IN NEW BRUNSWICK. 55 



to a great extent be derived from her resources &quot; that 

 is, when the coal of Great Britain and of the United 

 States shall have been exhausted ! ! 



Such statements as these were likely to induce a 

 belief in the minds of foreigners that large available 

 beds of coal had really been discovered in this province, 

 and to create among its inhabitants the impression that, 

 when the lumber of the native forests was exhausted, a 

 sure source of manufacturing and commercial prosperity 

 would remain in the ample stores of mineral fuel which 

 a bountiful nature had buried beneath their feet. 



When the resources on which a country has hitherto 

 depended appear in danger of being exhausted, it is of 

 the greatest possible consequence that the community 

 should know what other resources remain on which it 

 may hope reasonably to fall back. In the case of New 

 Brunswick failing its lumber were its mines to support 

 it ? was naturally asked or must it rely in future mainly 

 upon its agriculture ? It was thought by many, that 

 because the province was unable as yet to support a 

 population of 210,000 inhabitants without large import 

 ations of foreign grain or flour, that therefore its purely 

 agricultural capabilities were small, and that for future 

 greatness or prosperity it must look to its mines alone. 

 Though I had already seen enough to enable me to 

 conclude that such persons greatly undervalued the 

 food-producing ability of the colony, I was not, from 

 personal observation, aware how far the known deposits 

 of coal were really economically valuable ; and I was 

 desirous, therefore, of obtaining positive information 

 upon this point wherever an opportunity presented itself. 

 It is an interesting fact, which I shall hereafter briefly 

 illustrate, that the existence of fossil fuel in a country is 

 not only economically valuable in relation to the smelt 

 ing of ores, and the general support of manufacturing 

 industry, but has also a direct and important relation to 



