22 



ground into Flour in the United Stutes and not manufuc* 

 lure it all in Canada: much Aniericun flour had already 

 so come into the country. Tiu Niag^ara was so narrow 

 that a stone might almost be thrown across it, and there 

 was only a fort at one or two places. In reply to thif. 

 Sir Robert Vee\ asked who ever heard of smu(;rglii)g corn 

 i'rom France, when the duty was even 25s. or 2iis. per qr. ? 

 If then, with a Channel only 20 or :)0 miles across, there 

 was no smugrnrlitipr Qf com (Vom France or Hel^iuni, was it 

 to be imag^ineil that with the interest ul the Canadian grower 

 to watch for himself, and the influence of the Canadian 

 Treasury to lake care that the duty he paid — with the 

 extent of the Lukes, and with the expense ofthe navi^r^tion 

 smuggling would be carried on i A quarter of Wheat 

 weighed 500lbs., and the profit of 3s. would not tempt a 

 .smuggler. Mr. Gladstone observed that the line of frontier 

 where smuggling was practicable was in a part of the 

 country, which produces no Corn. This observation does 

 not appear to he correct. Mr. Kllice said tiuit his personal 

 knowledge of the frontier, satisfied him that 200 quarters 

 of American corn annually, would be the maximum that 

 could escape the duty in Canada. It was also urged by 

 the friends of the measure, that it was unreasonable to 

 suppose that more L'nited States' Wheat would be imported 

 into Canada when there was a duty of 8s, upon it, than 

 when it was duty free. Mr. Mitchell objected to the 

 measure because the 3s. duty would be received by the 

 Canadian Treasury instead of the British, and the Canadian 

 consumer would have to pay 3s. per quarter more for his 

 Wheat. It was also to be borne in mind that the present 

 duties ranged from Is. to 5s. whereas by the proposed 

 measure this country would never receive more than a 

 fixed duty of Is. The reply to this was a reference to the state- 

 Hk- tt of Lord Stanley, which we have before noticed that 

 the average of the last five years had only been 2s. Id. 

 per quarter. It was rejoined that the cause of this was that 

 the price of wheat hero had been high, and that if it had 

 been at the present price, the duty on Canadian wheat 

 and flour would have not been less than five shillings. 

 Mr. Handley thought it would be equivalent to a fixed 

 duty on all corn that would be imported into this 

 country. On Dantzic Wheat the fixed duty would be 

 about 15s. per quarter, and shipowners could easily be 

 found to carry Dantzic corn to Canada and bring it hero 

 as Colonial corn. As an argument in favor of the measure. 

 it was said that under the existing law no duty was payable 

 until the article was taken from the warehcuse here for con- 

 sumption. Under the proposed Act, 3s. would be paid by the 



