I 



15 



possibility be benefitted by the expenditure of that 

 increased and excessive taxation, and that the sur- 

 plus revenue raised in this Colony would not, as I 

 have hereinbefore stated, be expended in it ; but 

 that all above the paltry sum of eighty cents a head 

 on our population, would have to pass out of the 

 Colony to be expended in the Dominion of Canada ! 

 How would the Newfoundlanders like this ? and 

 what would be the state and condition of our labour- 

 ing population, of our poor, and of our present 

 remaining commercial capitalists, under such 

 circumstances ? These are subjects for those among 

 us who possess the powers of reflection, and more 

 particularly of those who have money to lose, 

 well to consider. For my part, could I believe that 

 such a sad catastrophe could by any possibility 

 fall on the Colony, I should view its approach with 

 pangs something akin to horror. 



The fourth argument is that we shall receive the 

 flour, bread, pork, butter, &c., of Canada, and its 

 manufactured goods, duty free. If the Govern- 

 ment are so anxious to receive into the Colony 

 these articles duty free, why do they impose taxes 

 on them now^? The Government put on those 

 taxes, and it is in their power to remove them if 

 they choose to do so. In 1865, they avail them- 

 selves of the termination of the Reciprocity Treaty 

 to tax the food that previously came from Canada 

 and other places /ree of duty. For many years to 

 come, as must be well known to those who are 

 competent to govern the Colony, the United States 

 will be our cheapest market for flour and other 

 articles of food, and they must also know, or ought 

 to know, that freights from the United States are 

 usually barely more than half what is paid from 

 Canada. Moreover, it is more convenient to bring 

 our food thence, inasmuch as the ships of our mcr- 



