PRICE OF LAND INJURIOUS TO THE PROVINCE. 365 



tracting debt at stores, hath proved ruinous of late years to 

 settlers without capital, who have no other means of extrica 

 ting themselves than selling their properties. 



In almost every district people are found anxious to sell 

 land, and small farms may be bought on cheaper terms than 

 lands belonging to the crown, Canada Company, or large 

 proprietors, more especially if cash is paid. Indeed the neces 

 sities of many people are so urgent, and credit so general, that 

 an individual with cash in his pocket may drive a good bar 

 gain at all times. 



In a country of such diversity of soil, climate, and 

 situation as Upper Canada, the price of land in its terri 

 tory must be extremely variable, and will be found to run 

 from 2s. 6d. to L.6 per acre. On a general view, it is cheapest 

 in the southern part of the western district, when climate and 

 soil are taken into consideration. Few settlers have located 

 themselves of late years in this part of the country, and trade 

 can scarcely be said to have travelled so far west in Canada. 

 Steam-navigation will, however, soon alter the present state of 

 things in this quarter. 



When the extent of unoccupied surface, the extent of soil 

 which is occupied and remaining uncleared, and the tens of mil 

 lions of acres which have never been surveyed, are considered, 

 the price of Canadian land is extravagantly high, and far 

 above its intrinsic value to actual settlers. Land, like other 

 things, is cheap or dear by comparison, government land in 

 the United States being sold at 6s. 3d. Halifax currency, 

 ready-money, ought to make the British government blush for 

 its policy in Canada. The price of land surrendered by the 

 Six Nations, and covered with forest, is fixed at 15s. per 

 acre, which is more than double the price of government 

 land in the western United States, superior in quality, situated 

 in a finer climate, clothed with luxuriant grass, and without 

 an obstacle to immediate cultivation. The credit, with accu 

 mulating interest on the price of land in Canada, is practically 

 an evil to the purchaser and the country. It is population 

 alone which imparts value to land, and a more effectual 

 method could not be devised for preventing a farther influx of 

 inhabitants to Upper Canada, and draining away many of 



