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Meps, plates, charts, etc., may be filmed at diffarint reduction ratioa. Those too large to be entirely included In one exposure ara filmed beginning in the upper left hand corner, left to right and top to bottom, as many frames aa required. The following diagrama illustrate the method: Lea cartes, planches, tableaux, etc.. peuvent Atre filmte i des taux da riduction diff Arants. Lorsque le document est trop grand pour Atre reproduit en un seul clichA ii est filmA i partir da Tangle supArieur gauche, de gauche i droite, et de haut en bas, 9n prenant la nombra d'imagas nAcessaira. Las disgrammes suivants illustrant la mAthode. ita lure. ] IX 1 2 3 1 2 3 4 5 6 m [^i;!iimilt|{|iiiiiiiiiiiiiijiiiiiiii:iiiiititiii)iiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiii!ii ^ ff>«- TTS. ^' s li ^r if SHAREHOLDER. DM lll,>llllllllllllllllll'...'"IIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIK."'= TORONTO. ONTARIO leas t^Wi '■<•■ ♦. *«. >x i« ;♦; 5^ w w '^^ !^ "'^f W' w w w^^^w ..iilitiiiiiiiiiiiliiiiinil*);)>til:Vft1tl'liil!lilitilililililililililililiiilililitilililillTlfliliitlililliTliliiiiiifiilliiiriiii^^^^^ MAIL PRINTING COMPANY, TORONTO • .>; ^-iT ■""''^" ■ / I //^- THE CANADA NORTH WEST LAND COMPANY^ FACTS vs, FICTION. jJr> BY A SHAREHOLDER. :,£!}> TORONTO : Mail I'rinting Co., Printers, 1883. THE CAN NOKTH-WBST LAND COMPANY FACTS vs. FICTION BY A SHAREHOLDER. riieie are few more toucliing .spectacles on earth than that of a " Seeker after Truth " who i.s unable to find it, or being led away from it. In dark ages, the hearts of philosophers alone were capable of realizing the woes of the sufferer ; but in an enlightened time like the present, even those of stolid share- holders may not be unable to feel a dash of sympathy for his sufferings — at least if their own i)ockets should be liable to be emptied by his mistakes. Hence the shareholders of the North-«'est Land Company cannot helj) feeling a considerable amount of commiseration for the Editor of the London Money Market Review, as the earnestness of his search after truth concerning the North-west Territo 7, combined with his small capacity for finding it, his confidence in his false conclusions, and his energy in laying them before the world, may possibly do some injury to their private property, and to our common country. The earnestness of the Revieuh search after truth is so great, that it even feels aggrieved at not being credited by a critic with a " wish to seek out the truth, or to state it when found," and it begs its critic " to know — its readers do not need to be informed — that the Money Market Review seeks only the truth, and does not ' like it to appear that the worse is the better iew\pany should "■ seek to violate the laws of Political Economy" only one fate can befall it — ** its efforts must prove nugatory ;" they will dash themselves. in vain against the impregnable ramparts I Prices must arrange themselves according to the laws of supply and demand. The Review says it wert better that British subjec:ts were turned away than tempted into paying prices which may ruin them. But is it not the orthodox doctrine that : — " Every man is the best judge of his own interests ?" And if this be true how can immigrants be '' tempted" into paying such prices ? And with so much land available, and offered on so many different terms by so many different holders as the Review indicates, does there really seem much chance of a Company owning only five million acres being able to secure a monopoly, or to "force up the price of land" even if so inclined ? Next we reach the first, and indeed the only, real argument in the article. The Revie7V says that "the North-west ( "ompuny ■II. bought its land at i as. per acre ; that the Pacific Railway Company is offering land at a uniform price of los. per acre> with a rebate to the settler of 5s. for each acre brought under cultivation within four years ; and that the Dominion Govern- ment offers a free grant of 160 acres to each immigrant, besides power of pre-emption in respect of 160 acres more.'' Whereupon the Review asks : — " Why should settlers pay 12s. per acre to the Canada North-west Land Company, or even a net 5s. per acre to the Canadian Pacific Railway Company, when they can have land from the Government ' free, gratis for nothing?'" The answers to these questions are that although the Government grants have not to be |)aid for in cash, they have to be paid for in labor, and