Ai •iu ^V„'-^^. v>%* IMAGE EVALUATION TEST TARGET (MT-3) Uo A Z ^ 1.0 I.I i;^ 12.8 2.5 2.0 1.8 L25 iU 11.6 ^^ <^ /a 7 %^^ ^> />. ^ /^ # O / CIHM/ICMH Microfiche Series. CIHM/ICMH Collection de microfiches. I- Canadian lnstitut<4 for Historical Microreproductions institut Canadian de microreproductions historiques 1980 Technical Notes / Notes techniques The Institute has attempted to obtain the best original copy available for filming. Physical features of this copy which may alter any of the images in the reproduction are checked below. D D Coloured covers/ Couvertures de couleur Coloured maps/ Cartes g6ographiques en couleur L'Institut a microfilm^ le meilleur exemplaire qu'il lui a 6x6 possible de se procurer. Certains d£fauts susceptibles de nuire 6 la qualitd de la reproduction sont not^s ci-dessous. D D Coloured pages/ Pages de couleur Coloured plates/ Planches en couleur The ii possi of th« filmir The I conti orth appli The( filme instil D D Pages discoloured, stained or foxed/ Pages d^color^es, tachetdes ou piqu6es Tight binding (may cause shadows or distortion along interior margin)/ Reliure serr6 (peut causer de I'ombre ou de la distortion le long de la marge int^rieure) 0Show through/ Transparence D Pages damaged/ Pages endommagdes Map in or uppt bott( folio D Additional comments/ Commentaire.s suppl6mentaires Bibliographic Notes / Notes bibliographiques D Only edition available/ Seule Edition disponible D Pagination incorrect/ Erreurs de pagination D Bound with other material/ Reli6 avec d'autres documents Cover title missing/ Le titre de couverture manque D D Pages missing/ Des pages manquent Maps missing/ Des cartes ydographiques manquent D Plates missing/ Des planches manquent Additional comments/ Commentaires suppl6mentalres The images appearing here are the best quality possible considering the condition and legibility of the original copy and in keeping with the filming contract specifications. Les images suivantes ont 6t6 reproduites avec Ir, plus grand soin, compte tenu de la condition et de la nettet6 do I'exemplaire film6, et en conformit6 avec les conditions du contrat de filmage. The last recorded frame on each microfiche shall contain the symbol —►(meaning CONTINUED"), or the symbol V (meaning "END"), whichever applies. The original copy was borrowed from, and filmed with, the kind consent of the following institution: Library of Parliament Map- or plates too large to be entirely included in one exposure are filmed beginning In the upper left hand corner, left to right and top to bottom, as many frames as required. The following diagrams illustrate the method: Un des symboles suivants apparaTtra sur la der- nidre image de cheque microfiche, selon le cas: le symbole — ► signifie "A SUIVRE", Se symbole V signifie "FIN". L'exemplaire film6 fut reproduit grdce d la g6n6rosit6 de I'dtablissement prdteur suivant : Bibliothdque du Parlement Les cartes ou les planches trop grandes pour Stre reproduites en un seul clich6 sont filmdes d partir de I'angle sup^rieure gauche, de gaurhe d droite et de haut en bas. en prenant le nombre d'images ndcessaire. Le diagramme suivant illustre la mdthode : 1 2 3 1 2 3 4 5 6 r \>^ LETTERS fV ^ TO THE HON. JOHN CARLme, MINISTER OF AGRICULTURE. RINTED AT THE BRITISH WHIG riPFICE 1868. -i:>:v#;r;:A'f.A' • '•^>'^''^' , * ^^mtf >■ ..*' 1.ETTER No. 1. Fernhill, Ontario, Jan l:], 186H. ^ The Hon. J aim CaHiny, Sir:- "'■'■''^' 1 believe that in addressing you as the Minister of Agriculture, I also address the Min- ister of Emigration for the Province of Ontario. If not, will you kindly transmit this letter to the proper quarter. In any case do me the kindness to read it, as it concerns a subject that has long interested me, and I intend calling upon you in a few days to learn the measure of your approval. I believe the present system, or scheme, of Emigra- tion in Canada to be, if not wholly wrong, sadly defi- cient in many respects, in two the most important -in short, the means of obtaining the desired result. Firstly, the bringing into the country of a good class of Emigrants. Secondly, keeping them here. It is not my intention to question the policy of the Government in its present disposal of the Crown Lands ; rather, I believe them, in the present existing state ol affairs, judiciously held ; for I am of the opin- ion that the most liberal grants and inducements whiclj i^ould be held out would only be defeated by the man • figement- if as heretofore?, of wffi^^'at the seaboard. kc^ cf In what 1 shall have to say on this subject 1 wish you to understand that I am not merely