368 FLOUR- MILLS IN CANADA. 



the State of New York also can — and I would not, in 

 the slightest degree, undervalue the results to which 

 their labours and example may lead, but would express 

 my belief rather that much good to both countries will 

 grow out of their exertions. At the same time, it is a 

 thing to be calmly weighed, whether the anticipated 

 pecuniary advantage of a portion of Canada only, and 

 for a limited time, is worthy of any large sacrifice, on 

 the part of the whole province, which sacrifice will be 

 permanent and irrevocable. 



Lastly, when speaking of the Rochester mills and 

 millers, I have alluded to the apparent anomaly, that the 

 owners of these mills can buy wheat at Toronto, pay 

 the 20 per cent on importing it into Rochester, convert 

 it into flour, send this flour to New York, from whence 

 it makes its way to Liverpool, and, at this latter mar- 

 ket, can still compete with the Canadian flour made 

 from the same wheat. 



Now, the large flour-mills of Montreal and of Upper 

 Canada — as I was informed by an English fellow-tra- 

 veller on the St Lawrence, who professed to be cunning 

 in mills, and had visited both for the express purpose of 

 comparing them with one another — are much superior ^ 

 to those of Rochester and Oswego ; and, as another 

 competent authority assured me, they can grind flour 

 15 per cent cheaper than the mills of these two places. 

 Further, the average freight to Liverpool, down the St 

 Lawrence, is not so great as the cost of transport from 

 Rochester to Liverpool. If England, therefore, be the 

 market to which nearly all the surplus flour of the 

 United States which finds a sale in Europe is first sent, 

 surely in that market the Canadian, coming directly 

 from his own ports, should be able successfully to com- 

 pete with the merchant from Rochester, who brings his 

 flour to Liverpool by way of New York. 



It may, indeed, be answered, that the constant sailing 