residence, in sundry qualifications as to age and adaptability : that they are so quickly taken up as to leave nono of ihem available within the railway belt, and that the improvement of about one-half of the lands within the railway belt by these settlers, will impart increased value to the other half held liy the Railway and the North-west Land Company. Inirthermore, that desire to enlarge their homesteads will in time make even thes ; free- grant settlers buyers of adjoining sections. That experience has proved most decisively that immigrants following their kindred already settled in the North-west will pay high prices for lands adjacent to those whereon they are settled, in order to get. beside them and maintain old ties in a new home. But to this the Review may, perhaps, reply that even granting it to be correct a demand for the Company's lands can arise only after all other lands have been taken u[). Neither is this inference fully correct. It may, indeed, apply to lands in the very farthest west, in longitudes not yet reached by the settler even in the States. But in the meantime the C'ompany will have sway in another region. South-Western Manitoba, north of Turtle Mountain and along the Souris River, is acknowledged by all to be one of the most fertile tracts in the North-west ; and one has only to look at a map to see that from the fact of it being adjacent to that portion of Manitoba ahcady settled it is thither that the tide of immigration will first, and immediately, direct its course — indeed a good deal of it has been already settled. Now in consequence of a revisal of the original bargain between the Syndicate and the North-west Company, the latter has rniv.e t-f 8 into possession of about 2,500,000 acres in this fertile* belt, comprising all th : lands granted to the Railway therein. Here then the Company will have no competition with Syndicate, and little with Government, as throughout a large portion of it the free-grants and pre-emption lots have been generally taken up. Thus in the very region where the demand for land will next arise, the Company will be without a rival, and able to avail itself of all the advantages previously indicated. So that by these means it seems likely to find an active demand for its eastern lands arising durin<5 the summer of 1883, and to be able to hold back those further west until settlement of free grants, purchases of pre-emption, and sale of railway lots, shall have imparted increased value to the only property in the market remaining for sale. Besides which again we have the fact that the Company's lands will everywhere suit settlers better than those of the Railway from the tact that the latter exacts, on a large proportion of its lands, settlement duties, while the former does not. The Revie7i>'s small knowledge of the North-west will probably lead it to think that the latter point is a small matter. Hut "facts are stubborn things." And here we have the stubborn fad that the Ontario and Qu'Appelle Land Company which early in 1882 bought a block of 250,000 acres at $1. 12 per acre iinth settlement duties, before the end of the year chose to pay $2.70 per acre on condition of being relieved of settlement duties, and found the change to "pay," inasmuch as the profit from its sales with settlement duties wa^ about $2.37 per acre, while that from .subsequent sales without such duties amounted to about $5.00. The Review^ however, thinks that the lands costing 12s. per acre cannot by any possibility "pay." Here we must remark that its rough calculation of exchange, and omission of the fact that payment is to be made in bonds sold at 10 per cent, discount, lead it into an error of nearly a shilling per acre, or 8 per cent., in the price of the lands, the real cost of which is nearer iis. than 12s. — as indeed is stated in the North-west Company's prospectus. But stu|)idl) ignoring the fact, and conveniently blind to the statement, the Review goes on to say : — " ' Manitoba ' is trying to deceive his readers when he says he knows of settlers who have lately been offered as high as ^'3 and ^4 per acre for land for which they ])aid los. per II >-'*\. v 9 t^ acre to the Railway Company. We are talking of farming land, not of gambling spurts in town lots, the prices for which may be high to-day and low to-morrow. * * * •^d^q instances of a price of ^4 and ^^5 per acre which ' Manitoba,' apparently, has in his mind cannot mean land for agricultural purposes, because the Canada North-west Land Company says it