theorizing, but speaking from purely practical experience, and that, at the same time, I do not wish to impugn the char- acter or qualifications of any Government Officer in the Department of Emigration. I have been for the past two years a Surgeon on board one or another of the Mail Steamships of the M. O. S. S. Co., and have during that time had to do, in my professional capacity and otherwise, with up- wards of (at a rough estimate) ten thousand Emi- grants to this country and the United States. I am a Canadian myself, and the subject has always interested me. I have seen how emigration affairs are managed here and in England. I have heard the ^•)inions of other men, capable from experience of judging the matter truthfully. I have been brought into close intimacy with the Emigrants themselves, have known their wants, their schemes, their hopes, and, I am sorry to say, too often their bitter disap- pointments, and the inevitable results which follow. All this has gone to form the opinion I have express- ed in the commencement of this letter. It is my opinion that what this great Confederation now requires — all that it requires — is a great popula- tion, to be procured by promoting a wholesome emi- gration. This it is plainly the wish of the Government to bring about by holding large tracts of land at low prices, and employing Emigration Ofhcers here and in England — but has it ever succeeded 'i It has not ! The emigration to this country has always been slow and unsatisfactory, discouraging even, when compar- ed with the great and constantly increasing influx into the United States. It has been attempted to explain this away by saying *'the United States Government can give their Emigrants Prairie Lands^ on which they ^^ ^.*V i J ^-^^~ .iXT^ can at once coinmence with the plough, ami Iroiii which they can in a short time secure a return for their labor and capital invested. But, to my mind, this explanation goes for nothing, and would go for nothing with the public were it put in a position to compare "Quebec" with "Castle Garden," the poHcy pursued at Ottawa with that at Washington, and the zeai of their respective officials on this side of the Atlantic and in England. I give you my experience. Two-thirds of the Emi- grants who embark at Liverpool, and disembark at Quebec, during the seven months of summer naviga- tion up the St, Lawrence, go to the States. Of these two-thirds, one-half, or a third of the whole number, leave England with the intention of making the United States their destination, influenced thereto by having friends already in the country, and the inviting pros- pects held out to them by American Emigi'ation Offi- cers throughout the Kingdom. One-third remain in Canada, the remaining third, or half of those who ultimately go to the States, are lost to us by our inef- iicient systenx ; and in losing these men we lose the best of them all — the very men we want most. They are, for the greater part, farmers, mechanics, trades- men and skilled laborers, mostly men of small capital, who, finding their small means inadequate to support their large and growing families at home, come out to this country — anywhere out of England, but preferring Canada because a British Colony — to invest to the best advantage their small fortunes in lands for their chil- dren. 1 have found them respectable, sober, cleanly, and in many instances intelligent and well educated, ready and willing to undergo hardship, to work and wait, and hope for the best, but not prepared to over- come what they should have the least reason to expect, but which, unfortunately, they too often receive — dis- couragement from the moment of their arrival in the country, not actual and spoken, but, what seems to <> me iii()i<\i4alliiig Jiiid dcpiessiiij; to proplo in their t-oii tlitioii iiulifl'ei'cnco, cold indittbionco, jiiul cold ollicial civility. Put y<^Hi'sclf, my dear sir, in the position of tlicsc people for a inoment, after a lon^' and teV4 i %z^,0f-. :i ^..^x? tlieir work, they are left chiefly to their own rc.'