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Tous les autres exemplaires origineux sont fiim^s en commengant par la premiere page qui comporte une empreinte d'impression ou d'illustration et en terminant par la dernlAre page qui comporte une telle empreinte. Un des symboies sulvants apparattra sur la dernlAre image de cheque microfiche, seion le CBs: le symbole — ► signifie "A SUIVRE ", ie symboie V signifie "FIN". Les cartes, planches, tableaux, etr , peuvent dtre filmto d des taux de reduction diff6rents. Lorsque ie document est trop grand pour dtre reproduit en un seul cliche, il est film* d partir de I'angle supArieur gauche, de gauche d droite, et de haut en bas, en prenant le nombre d'images nAcessaire. Les diagrammes suivants iilustrent la m^thode. 1 2 3 1 2 3 4 5 6 TO THE RIGHT HONORABLE W. E. GLADSTO^iE, HER MAJESTYS MINISTER OF STATE FOR THE COLONIES. THE PETITION OF THE QUEBEC BOARD OF TRADE. Rkspectfullv Sheweth, That your Petitioners observe with deep anxiety the conteniplateil adoption by Her Majesiy's Governnient of a system of Commercial policy at variance with those maxims of protection and old estjihlished prin('i|)les which have hitherto been acted upon in regulating the trade ol' Great Britain and her possessions abroad. That the introduction into the Imperial Parliament of measures, the operation of which niil iinmediutely deprivo the Province of Canada of a great portion, and at no distant period of all the protection her produce now enjoys in the Markets of the United Kingdom, should be received by your Petitioners with anxiety and alarm, cannot be a matter of surprise. Convinced as Your Petitioners are of the desire of Her Majesty's Government to encourage the Commerce of the Colonial possessions in North America and promote the welfare of Her Majesty's Subjects therein, and convinced also that any Legislative measures prejudicial to the North American Colonies must be prejudicial to the shipping and other great interests of Great Britain, they beg respectfully to bring under your consideration cerluin suggestions which it appears to them would, if carried out, be bene- ficial to the Colonies and the parent state, whose interests are inseparable. That in the Session of last year the Congress of the United States of America enacted a law, (called the Drawback Law) allowing a remission of the duties on British and other Foreign Manufactures and produce imported into the United States, on the same being exported inland into Canada, and a Bill is now in contemplation to allow the transportation of Canadian produce through the Territory of the United Stales to an At- lantic Shipping Port, for exportation to Great Britain and other foreign countries, free. That the (piestion no doubt will suggest itself to you, whether the natural cfl'ect of this seductive law will not gradually, silently, and imperceptibly to themselves, wean the inclinations of the subjects of (Jreat Britain from their true allegiance to the Parent Strte, and bias their minds in fa>or of a closer connection with a Foreign ('ountry through which the transport of their Merchandize and produce is encouraged, and a consequent more frequent intercourse with its Inhabitants produced. That the operation of this Law has been greatly to increase the inland impor- tation into Canada of various articles the produce of Foreign Countries, such as Teas, Wine, Fruit, Sugar, Coffee, Molasses, and others, so much so as to cause a sensible di- minution of the import of these articles by the St. Lawrence, and Your Petitioners in corroboration of this statement solicit your attention to the fact, that in the article of Sugar alone, the importation into Canada from the Port of Oswego in the United States, amounted in 184.5 to 1600 Hhds., and previous to the enactment of the Drawback Bill the Exportation from that port did not amount to 50 Hhds., and further that the Importation of Muscovado Sugar bv the River St. Lawrence in 1844 was 8,177,581 lbs., and in 1845 2,853,240, being a diminution of 5,324,341 lbs. ' That the cause of the increased inland Importation into Canada of these articles through the United States, and the diminution of the Imports by the channel of the River St. Lawrence, is, in the opinion of Your Petitioners, to be attributed to the American Drawback Bill — the existence of the Imperial duties on Imports by the St. Lawrence and the higher tolls on our Canals as compared with the tolls in the United States. si That the effect of the existence of the Imperial (hities on Imports by sea in conjunction with the Drawback Bill, is to erect a harrier to the passage through our Ca- nals of the produce of TorciiiiM ('ountries and British Manufactures, and lo n«'utraiize the benefit to he derived by Mcr Majesty's Siilijccls in Canada in conslructini; those maj^nifi- cent works at an enormous expense, and in fact, to enact a jienalty on their hein>? used; a state of things that never could have been contemplated when these works were com- menced. Your Petitioners therefore respectfully su!?t!;cst that the Imperial duties under the Act H & 9, Vict., Cap. 9.S, on all Hour and provisions imported into this Province by Inland Navir St. Lawrence t(; a Slu|)piii^- Port should acfpiire a Colonial cha- racter and be admitted into the Ihiitcd Kiiij>(iom on the same terms as the Produce of the Province, and that the Imperial duties on all Importations by Sea only, be also re- pealed. Your Petitioners presume to suppose that these nu-asuri's would not directly or indirectly be prejudicial to British interest, while they woidd secure to this Province a larc;e inland Carrying Trade, en\pl()y British Capital, create an extra demand for labor, increase the consumption of British ^'; unilactiires, auj;nient the revenue of our splendid Canals, and above all, i>ive further employment to British Shippini;, especially in the conveyance of Flour and Provisions imported iidaiid tor Exportation to British Ports, which is made manifest by consideration of the fact that u|)war(l of one third of their cost consist in incidental cliarfjes of inland transportation and Atlantic Freight. And Your Petitioners further presume to su|)pose that an evtensive inland trade once established through the Channel of the St. Lawrence would continue to How in that direction after the cause that diverted it from other outlets to the Ocean had ceased to exist. Your Petitioners |)erceivc that the article of Timber is one of those which it is intended by Her Majesty's Ministers to |)r()tect to a certain extent, by reducintif the pre- sent dilferential duty from •2.5s. to l.'js. |)er load, but they bei;- to observe that the present is an apparent not a real protection, inasnuich as the averaue rate of fieii;ht between tim- ber imported irom the Baltic and North America, is fully 20s. per loatl in favor of the Baltic, from the greater distance from America to (ireat Britain, reducing- thereby the real protection to about 5s. per load, and if the apparent protection is reduced to 1.5s. per load, ascontem|)lated, it will in ellect be ecpiivalent to a pn'riiium in favor of Baltic Tim- ber of .5s. per load, and it is important also to observe that that very distance which thus places Colonial Timber in so disadvantageous a position, makes the North American Co- lonial Trade the great nursery for British Seamen, and promotes the Shijiping interest of the United Kingdom. Your Petitioners therefore respectfully suggest that the proposed reduction of duty on Baltic Timber of .5s. per load, .5th April, 1847, .5s. 5th April, 1848, be re- duced to '2s. 6d. per load, at those respective dates, and that the contemplated reduction in the duty on Sawn Timber be reduced proportionably. And as in duty bound, Your Petitioners will ever pray. Quebec, 20th March, 1846. >?■