has 5,000,000 acres of the 'best' land for sale at 12s. per acre ; because, too, the Canada Pacific Railway Company offer any amount of what they likewise term the ' best ' land at a net price of 5s. per acre, and, finally, because the Govern- ment offers land gratis. We are talking of agricultural land, not of speculation in town lots in spots where gamblers may think that a town will some day spring up." Passing over the exceeding great politeness of the Revieio in telling "Manitoba' that he is " trying to deceive his readers," or in plain English lying, we would say that the Rdvie7c>'s style of argument is almost certain to deceive both itself and its readers. It refuses to accept certain alleged facts because they conflict with its theories. Should these theories have been shaken by the facts and arguments already presented, it has no ground what- ever for refusing to believe "Manitoba.'" We will not say anything concerning his allegation that ;^,'3 to ^4 have been paid for lands as we know nothing of the instances which he had in view. But we do know something of other people's experience in the matter ; and in view of it we do not hesitate to say that lands bought at us., or $2.73, per acre not only may be, but actuall)- have been, made to return immense profits. M'hat are the /ac-/s ? The Scottish Ontario is one of the companies to which the Review's opprobrious term -'land speculators" may be supposed to apply. The following shows some of the results of its specu- lations in farming lands, and that, too, in lands which cost the Company not less than $2.73, or the price paid by the North- west Company : Acres. Cost per acre. Tulal. Sold for I'rotit. 160 $4.14 $ 662.40 $ 960 $ 297.60 1,280 4.14 5.299.20 10,240 4,940.80 1,280 3.00 3,840.00 5,120 1,280.00 80 4.14 331- ^'^> 800 468.80 80 4.14 33 '--'o 800 468.80 240 3.00 720.00 1,200 480.00 3,120 $1 1,184.00 $i9,r2o $7,936.00 10 Now the above sales were with one exception the worst bar- gains made by the Scottish Ontario, that one exception being a lot of 1,780 acres which was bought at $11.00 per acre, or for $11,080 and re-sold for $14,280 or a profit of $3,200, and as the re-sale was made within a week from the date of pur- chase, even that cannot be called a bad bargain. Biu as it was in all ways such a purely exceptional case we have thought that we might fairly omit it when compiling the total transac- tions m lands bought at prices not under $2.73 per acre- Here we see a Company buying 3,120 acres of land — farminp^ land every inch of it — at an average cost of $3.58 per acre and re-selling it at $6.12 or a profit of $2.54, being a gain of nearly 71 per cent. But had the Scottish Ontario bought the above lands at $2.73 per acre its profits on the sales would have been 1 24 per cent. And taking a somewhat wider view of its ex- periences we find that it bought 17,133 acres of farming lands at a cost of $48,872 or an average price of $2.85 and re-sold them for $113,077 or nearly $6.60 per acre, being a profit at the rate of 131 3-5 per cent. Is the result at all discourag- ing ? Would not English land agents like to realize similar profits, either at home or abroad? If so, the North-west Company may afford them a chance to do so. I'or the Scot- tish Ontario bought many of its farming-lands at a higher price than the North-west Company has paid for both farming-lands and town-lots. And it can scarcel)' be rash to suppose that the latter may be able to make more money out of both species of property than the former made out of only one of them. It will be seen that the above facts and arguments refer to farming lands, and have no reference to town-lots. We have been careful to attend to these from the fact tliat it is in reference to obtaining paying prices for farming lands that the Revietv expresses the strongest incredulity. Having seen how these pay, we shall see by a little further enquiry that even the "gambling spurts in town -lots" also pay fairly well. In Winnipeg alone we find amongst the transactions of the Scottish Ontario, during a single year, surh "spurts'" as one lot bought for $1,500 and sold for $10,200 ; a second bought for $1,400 and sold for $10,100; a third bought for $1,175 and sold for $6,100 ; and two lots bought for $7 50 and sold for $6,000 each. And turning to the total we find tliat in one 11 year this Company sold in Winnipeg alone lots which cost it, at prices ranging from $350 to $6,500 each, a sum total of $75>836 for $133*940 ; ^ntl that in Brandon the expenditure