?onrc(?S and to folhnv their own inclinations in transacting the business of their several departments, and results show their labors heretofore to have been unbeneficial. Their want of success cannot, I think, be ascribed to idleness, l)ut for want of a system, and a proper sys- tem, their energies have been misdirected, and their labors misspent. Th . '^his is so is unfortunate, for it is certain that woi light be provided for the.se offices, of such a natu^o as would give those gentlemen in charge a much better field for displaying their al>:li- ties in to some service than they have ever yet pos- sessed, or the Government has ever encouraged tlicm to find out of themselves, and such as would secure a more satisfactory result. On this side of the Atlantic misdirection cannot be said to prevail, but total neglect. Here in Liverpool, scarcely second in importance to Quebec in relation to the interests of Canadian Emigration, there is not a single Agent, or person from whom information may be obtained by the intending Emigrant. There are Emigration Officials for the Australian Govemmfnt, for New Zealand, for British Columbia, and for almost every new State in the Union, but for Canada, none ! Of all the Westward Countries, and British Cc^lonics, Canada alone remains unrepresented ! I doubt if this be generally known, or, at least, whether those people who are in the habit of ascribing our meagre Emigra- tion to so many other plausible and natural causes, know of it, or the important influence it exercises in frustrating our various endeavors to promote Emigra- tion. It is scarcely necessary for me to say that a resi- dent Emigration Officer here would be of incalculalie service. Two or three years ago the authority which ruled this Department deemed it proper to appoint one to act for the then Provinces of Upper and Lower Canada Last year he was removed, or the nature of the duties connected with his office so altered, as to 10 render it as it still remains — comparatively useless*. I am at a loss to understand why this, the only really sensible and good measure which has for many years been adopted in this department, should so soon have been abandoned. I cannot even surmise. If the pres- ent authority in these matters for the whole of the Provinces is in doubt about its having been a success, and on that account has not urged its reestablishment since Confederation, I beg, through you, to bear testi- mony in its favor. I trust, also, that my communica- tions may be received as possessing the special recom- mendation of having been acquired through actual experience. I will state plainly what came under my own observation. During the summer 1866 and win- ter of 1866 and 1867, and following spring, a greater number of good Emigrants left this country (England, Ireland and Scotland) than during any previous or sub- sequent ysar, so far as my experience goes — more than thiSj they remained in Canada when they arrived there ; and to my certain knowledge, from letters I have re- ceived from many of them since, the most of them are doing well at the present time, and likely to do better as they become a longer time resident in the country, and get over the first few years of hardship. What vvas the cause of this 1 There was not a larger gen- eral Emigration to the Provinces that year, nor a spe- cial demand for a particular kind of labor, nor were there any unusual inducements held out to a particular class. The Emigrants were, that year, as usual, of a mixed kind, as regarded occujiation, age, nationality, &c., &c. They differed, however, in this essential character from the great uiajority of people who emi- grate to Canada. They leiX this country with their ideas somewhat more correctly formed about the country. |f ey were going to, and had been prepared, in a manner, to know what to expect — what obstacles they were likely to find in their way, and how best, to overcome them —what were the peculiarities of cHmate , ^y i i ijf-^^ 11 useless, y really y years )n have le pres- of the success, sliment ir testi- nunica- recom- actual der my id win- greater iigland, or sub- re than there ; ave re- em are better 3untry, What er gen- a spe- I' were ticular 1, of a )nality, sential emi- 1 their it the pared, stacles oest to imate. ;Soil, &c., to be met with, and the necessary provisiotia to be made for each. They were, chiefly, steady and respectable men, of a class that would seem most likely to prosper in a new country, and, at the same time, materially help a country to prosperity by their labor and industry, In short, they were picked men. A single Emigration Officer had been at work, and a good result was apparent at once. Mr. Dixon has himself told me that he was daily in receipt of between fifty and one hundred letters, from all parts of the Kingdom, from persons wishing to emigrate, asking for informa- tion concerning Canada — tne price of land — the prices paid for labor — when to emigrate — how to proceed, first, on this side, and, again, on their arrival out ; Letters from, parties possessing small — and some, even, mod- erately large sums