19 CORRESPONDENCE RESPECTING EMIGRATION. Office of His Majesty's Chief Agent for Emigration to Sir, Upper and Lower Canada, Quebec, 29 July 1835. YOUR letter of the 21st inst., with a printed paper enclosed, I had the honour to receive two days ago, conveying to me information that employment for a considerable number of labourers may be obtained in the eastern township on the public roads, and at the building a bridge over the St. Francis Riv'er, opposite Sherbrooke, that will soon be commenced, and requesting me to direct the attention of emigrants to this additional demand for their services. I beg to assure you that it will be a source of sincere gratification to me to try and make the services of this office as instrumental as possible in facilitating the prosperity of the eastern townships of Lower Canada. You may rely on it, no partiality in favour of any particular province or section of the country has ever been or shall be recognised by me, or suffered, in the remotest degree, to influence my public duty. With reference to the employment to which your letter refers, I consider the rate of wages, as stated, of 2s. Qd. per day, unobjectionable, if paid in cash, and that suitable food and lodging accommodations for the strange emigrant family is provided, and that a warranty of certain employment for a stated period is given. It does not appear by your letter that the Company make themselves responsible as to the preceding points; and from what I can understand from your communication, as also from your agent, Mr. Yarwood, with whom I had a long conversation last evening, that all these matters rest with the contractors or their overseers. Mr. Yarwood is decidedly of opinion, in which I certainly concur, that to ensure a supply of industrious emigrants, labouring families, who may ultimately settle in the townships, it would be a matter highly advantageous to all parties if you would authorize your agents to guarantee the fulfilment of such obligations as may be requisite to screen the poor strange emigrant from uncertainty, and after perhaps a few weeks'or days'employment, and the winter drawing near, & c., be obliged to give his services for very low wages, or forced to cross the lines to a foreign country to obtain that employment and support for his family that he was unable to find in the part of this province where he antici- pated the prospect of settlement. Every encouragement should be given to industrious labour- ing emigrants with large healthy families, as they would be found more likely to remain and settle in the townships ; besides, by your securing an industrious class of labourers, it would afford considerable inducement and encouragement to respectable emigrants with capital to settle there also. In Upper Canada the greatest inconvenience ( bordering on despair and disgust) was ex- perienced for the past year or two by wealthy settlers, from their not being able to obtain a steady supply of labourers, but which is now to a certain extent removed, by adopting arrangements nearly similar to that which I now submit to your consideration; besides, I find an inquiry very generally made by respectable emigrants intending to visit the town- ships with a view of settling, what reliance they can depend on for a steady supply of labourers. 1 propose that the company cause a number ( say 100) cottage log huts to be erected, with an acre or two of land attached to each; these cottages to be as domiciles for the families of industrious well- recommended emigrant labourers ; a small rent to be affixed to the " tack." The first occupant to have the privilege of remaining two years, with the right of purchasing, at a fixed price ( say 51, per cottage and two acres); if not purchased by first occupant on or before the expiration of two years, to be given to other new emigrant in like manner. These huts to be erected in well- selected situations and convenient to old settlements, from whence a supply of food could be readily obtained for the spare labour of the younger branches of the family. This plan, if adopted, would I think insure a constant supply of industrious labourers, who would feel naturally disposed to settle for life where they were obtaining so many advantages. There is no part of the Canadas, in my opinion, where a sober industrious body of emi- grants from the United Kingdom, accustomed to agricultural labour, is more required than in the eastern townships of Lower Canada. The general habits of the bulk of the present inhabitants of these townships are not strictly agricultural, or calculated for laborious field drudgery; they are bent on pursuits that are less or more identified with traffic, such as the making of potash, horse breeding, dealing in cattle, manufactures, & c. There are many reports circulated here that emigrant labourers who lately went up to the townships seeking for employment did not obtain it, also that a number of Canadian labourers who had gone up from La Baie, & c. were also disappointed in getting work on the roads; in fact, it is stated that the contractors will not employ any new- arrived emigrant. Mr. Yarwood would doubtless have informed you that such reports are current, and sooner the true state of the case is ascertained the better. 1 found it lately necessary to have inquiry made into the mode of employment and treatment experienced by the emigrant labourers at the St. Lawrence improvements. In consequence I sent Mr. Robinson from this office up to the Long Sault for the purpose, and it affords me great pleasure in having it in my power to say that his report was in every way satisfactory and creditable to the con- tractors. About 3,300 men were at work, and 1,200 still wanted ; many labourers would be engaged through the winter, and the greater part to the 1st January in each year. It is my intention to visit Sherbrooke about the 8th proximo, and should be exceedingly glad to have the honour of meeting you there, being confident that any opinion I might venture to offer would not be unworthy your consideration. 76. c4 I shall No. 1. LOWER CANADA. Report on Emigration. 12 Dec. 1835.