BRITISH AMERICA
Nothing peculiarly calling for statement or remark was presented in the aspect of the British American colonies in 1858-9, except Jamaica and British Columbia.
Jamaica.—This island has been well styled the Queen of the Western Indies. Slavery, bad government, the ignorance and bigotry of the colonists, had all militated against its improvement—1858-9 was no exception to these remarks. According to De Cordova’s Mercantile Intelligencer, the Commercial annals of the year “were peculiarly unhealthy.” This was the only British American colony to which such a remark would apply.
British Columbia and Vancouver’s Island.—This new settlement made great progress from the very dawn of its recognition as a colony. The capital, called Victoria, sprang up as if by magic, and became a centre of business activity and colonial enterprise. Situated on the Pacific, the climate is favourable, and the position, politically and commercially, most important. The citizens of the United States laid claim to an island near Vancouver’s Island, which was a source of alarm lest war between the two states should arise from the dispute. This question was not adjusted when this History was brought to a termination.
In 1859, the Canadian News contained the following statements illustrating the value of this colony:—“Her majesty’s ship Plumper arrived at Esquimault on the 1st of November from Nanaimo, having concluded her surveying operations on the northern part of the Strait of Georgia for the present season. During this cruise, several new anchorages have been discovered and surveyed between Nanaimo and Cape Laso (or Point Holmes, as it is sometimes called), a distance of about fifty miles. But, perhaps, the most important discovery is the existence of a considerable river in Vancouver’s Island, navigable for boats or small stern-wheel steamers, on the banks of which are extensive tracts of excellent land, varying from 20 to 100 feet in elevation, and clothed with a rich luxuriant grass. This land is ready for the plough, is entirely clear of the pine-tree, and studded here and there with a better kind of oak than is usually found on the cleared lands of Vancouver’s Island. This river, which has received the name of Courtenay, in honour of Admiral Courtenay, who formerly commanded her majesty’s ship Constance in these waters, empties itself into a good and spacious harbour, Port Augusta, which lies in about 49° 36' north latitude, and is scarcely 50 miles from Nanaimo. Major Downie was on his way down from the Upper Fraser River region by the Lillooet trail and Port Douglas. There were reports of his having made some valuable geographical discoveries on his journey from the coast to Port Alexander, among which were a chain of lakes extending along the route 150 miles, so that steamers drawing 12 inches of water can navigate a distance of 100 miles further than steamers drawing 4 feet, which latter run on Senas River, and a practicable portage of 40 miles will then reach Fort Alexander. These reports are looked upon at Victoria as important, as, if true, the upper mining districts will be much more accessible than heretofore, being brought almost within water communication with Victoria.”
IRELAND.
Of this country, at the close of our History as well as so frequently during its progress, it is a painful duty to relate that its moral and material progress was retarded by barbarous and cruel assassinations perpetrated by member’s of a secret conclave, called the Ribbon Society. This society was exclusively composed of Roman Catholics, and fanatics of that creed. Their brutal murders were partly agrarian, and partly of a bigoted character; but the effect upon the social condition and prosperity of the country was disastrous. Still progress was made, and agricultural and commercial enterprise increased. A government report, on the agricultural statistics of Ireland for 1858, just published, gives the following particulars:—“The land under crops was 5,882,052 acres; under grass, 9,354,117 acres; fallow. 42,551; woods, &c., 313,271; and bog or waste, 4,667,331 acres. In some counties the area under tillage continues to increase; in 13 of them it has diminished. The total increase last year, on 1857, was 22,935 acres. The principal crops grown in Ireland, are oats, potatoes, and hay, which in 1858 occupied 78 acres in every 100 of the entire extent under cultivation. In that year, the proportionate area under oats was 34, potatoes 24, and hay 24 acres in every 100. Wheat covered only nine, turnips six, and flax not quite two acres per cent, of the whole area under crops. The area under crops in 1858 is thus divided:—Wheat, 546,964 acres; oats, 1,981,241; barley, 190,768; rye, 11,470; and beans, 11,038; potatoes, 1,159,707; turnips, 338,202; mangold-wurtzel, 29,547; flax, 91,646; rape, 14,067; and meadow and clover, 1,424,495 acres. The grass lands of Ireland cover nearly one-half of the entire surface of the island. These tracts do not include the land under meadow and clover (or the hay-producing lands), but merely those returned to the enumerators as used for pasture at the time of the collection of the statistics. The turf-bog is a very valuable portion of the land, the turf being used for fuel, and till coal becomes cheap enough to supersede it, the reclamation of bog will be but slow in many parts of the island. There were 599,178 holdings in Ireland in 1858: viz. 38,198 of 1 acre (not exceeding); 83,219 of 1 to 5 acres; 181,267 of 5 to 15 acres; 139,618 of 15 to 30 acres; 71,791 of 30 to 50 acres; 53,544 of 50 to 100 acres; 21,566 of 100 to 200 acres; 8,383 of 200 to 500 acres; and 1,592 of above 500 acres. The holdings have increased by 4,786. Of the entire 20,259,322 acres forming the area of Ireland, nearly one-half is in the possession of farmers holding from 15 to 100 acres, of which 1,475,433 acres, or 14.9 in every 100 is waste or unproductive; about one-third is under farms of 100 to 500 acres, of which 1,741,956 acres, or 28.5 per cent., is bog or waste, and one-tenth of which, more than 1,260,535 acres, or nearly one-half, are unprofitable for tillage, is occupied by farms of above 500 acres; the remainder, which includes only 189,407 acres of the waste lands, is in the hands of farmers holding under 15 acres. The following is the return of live stock for 1858: viz. 630,611 horses and mules, 163,323 asses, 3,667,304 cattle, 3,494,993 sheep, 1,409,883 pigs, 228,351 goats, and 9,563,185 poultry. The value is computed at £34,977,244. The weed nuisance is still bitterly complained of by the Irish registrar-general, who urges the passing of a bill to compel the destruction of weeds with winged seeds before they are allowed to ripen. Besides the Blue-book from which the above figures are copied, two small papers have been printed, giving briefly the statistics for 1859. Last year, then, it appears that 465,497 acres were under wheat, 1,981,197 under oats, 1,200,144 under potatoes, 322,266 under turnips, 136,329 under flax, and 1,436,680 under meadow and clover. The gross total area under crops was 5,861,666 acres, against 5,882,052 in 1858. There was a decrease in cereal and an increase in green crops. The net total decrease was 20,386 acres. Weeds are again complained of. The live stock in 1859 included 628,916 horses, 3,810,136 horned cattle, 3,588,356 sheep, and 1,262,873 pigs.”