of money, and with a view to ulti- mate Emigration thither — asking for advice how best to employ it out there in the meantime ! Where are these people to get their information now ? I am not aware how much Mr. Dixon is now paid for allowing his name to appear in a paper published in Quebec, occasionally, called " The Canad-an Emigration Ga- zette," as Canadian Emigration Officer, Wolverhamp- ton, but I do know, not sufficient to enable him to de- vote his whole attention to the matter, and, in conse- quence, he is obliged simply to refer all inquiries to the Steamship Offices in Liverpool. It is desirable that our Emigrants should leave here on ships bound for the St. Lawrence, or Lower Pro- vince Ports— on Steamships bound for these places, if possible — as being cheaper and quicker, and better in various ways. But what is the case ? From want of attention here, and from want of advice before setting out to come here, hundreds of Emigrants leave Liver- pool for Canada, via New York. Letting alone, then, the great services a resident Agent in Liverpool might render as a correspondent and adviser to intending Emigrants, some person ia 12 actually required to look after, take care of, and advise those who have already commenced their journey, and come here to embark. Many of them unsophisticated people, they fall, immediately upon their arrival here, into the hands of their greatest enemies, the Agents of Passenger Brokers, w^o oftentimes, after swindling their victims of as much money as their credulity will allow, send them out to Canada via New York, New Orleans or Valparaiso. This is done frequently, and when you take into consideration that there are some six or seven steamers leaving weekly for New York, and only one for Quebec, and the plausible induce- ments offered to Emigrants on their arrival in the United States, you may readily conceive that great numbers are led off by this means, and how poor the chances are of many ever reaching Canada by that route. Once more let me review, in as few words as possible, the defects of our Emigration System, and the co- existing abuses that have for so long been growing into it uncheck- ed and overlooked. First, on this side of the Atlantic the people who are most likely to emigrate know nothing about us, our climate, our geography, our laws and government, or our religion. It is astonishing what erroneous opinions are entertained, and what ignorance prevails among all classes in this country concerning us. Most people know it to be a part of America, but whether a State of the Union, or merely a British Military Station, or a flourrishing Dominion, not one in twenty of the whole population of Great Britain and Ireland can tell you. No effort is made to enlighten these people, or circulate reliable informa- tion among them, that would have a hkely tendency to correct their erronous impressions, or beget a desire to emigrate. No paper containing information of any service whatever to the intending Emigrant, (with the exception of the Canada Emigration Gazette, and it only at long intervals, and on application,) is allowed f^ AJ 1 1 cf<^ •■. •^- 13 to fiiid its way among the people. Notwithstanding all this, numbers do annually leave for the Provinces, after possessing themselves* with difficulty, of some information absolutely necessary, such as regarding passage money, articles required on the voyage, &c. Set out upon their journey, they avrive here, or at Lon- don, or at some of the great embarking ports, where, friendless and unadvised, they are forced to run the gauntlet of all kinds of cheatery and imposition. Em- barked at last, they arrive at Quebec in due time, only to find themselves still worse advised and more friend- less than at home, and in a strange country. By dint of persistent enquiry, and after submitting to frequent humiliations and disappointments, they fix, probably, upon some part of Western Canada for their destina- tion. Sometimes they are allowed to proceed upon their journey with the special train which-leaves Que- bec on the arrival of the mail steamers, but quite as often they are obliged to M^ait twelve, sixteen and twen- ty-four hours, or until such time as the railway author- ities see fit to send them. The remembrance of an instance of this kind occurs to me as I am WTiting, which will serve to illustrate to you the careless and almost studied indifference with which our Emigrants are treated after their arrival in the country. A year ago last June, I arrived at Quebec in the S.S. " Mora- vian" with upwards of 600 Emigrants, bound for