BRITISH NORTH AMERICA. 



129 



of debentures. But as that had not been exer- 

 cised, the debentures were lodged with the 

 Bank of Montreal for sums of money obtained 

 from that institution." 



With regard to Canal Tolls, the policy of the 

 Government is to make the inland navigation 

 as free from burdens as possible. 



The views of the Colonial Government rela- 

 tive to the Reciprocity Treaty were expressed 

 in the Legislature by Mr. Gait with much force, 

 clearly showing that Canada is not so dependent 

 on this treaty as is supposed ; and that the politi- 

 cal questions appertaining to it are quite distinct 

 from the commercial. He said : 



The trade in wheat and flour might be considered 

 as transit trade. The price was regulated by the 

 American market, and the American market did not 

 consume these articles. The United States exported 

 to the Maritime Provinces about as much as they im- 

 ported from us. Being a transit trade, the Ameri- 

 cans reaped the benefit of it ; they had the advantage 

 of transporting it, and of the commercial profits that 

 arose from transacting it. The effect of preventing 

 the continuance of that trade, would be that if we 

 succeeded, as he trusted we should, in establishing 

 proper commercial relations with our maritime 

 brethren, the trade would be conducted directly 

 with the Lower Provinces instead of, as now, with 

 Boston and New York. 



He also showed that the effects of the "United 

 States imposing a duty on lumber, would be to 

 raise the price to their own consumers. They 

 might raise the cost of the material used in their 

 Louses and ships at their own expense, but 

 could only slightly affect the trade of Canada. 



In referring to the frontier trade of Canada, 

 Mr. Gait remarked : 



Americans now grow corn cheaper and better than 

 we, while we grow barley cheaper and better than 

 they. To interfere with the exchange would be 

 inconvenient to both parties. Nay, it would be in- 

 jurious to both ; but the principal effect would be to 

 change the nature of the distillation carried on on 

 either side of the frontier. 



With regard to the important and growing 

 interests of mineral products, he admitted the 

 advantages of a near market, but at the same 

 time observed that it was not the American 

 market which gave value to the product of the 

 mine. Admitting the importance of Reciprocity, 

 he thus summarily said : 



The exports to the United States, which might be 

 aaid to. be dependent on the Reciprocity Treaty that 

 was the balance of exports over imports was, lum- 

 ber about 5,000,000; coarse grains, 4,000,000; ani- 

 mals, 1,500,000. The trade in animals was much 

 larger last year; but this was about the average. 

 Thus a balance of about ten and a half millions of our 

 export was more or less dependent on the treaty ; 

 that was about the amount they could affect by levy- 

 ing taxation on the production of this country. He 

 would not repeat any of the arguments with respect 

 to each article, but the peculiar position of that por- 

 tion of the American market which was supplied from 

 Canada was such, that he did not think they would 

 find it to their interest to impose duties on our prod- 

 ucts; but if they did, they would not merely in- 

 crease the cost of every one of those articles raised 

 in their own country, but they will themselves have 

 to pay the duty on the supplies they obtained from 

 abroad, essential for their consumption. He might 

 further say, in reference to this trade of $10,000,000, 

 VOL. v. 9 A 



that though it was certainly very important, still if 

 we were compelled by circumstances to look at the 

 possibility of its being? diverted, we should not look 

 so much at the proportions it bore to the total export* 

 or imports of the country, as to the proportion it 

 bore to the whole product of the industry of the 

 Province. We ought not to conclude that because 

 25 per cent, of our products were exported to the 

 United States, 25 per cent, of the industry of the 

 Province would be paralyzed. If they did not go 

 there, the worst result would be the change would 

 have to be made in a certain amount of the productive 

 labor of the country. Labor rendered unremunera- 

 tive in one direction, must be made productive in 

 another. 



An important view of the trade of the Mari- 

 time Provinces is thus presented : 



That trade had not been so large as had been de- 

 sired, or increased so rapidly as might have been 

 expected, because, under the reciprocity treaty, they 

 had obtained in the American markets the articles 

 they might have obtained from us, which have been 

 sent by us into the United States, and by the United 

 States exported to the Maritime Provinces. The act- 

 ual results, comparing several years, were that in 

 1860 goods were worth $393,866, while in the fiscal 

 year ending June, 1865, we imported $511,570. 

 Our exports have increased during the same time 

 from $723,536 to $1,065,057, an increase of about 

 25 per cent. From the British West Indies, the 

 increase in trade had been more considerable. Our 

 imports were $15,802 in 1860, and $209,327 in 1865. 

 So there had, indeed, been a renewal of the trade 

 with the West Indies we had formerly enjoyed. The 

 exports to the Maritime Provinces had risen fro.m 

 $723,000 in 1860, to $1,065,000 in 1865 ; and to the West 

 Indies, they had risen from nil in 1860, to $41,000 in 

 1865. But while that had been the case with our 

 own West India Islands, our trade with the foreign 

 West Indies was beginning to assume somewhat 

 considerable dimensions. This was particularly the 

 case as regarded Cuba ; and he found that the total 

 value of articles imported from foreign West Indies 

 in 1864, was no less than $1,480,000, of which there 

 had come by way of the St. Lawrence, $255,000; by 

 way of the United States, $660,00.0, and Nova Scotia, 

 $126,000. The general foreign trade of Canada 

 amounted to so little three or four years ago, that it 

 was scarcely worthy of notice. In 1860 the total 

 import trade of Canada from foreign countries, ex- 

 cept the United States, was only $905,000; and in 

 1865, notwithstanding the depressing influence of the 

 American war, it had risen to $3,274,000, an increase 

 of nearly four-fold in that short period. It now 

 amounted to eight per cent, of our total exports, 

 instead of only two and a half per cent. It was grati- 

 fying to the Government, and he was sure it must 

 also be gratifying to the House and the country, to 

 know that at a time when we were threatened with 

 an interruption of 'trade with the United States, we 

 had trade with other foreign countries independent 

 of the British possessions, which was growing with 

 the rapidity indicated by these returns; a trade that 

 now amounted to about one-tenth of the whole indus- 

 try of the country if trade with the United States 

 were put an end to to-morrow. These observations 

 respecting our trade with the United States, the 

 reciprocity treaty, and our trade with foreign coun- 

 tries generally, acquired perhaps additional import- 

 ance at this moment because we knew that under 

 instructions from the Imperial Government, repre- 

 sentatives of the different provincial governments 

 would meet in this city during the month of Septem- 

 ber next. It was peculiarly happy, that at this moment 

 suth a meeting as this was to take place, because we 

 had to consider two points in reference to our trade 

 with the United States. We had to consider, first, 

 what action should be taken in case the American 

 Government undertook to enter into negotiations for 



