The Sun.
London, England, 1827-10-05 00:00:00

emigrants of 1823, were taken from a part of Ire-
land in which there was no demand whatever for
fakir labour. It could never be pretended for a
moment that less production has taken place in that
part of Ireland iri consequence of their removal ; but
it is equally evident, that although they added no-
thing to the production, the expeuce of their sub-
sistence, and that of their families, must have fallen
upon some fund or other. Of those 415 families,

three families were very often to be found in one
cabin. They were only very partially and occasion-
ally employed as labourers ; the greater part of
them had no other means of subsistence than
what was derived from casual charity, or from

more suspicious sources; and their presence in
Ireland could in no sense be considered as increas-
ing the power and prosperity of the country., These
2,024 persons were removed in the year 1825 to
Canada, and the expense of their removal amounted
to 43,145/. including their location and sustenance
up to the period at which their first crops enabled
them to provide for themselves. A very rigid esti-
mate has been made of the value of the produce of
their first year's labour, which is to be found in the
Appendix to the Evidence. Mr. Robinson, the
superintendent, pledged himself to the Committee
as to the correctness of that calculation, which

can be referred to in detail, and it amounts to
11,272/. Bs. This calculation is made upon the
current price of articles in the colony. It is not in-
tended to be implied that they had a produce to
dispose of to the amount of 11,272/. Bs., but that
the production which they had created amounted to
that sum. Against this creation of value in the
colony is to be set the expenditure of the English
Government, amounting to 43,145/. It appears,
therefore, that the production of the first year has
created a value equivalent to nearly one-fourth of
that sum. In the estimate the' produce must be
considered as applied to the support of these fami-
lies for the next year, and, therefore, not being of
exchangeable value in their especial case ; but it is
calculated that that produce, together with the acci-
dental resources of labour, will furnish an ample fund
for their maintenance until another year. The 415
heads of families were located upon 41,500 acres.
At the time that the emigrants were placed upon this
land, these 41,500 acres were utterly unproductive,
yielding no annual value. The Government ex-
pends 43,145/. in advancing capital upon this unpro-
ductive land. An estimate is furnished of the first

year's production, amounting to 11,2721., including
not only the value of the land cleared, as estimated
at the current price of the produce, but also the pro-
duce upon which the emigrant family is to live for
the year, after the cessation of the Government
assistance. The 43,14 rd. improved at compound in-
terest for seven years will amount to a capital sum of
60,709/. The Government, therefore, at the end Of
seven years, will be in the situation of having ad-
vanced a capital to the amount of 60,7091. for which
it has received no return other than that advantage,
beit more or less, which has been derived from the
abstraction of an unnecessary body of labourers from
the mother country. If the profit of this specida-
don be analysed, what will be the value of the land
on which this capital has been expended, at the old
of seven years ? A calculation, founded upon the
ordinary progress of the colonies, gives the follow-
ingresult—that at the end of seven years those 415
heads of families, occupying 41,500 acres of land,
will have cleared, fenced,and brought into cultivation
8,300 acres, leaving 33,200 uncultivated. It is a
common practice in Canada to let cleared land to a
small capitalist, who, in consideration of occupying
the land so cleared, pays one-third of the 'yearly pro-
duce to the proprietor. The average yearly produce
of an acre of cleared land in wheat amounts to 18
bushels; by the terms of the proposition, the pro-
prietor receives six bushels of wheat; six bushels of
wheat, at 2. 6d. Per bushel, which is the ordinary
price, amounts to 15s. Supptigig the land to be of
equal quality, whether it is actually Cultivated with
wheat, or laid down in grass, the same ratio of pro-
fit accrues to the proprietor. This naturally justi-
fies the estimate, that the annual value of Fill acre of
cleared land amounts to 15s. Applying this ratio to
the case of the emigrant settlers of 1825, at the end
of seven years they will have 8,300 acres of cleared
land, the estimated annual profit of which amounts
to 6,225/. ; but the interest of the money advanced
by Government amounts t 03,035/. 9s. ;consequently,
after paying interest upon the money advanced by
Government, they have a residue of 3,189/. The
current annual profit of this land speculation, at the
end of seven years, being 6,2251.; if that be divided
by 415 (the number of individual cases), it will be
seen how each head of a family stands in relation to
this general result. The case then, individually, will
stand thus :—A. pauper in the south of Ireland, for
whose labour no demand -existed, and consequently
whose presence in Ireland added nothing to the ge-
neral wealth of the country, but, on the contrary,
whose subsistence was a deduction from that wealth,
was removed to a district in Upper Canada ; he re-
ceived from the Government, for himself, his wife,
and three children, the sum of 100/. sterling in kind
and not-in money. This 100/. sterling has enabled
him to cultivate a proportion of 100 acres of land;
and nt the end of seven years he will be in possession
"of a surplus income .of 15/. per annum.
Your Committee beg to call the attention of the
House to the fact, that this calculation is framed upon
an estimate of 100/. per family, whereas the esti-
mate which they now present with confidence to the
House, is only an estimate of 60/. per family. If,
therefore, it be demonstrable that the emigrant could
pay interest upon, and repay the principle of 10W.—
a fortiori, it must be more practicable in the case of
a diminished sum, where there is no reason to appre-
hend that the amount of annual produce will be less;
but, on the contrary, if emigration be conducted on
an extended scale, the more dense the population in
the new settled district, the greater the probability of
the success of the emigrant. Your Committee beg
to remind the House, that in placing a family of five
persons upon 100 or 50 acres of land, the ratio of
the population will be one person for every 20 or 10
acres ; whereas in parts of Ireland, from whence
such an emigrant population might be taken, the
ratio may be estimated at 20 persons for every 10
acres, but certainly not less than one person per acre.
Your Committee cannot conclude their observa-
tions on this point of inquiry, without expressing
their sense of the zeal, ability, and discretion, with
which Mr. Peter Robinson effected the location of
the two bodies of emigrants in 1823 and 1825,
under circumstances (however inevitable) of want
of previous preparation, which would be avoided in
future instances, where emigration formed part of a
national measure.
(TO BE CONTINUED.)