differ- ent parts of Canada and the United States. This was on Sunday. On the following Wednesday, as I was pro- ceeding to Toronto via the Grand Trunk Railway, our train overtook another at Cornwall, where we stopped, for a few minutes. The other train I found to contain the Emigrants who had arrived at Quebec three days before, having in that time only accomplished about 250 miles, to many not a third of their journey ; and amongst these passengers were women going out to join their husbands, many of them possessing little or no means, in a weaklv and reduced state of health from 14 the long voyage, and having the care of large lamiliea of young children. Arrived at last at their destination, other hindrances are allowed to Occur, as if purposely to delay and frustrate as much as possible the Em- grants' plans and intentions. For those who are oblig- ed to remain for some length of time in Quebec to hear from friends or receive remittances, no decent provi- sion is made. A large shed, dirty and without floor, or forms to sleep on, is the only accommodation, whilst neither the appearance or character of the cheap pub- lic houses in the ancient Capital is inviting or safe. So at every stage in the Emigrant's journey, from the time he leaves his home in this country till he arrives at his destination, fresh obstacles are being continual- ly placed in his way, unheeded and unopposed by those whose duty it is to remove them and open up a ready and easy road. Look at this matter from whatever point you may, you will find, if you give yourself the trouble to in- quire and look into it, that there is a wide, wide field for improvement ; in fact, that a practice has yet to be adopted where a theory only now exists, and that its serious consideration demands your special attention, I am sure you will admit. But, a word or two more. You may adopt meas- ures in Canada to rectify evils there. You may com- mence a more liberal policy with the Crown Lands — you may give free passages and help to needy settlers — you may make better provision for the comfort and general convenience of Emigrants when they first land on our shores — you may publish, and advertise, and circulate information by every possible means, AH or any of these, were they applied by a strong directing hand, would prove of immense benefit, but if engraft- on the old system, and unaccompanied by any influen tial measures on this side, would be unsuccessful in a great degree. For until these advantages be clearly shown to the classes in this country for whose benefit ZM KfU Uffifll families stination, )urposely the Em- ire oblig- c to hear tit provi- >ut floor, in, whilst eap pub- safe, from the 3 arrives )ntinual- by those a ready ou may, e to in- ide field ^et to be that its itention, 3t meas- ay corn- Lands — Jttlers — brt and rst land se, and All or irecting engraft- influen- iful in a clearly benefit they are prepared, and whom it is inteiided to influ- ence thereby — until the knowledge of the existence of such plans becomes more r^eneral among them, and obtainable nearer home, and from a reliable source, all the endeavors you may make on that side, unsupport- ed by personal representation on this, will end a3 all the feeble efforts hitherto made have ended, viz. : — in obliging the half-informed Emigrants to go to the Agents of the United States Government for further intelligence and instruction. The Emigration Officers at Quebec are now sending copies of the last Canada Emigration Gazette, (which is as nearly as possible a repetition of all the previous issues.) with a map of the Eastern Townships, and en- closing a Circular from the Synod of the Diocese of Quebec to the Clergy of the Established Church in England and Ireland, asking them to use their influ- ence in promoting Emigration from their several Par- ishes. This is a step in the right direction, but why not send a map of the whole of the Provinces 1 Why not give to the other Provinces — capable of pro- viding for it — as fair a chance of increasing their pop- ulation by these means as Quebec ? I do not wish, however, to urge any objections to this movement, as I am fully convinced it is certain to do good, and if a thorough reform is only to be accom- plished by a little at a time, the oftener such measures are introduced, and such expedients adopted and pur- sued, if found suc^ ossful, the sooner we may expect to derive some benefit from the administration of that hitherto imbecile institution — the Emigration Depart- ment. I have the honor to be, Hon. Sir, * Your most obed't. serv't., JAMES LYNCH, M. D