessible, the and would be thrown into the market for the purposes of settlement." "From your observation of the effects of opening other roads in the country, are you able to state whether the execution of such works not only acts in pro- viding employment in the first instance, but in facilitating and providing means of settlement in the second? "—" It does invariably." "Yon consider that the same result would attend the formation of this rail- way? "—" Yes, but to a much greater extent; because it would collect large masses of population together, and would bring the productions of the interior over the railway to a shipping port on the Atlantic, accessible at all seasons of the year."

"Then you consider that the effect of the railway would be even more beneficial than opening the country by an ordinary road? "— Infinitely; because it would bring a stream of wealth through it which an ordinary road does not. A railway touching the St. Lawrence would produce a traffic upon it when the St. Lawrence was closed; which of course must be beneficial to all settled along the line." * * • " Supposing the plan in agitation, for a railway from Halifax to Quebec, should be carried into effect, have you considered the amount of labour which it would be likely to absorb in one year? "—" I think it would open for settlement between four and five million acres of land. It would open a line of railway between 450 and 500 miles long. Now, supposing every alternate lot upon the route settled, and the others retained, it would have the effect of rendering the locating of those who go out more economical, because the land could be sold or leased at a more reasonable rate; and if a savings-hank system was adopted, so as to make the labourer deposit a portion of his weekly earnings to pay for his lot of ground, he might be allowed to occupy it immediately, and thus by his industry pay for it in the course of a summer, and make room for those who might come after him." • "In the event of this railway being exploit-ad, do you think that it would give a large development to the mineral productions of Cape Breton, and affords better market for your coals? "—" Of course it would open a market for them. Thera has been no coal found to the Northward of the St. Lawrence, that I am aware of; and that country would have to depend in a great degree upon the coal-fields of the lower provinces. In addition to which, this railway would pass through rich mineral. districts in Nova Scotia, and, a believe, also in New Brunswick. The ,portion of New Brunswick through which it would pass is a perfect wilder`

nee.