of $ioo,coo on 400 town lots at $250 per lot, had resulted, so far, in sales of some of them at prices which will return 60 to 80 per cent, profit. Next we turn to the experience of the Ontario and Qu'Ap- pelle I -and Company, formed in Toronto early in 1882. This Company in the first instance bought from the Syn';!:cate 250,- 000 acres of land in the (^)u'Appelle district at $1.13 per acre, and .subject to certain settlement duties. Under this arrange- ment it sold in various lots 13,440 acres, subject to settlement duties by buyers, for a sum of $40,370 or almost exactly $3.00 per acre, being a profit of $1.87, or nearly 166 per cent. But it subsecpiently effected a new bargain under which it increased its purchase by 23,000 acres, and took 273,000 acres without settlement duties at $2.70 per acre. And under ihis new ar- rangement it sold, free of settlement duties, 9,760 acres, cost- ing $26,352 for a sum of $78,030, or almo.st exactly $8.00 per acre, showing a profit of $5.30 per acre, or 196 per cent, all these sales having been made to actual settlers and for farming purposes. Here we have distinct i)roof from ex- perience of the correctness of the argument that the non-ex- action of settlement duties on the Company's lancfs would alone suffice to impart to them a higher value than would at- tach to the Syndicate and Crown lands subject to them. I'^or here we have a company preferring to pay $2.70 per acre for ands free of settlement duties rather than $1.13 for the same lands subject to them,' and finding its ])reference justified by the fact that while the lands would yield a profit of only $1.87 per acre with settlement duties they would yield one of $5.30 without them. 1 )o not these facts indi .ate that land com- panies, able to offer farming-lands free of settlement duties, not only may make, but actually have made, very handsome ])rofits out of them? i''inally let us see what has been the experience of the un- fortunate, commiserated and abused, North-west Company itself. Its term of existence has been too short for that ex- perience to be very extensive. Its prospectus was issued July 24th 1.SS2, and all its sales have been made since about 12 November 15th, previous to which date it was not in a position to offer lands for sale. This is the season in which scarcely any settlement is effected, or lands sold, in the Northwest. Yet the result has not been nil by any means. On the con- tary we find, from returns received at the Toronto office, that the sales oi farming-lands have amounted to 22,101 acres for ii sum of $168,41 1, At $2,73 per acre the cost of these lands would be $60,335, leaving ^ profit of $108,076 or 179 per cent. Nor is this all. The total sales of town-lots at Broad- view, Grenfell, Virden, Moosonim, Moose-jaw, Qu'Appelle and Regina have amounted to $883,318. These are carried on conjointly by the Dominion Ciovernment, the Syndicate and the North-west Company, and the share of the Company in them amounts to $223,765, As the area of these town- lots is about 300 acres which at $2.73 per acre would not cost $1,000, all V6 practically profit. Now coupling sales of farm- ing-lands and sales of town-lots we find the total proceeds to have been close upon $400,000 I Is this a bad return in the first two months of the Company's existence and in the very worst business period of the year. ? Are 179 per cent, on farming-lands, and within a fraction of all the money re- ceived for town-lots, bad rates of profit, or likely to return small dividends ? The North-west has made 46 per cent, higher profit out of its farming-lands than that made by the Scottish Ontario, yet the latter has been able to pay a dividend of 15 per cent, and form a reserve. And such arc the expecta- tions formed in Toronto of the Ontario and Qu'Appelle that its stock once reached a premium of 115 i)er cent, and the latest sales of it were made at one of 80 per cent. As the North- west Company's operatiohs have actually opened as well as those of its sister-companies why should its stock not stand as well ? * w Here it may be well to cast a retrospective glatice at some of the Review's arguments. When charged with injuring the North-west as a field of immigration the Revieic replies by a lofty " retort upon the land speculators " to the effect that it is they who are injuring the North-west by forcing up the price of ' The above statistical information was received from the Managing Directors of tlie several Companies referred to, and can be verified at their