and labour never at a loss for want of a market. Now, if they the labourers so emigrated could be also retained to the new country of their present choice, every export of new parties would be a boon and an accession to the colony, by improving the country and adding to the population; thus laying a foundation for present and future blessings, that must in this way go on increasing yearly. The inducement, however, though sufficiently strong to bring them to this colony, is not sufficiently so to retain them there; for in numerous cases, I may venture to say almost innumerable, the same inducement of still higher wages or of a better locality is offered to them, and they first shew themselves in New Brunswick, and then pass over to the adjoining states; lost, therefore, to the British colonist and landowner, and transferred from British subjects to subjects of the United States. It is no wonder that this takes place. It would be a wonder were it otherwise; and means have probably been resorted to for stopping this leak in the colonial vessel by agreements for so many years, by obligations entered into for retaining the labourer in New Brunswick, and entered into only to be broken, when it is the interest, or imagined interest, of the parties to break through such engagements. I apprehend the evil will not be disputed as existing to a great extent; nor that

means.

the means hitherto offered and resorted to have failed in a great measure to secure the object of relieving them. The price of land must consequently be lowered, the value diminished, and the further improvement of it impeded by such The finest estate, without labourers to cultivate it, will be of no comparative value, and must so remain till new settlers can be found in sufficient abundance to improve its produce and value. Taking the common principle of human nature, that of self-interest, which rightly pursued is the most valuable stimulus of all, and leads to the greatest good, we must see that some other mode is here required to secure the population, the labour population, to the new country to which it is transported. Now, the interest or inducement of high wages will last just as long, probably, and no longer, than whilst they are the highest that are to be had. This is not unreasonable, and therefore greater sacrifices will be forced on the landowner to retain his men than he can at first afford. Changes, too, if suddenly made, (a thing very likely to happen,) benefit no one, but most of all injure the owner of the soil.

If, in addition to good wages, a direct interest in the soil could be added, the labourer would instantly assume a new character; that is, he would not only be well off for his present and

immediate wants, but he would have a still stronger tie on his exertions, in the certainty of enjoying a future territory, of small dimensions it is true, but which is, and will be, and continue to be, his own. Such a man so circumstanced is as a volunteer that may well be relied on, for all his interests are now centered in the colony. He is no longer a wanderer in search of the highest price for his labour, for his own property will at all times insure him a resource where wages may not be the highest, or where labour may not be always in demand. With an interest in the soil, he is interested in upholding, by all the means in his power, the colony, which becomes thus his most valuable country.

The allotment system in Britain has procured such accumulated blessings to all parties, both landlords and tenants, that a sounder and safer example cannot be followed, with some diversity in the mode, in a new colony; that is, instead of letting, to sell outright the land that would here be rented, and that too in a larger allotment than at home, for the land is cheaper, and the boon greater. Now, supposing a labourer were offered an acre of land for a small consideration in price, and to be paid for at a future day, and from produce, if other means were wanting: I would ask whether it is likely that a labourer so circumstanced would wander from

or stay by his property, which he would yearly improve, and which would consequently make his condition yearly more comfortable, more independent, more secure against all casualties? What would the landowner, in so dealing with the labourer, lose? Nothing; for even double the quantity to each labourer could be easily spared, and in truth never missed. Every new comer thus dealt with would be a new producer that could be relied on to continue so, and every year's progress in this way would consequently also improve the colony in its most essential interests, viz., produce and population, both increasing and both prospering. The mother country, too, would thus sooner reap additional benefit in the increase of supplies of her manufactures to a greater number, and, if need be, in the larger importations from them of consumable produce. It is really an absurdity to contract for or to sell large tracts of land, however good and well situated, to single individuals. No earthly use can be made of such estates without labourers, and till they are found and located, the possession is injurious instead of being beneficial to the owner, so also of necessary consequence to the colony. The only secure wealth of a new country is in its increasing

population; all possible means for effecting this should be used, all others are fruitless and hope

I

less. It must be advanced by cultivation; cultivators must be found and applied to do so; and if not retained when found, there is in truth but a precarious and uncertain fluctuation between want and abundance, increase and decrease, both of the means and effects of ambulatory population.

Again, it is quite clear that the congregational, not the dispersed, population of a new district is the most advantageous; the supply of individual and mutual wants is much better attained, and the more rapid increase of all the benefits of civilization secured. Above all, too, the congregational beyond measure promotes good objects, by affording places of worship to the Supreme Giver of all good, that are not and cannot be effected by isolated establishments in the desert. All wants are thus more easily and more cheaply supplied, all the comforts of life more firmly obtained and secured, all improvements more rapidly and with more unerring certainty promoted.

It may be asked, however, and perhaps justly, that in suggesting a remedy for preventing poor emigrants leaving the colony, what specific plan should be adopted; and how is it to be carried out? This is fair and reasonable; and though many plans may be pointed out, yet the following mode is earnestly recommended to notice,