WAGES. WORKING MEN. 57 



month, with board, and raw girls about $5. They can 

 generally earn higher wages than this after the first year. 

 I can see no reason why farm labourers and domestic 

 servants should not be hired before they leave the old 

 country. It would be a great comfort to these poor 

 people to have a berth ready for them on their arrival in 

 the colony. It would often save them much anxiety and 

 great hardship. The emigration agent in England or in 

 Ireland would be quite as capable of recommending a 

 man as the agent in Montreal or Toronto. In either case 

 the employer has to run his chance as to character and 

 so on. Given an employer in Canada who wants a man, 

 and a man in England who wants employment in Canada, 

 and surely some plan could be organized for bringing the 

 two together. Indeed, I believe this has been successfully 

 carried out on a small scale by an Ottawa Immigration 

 Society. 



To the poor working man emigration is even a more 

 serious matter than to the man of capital. The latter 

 (especially from a country like Canada) can return home 

 if the new country does not come up to his expectations. 

 The former, if a family man, has only managed to emi- 

 grate by a great effort, and must take the new country 

 for better or for worse. As a rule I believe that working 

 men do as well in Canada as in any other part of the 

 world, but there are two or three things that emigrants 

 from England of this class should guard against. They 

 should not go out with the idea of settling down upon 

 wilderness land, not in the first instance, at least, until 

 they have become inured to the ways of the country. 

 They should not herd in great droves to any one par- 



