The United States appear to be rich in most metals, but particularly in lead and iron; (note 1) the metal which they are most deficient in is copper. It is said that the copper mines in New Jersey are good; those in the West have not yet proved to be worth working. Canada, as I have before said, is as yet unexplored, but I have every reason to believe that it will be found rich in minerals, especially copper. I argue, first, from its analogy with Russia, which abounds in that metal; and secondly, because there is at this time, on the shores of Lake Superior, a mass of native copper weighing many tons, a specimen of which I have had in my hand. We must not forget to reckon, among the other products and expected resources of Canada, the furs obtained by the Hudson Bay Company. Of course, if the Canadas are wrested from us, we shall have to depend upon the Americans for our supply of this necessary article. The value in Canada of the furs exported to this country, by the company, amounts, as I have observed in my Diary, to about a million and a half of dollars.
I now come to what I consider will be the most important export from the Canadas. I have stated it to be my opinion that Upper Canada will be the first corn country in the world, and in a very few years we may expect that she will export largely into this country; already having had a surplus which has been sold to the Americans. It must be recollected that America, who used to supply the West-Indies and other parts of the world with her flour, has, for these last few years, in her mania for speculating, neglected her crops, and it is only during these last two years that she has redirected her attention to the tillage of her land. She will now no longer require assistance from Upper Canada, and the yearly increasing corn-produce of that province must find a market elsewhere. After supplying the wants of Nova Scotia and New Brunswick, this surplus will find its way into this country. As the population of Upper Canada increases, so will of course her growth of wheat be greater, and in a very few years, we have reason to expect that there will be not only a constant, but even a more than requisite, exportation of corn to this country. Now what will be the effect? Corn from Canada is admitted at a fixed duty of 5 shillings per quarter, therefore as soon as the supply from thence, is sufficient, the corn laws will be virtually repealed, that is to say, they will be exchanged for a permanent duty of 5 shillings per quarter.
I think that the remarks I have made will incline the reader to agree with me, that the reduction of the duties on timber will be a real boon to all parties: to the Canadians, because at the same time that the supplies of lumber to the West Indies and elsewhere will give a certain profit, they will no longer have the true interested of the colony sacrificed for the benefit of parties at home; to the mother country, because it will relieve the expenses of the builder, lessen house-rent and agricultural expenses, and at the same time increase the revenue;—to the ship-owner, as it will enable him to build much cheaper, and to compete more successfully with foreign vessels, with the prospect also of the carrying trade soon reviving, and the freight of the corn proving an indemnification to him for the loss of that on the timber. That a few interested individuals would complain is undoubted, but it is high time that a monopoly so injurious in every point, should be removed; and the profits of a few speculators are not to be for a moment considered, when opposed both to the interests of the colony and of the nation.
I may as well here remark that it would only be an act of justice to the provinces, and no less so to ourselves, to take off the prohibitions at present in force against the importation of goods from France and other countries. The boon itself would be small, but still it would be a stimulus to enterprise, and the time has gone by for England to impose such restrictions on her colonies. I say that we should lose nothing, because all these articles are imported by the Americans; and if the Canadians wish to procure them, they can obtain them immediately at Buffalo, and other American towns bordering on the lakes. At present, therefore, all the profits arising from these importations go into the pockets of the Americans, who are the only parties benefited by our restrictive laws. We should therefore remove them.
I shall now support the arguments in this chapter, touching the relative value of the corn and the timber trade to the Canadas, by some extracts from the evidence given in the Report of the Committee on the Timber Duties.
Q. “Have you ever formed an opinion of what rate per quarter wheat could be exported to this country, so as to yield a profit to the exporter?”—A. “I cannot call it to mind accurately, but I think the estimate I once made was between 40 shillings and 50 shillings.”
Q. “Would it not follow that, unless the price of wheat in this country were to rise to 40 shillings or 50 shillings per quarter, the population that your former answer would transfer front the timber trade to the agricultural would not be able advantageously to employ themselves?”—A. “No; I do not think it follows necessarily. If all our population were devoted to agriculture, our settlements would be more dense, and their roads more perfect; in fact, all the social offices more perfectly fulfilled; which would enable them to bring their wheat to market at a more moderate price, and thus they might obtain a larger profit even with a lower price. We should bear in mind, in relation to their agricultural produce, that the farmer of course first feeds his own family, and that price affects him so far as it relates to his surplus produce, and that price rather affects his luxuries than his means of subsistence. I am not aware that the present prices would prevent a farmer obtaining that return which would enable him to purchase at least all his necessaries.”
Q. “What do you suppose is the average expense of the conveyance of wheat from the remote parts of Canada to Montreal?”—A. “I believe the cost of bringing wheat from Niagara to Montreal was about 15 pence colonial currency, but I am not certain; it is not now lower. I once made a table showing the cost of taking produce of all kinds from three points on Lake Ontario and on Lake Erie, and sending up articles to the same places.”
Q. “What is the freight from Quebec to England?”—A. “The ordinary rate has been from 8 shillings to 8 shillings 6 pence a quarter for wheat.”
Q. “Do you know the price of wheat in this country?”—A. “I believe the last average was 40 shillings.”