42 



of prices and duties given in page 15 but now they can 

 come in at Is. per quarter, without any reference to the 

 prices in this country. The foljowinp: statement clearly 

 shows that the new Act must be injurious to the British 

 Farmer. 



In the year ending 28th December, 184-J, the hiiifhest 

 weekly averai^e price of Wheat in this couijtry, wan 5()s. Gd. 

 per quarter ; therefore if the present scale had been in 

 operation, no Coloniid V« heat or Flour could have come 

 in at less than os. duty. The lowest price: in the vear was 

 45s Id. 



Duly vvoiiM be 

 s. «. alioiil. 



5 weeks the price was at 5(5 and under 57 Us. per qr. 

 15 ditto ditto 55 „ 5(; 4s. 



32 ditto ditto under 55 5s. 



We shall now cojicliide by referrinj:^ to only one other 

 point: viz. the coiislructiou pat on certain words of the 

 Act. Tn the Navi>jation Act (J 'Geo. 4, c. 10{), it is 

 declared that "All mauuiactured <joods shall be deemed to 

 be the produce of the country of which they an^ the man- 

 ufacture." The Act 3 Wni. 4, c. 5i, repeats the declara- 

 tion. 



TheAct of 1843. says that •* IVkeaf and WJual Flour 

 the produce of tiie said Province of Canada" vhall be 

 admitted at Is. duty. The plain common sense meaninaf 

 of this passage is, tliat the Wlieat shall be the produce of 

 Canada, and uader that interpretation of the woids, Canada 

 would be only permitted to send here Wheat <^ro\vn iu the 

 Province, or Flour ground from that Wheat. Thus she 

 might send us all her own Wheat, and purchase of Foreign- 

 ers for her own consumption, but authorities in this country 

 have given a different meanin<^ to the words. When Lord 

 Stanley brought forward the measure in the Commons, his 

 Lordship stated that under the Act above quoted the 

 broad principle was laid down, " That all vianufaclared 

 goods shall be deemed to he the produce of the country 

 of which tliey are the manufacture, but his Lordship 

 added that it had been questioned whether this applied 

 to corn. In 1825 Colonial Wheat was first permitted 

 to be imported at a duty of 5s. per quarter, without 

 reference to the price at home. In 1828, another alteration 

 was made ; and in 1830 the Comptroller of Customs at 

 Liverpool, entertaining a great doubt whether United 

 States' Wheat ground in Canada could be admitted into 

 this country as Canadian produce, applied to the Solicitor 

 of the Customs on the subject, and that Legal Functionary 

 gave his decided opinion that Flour made in Canada from 



