The Stourbridge Observer, Cradley Heath, Halesowen & District Chronicle.
Stourbridge, West Midlands, England, 1874-10-31 00:00:00

AGRICULTURAL EMIGRANTS TO
CANADA. .

The following letter has also been sent to The Times for
publication, as supplementary to a previous letter :
my last communication I referred to the
arrival of a party of some 350 Icelanders, and it was
then a question as to how they should be disposed of
in the Province. The difficulty, so far, is solved, and
the experiment which is being made with them will be
a matter of deep interest to all interested in the ques-
tion of emigration, and especially as it affects new set-
tlers on the free grant lands of Canada. A new railway
—the Credit Valley Line—is in course of construction,
extending north of Toronto some 100 miles back, con-
necting Lindsay with Kinmount, in the direction of
Nipissing. It is therefore proposed to locate these emi-
grants on the line, to be employed by the railway com-
pany during its construction--which may occupy some
twoyears—andinthemeantime place themontheirown
allotments of free land in the township of Lutterworth, or
where else they may choose. In the winter, when it
is possible labour may be suspended for a time, they
will be able to do something towards building their
shanties and clearing their lands and locating them-
selves. They will be paid such wages as their labour
is considered worth to the company, and it is thought
that they will thus be enabled to accumulate from
their savings sufficient to enable them to live during
the time it will take to bring their own land under
cultiyation. I have not been in the Muskoka district,
as I intended, at present ; but I took the opportunity
afforded me of accompanying Mr. 1). D. Hay, the
Emigration Commissioner, to the spot where the
people are to be located. He has ordered the
erection of two log shanties, each 70 feet long,
with sleeping berths, similar to ship arrange-
ments, down one side of the building ; these will
be made private by a canvas curtain which will be
stretched from fore to aft in front of the berths. There
will be two cooking stoves in each to warm the places
AS well as for cooking purposes. They have com-
menced the erection of them, and it is expected that
tbe people will be in them next week ; and as I purpose
re-visiting them when they are settled, I shall be able
to give more details as to the management of the com-
munity, in respect to their living, as well as their
capacities for labour. They have an interpreter with
them, who has been in the colony for two years. He is
a very intelligent young man, about 22 years of age,
awl quite indispensable to them, for the Norse language
is little understood, and none of them can talk English.
There are about 30 young single women among them,
and, of course, they will not be wanted on the line Six
of them have already engaged themselves in the city of
Toronto as servants,andtherest willbesent on thismorn-
ing to Lindsay to Mr. Wood, M.P.P. of that place,
who will see to their proper distribution as domestic
servants. No doubt the whole of the people will hod
their want of the knowledge of English a serious
drawback, but it is thought that they will soon pick
it up. One gentleman at Toronto considered it an
advantage to them rather than otherwise; he was
wanting one of them as a servant, as, he said, she
" would not be able to talk to any one, at least for a
time ; " and quietude in a servant here is esteemed a
high virtue.
Some 300 more emigrants arrived at the sheds yester-
day, and as many more are expected to-day by the
steamship Texas. Great insists and care are being
taken to locate them in suitable employment ; but the
coil of which I have before spoken is apparent. The
result will be, in the ease ,f those hired for the
year, low wages, and in the sluing breaking of
contracts. However much we may deplore this
condition of things, in point of morality, it is in-
evitable. The Itig,ht Hon. W. E. Forster, lii- P., with
Sir T. Buxton, visited the sheds yesterday, and in con-
versation with Sir Thomas this matter came forward.
and he expresiseel his great horror that men shonld
break their bargain, even though they should make a
bad one, and he feared I had a disposition to encourage
it. I expressed my opinion freely to him on this
matter. Short-sighted economists might consider the
null season of the year a suitable time to make a bar-
gain with a man wider stress of necessity, and bind him
for twelve months, and consider the laws of supply
and demand would warrant it. This is not so; the
labour market is well known to be empty in certain
times of the year, and labour if it in hired merely for
the time it is in demand is not purchasable unless
at a very high rate, and to make a yearly bar-
gain at such a time it would be requisite to give
such an average yearly wage as; the labour-market
demanded, without undue pressure on either side.
If the employer, therefore, hires a man in the
fall, or dull season, of the year, he should consider
also that the man would serve him during the whole
of the busiest season, and should not seek to pay hhn
less than what he well knows to be the yearly market
value for his labour. If be does so, the man soon
finds it out, and, finding himself taken advantage of,
seeks to retaliate, and, as is frequently the case under
such circumstances, gets another job. Of course,

it will be said that there can be no moral excuse
for such a violation of agreement, nor, probably,
can there be; but if we could place ourselves in the
position of a poor man who has made great sacrifices
to come out with a view to better his condition
and finds himself entrapped, we should realize that
our moral sensibilities were not quite so active as
they might probably be in our present position;
and the least al logy we can make for such conduct
is that it is no worse than that which excited
it. I will point to one illustration, where I consider
the farmer has acted discreetly and wisely. I went
to visit an emigrant who accompanied me out at a
farm near Paris, Ontario. I also met his employer,
who desired to converse with me respecting the man
with a view to engaging him. The man was engaged
at that time cutting Deli an corn by the piece. The
ernplo) er was pleased with the man, and he wanted
me to say what wages lie would reouire, as that,
with the hours of labour, WM the only question at i
issue. I, of course, refused to interfere n the ques-
tion of wages; I told him what was the ordinary
rate paid, and recommended him, if he thought the
man would suit Lim, to make it worth his while
to stay and serve him by paying him liberally;
otherwise, instead of tryirg to serve him faith-
fully and keep his employment, the man would
always be seeking to leave him, and would be—and
rightly so--discontented. I have heard from the man
since who says his master has agreed to give him
210 dols, per year, the use of a cow, and house and
firing. This is so far satisfactory. Our English
farm labourers, as a rule, are not as migratory
148 some classes, and if their condition is anything like
reasonable they will not be likely to run far away
from a good job.
I am now on my road to Ottawa, where, by request.
I shall have an interview with Lord Dufferin, who
expresses himself much interested with emigration
matters. I am, Sir, yours obediently,
HENRY TAYLOR, General Secretary National
Agricultural Labourers' Union.
Fort 11ope, Oct. 1.