ith the farmer
who follows in the wake of the lumbermen. He finds, on the contrary,
in the wants of the latter, a ready demand for all that he produces,
at a price not only equal to that procurable in the ordinary marts,
but increased by the cost of transport from them to the scene of the
lumbering operations. This circumstance, no doubt, powerfully
contributes to promote the settlement of those districts, and attracts
population to sections of the country which, in the absence of any
such inducement, would probably remain for long periods
uninhabited.[4]

[Sidenote: Wild land.]

The large amount of wild land held by individuals and corporations,
renders the disposal of the public domain a question of less urgency
in this than in some other colonies. Opinion in the Province runs
strongly in favour of facilitating its acquisition in small lots by
actual settlers, and of putting all possible obstacles in the way of
its falling into the hands of speculators. This opinion is founded no
doubt in part on a jealousy of great landholders; but it is mainly, I
apprehend, attributable to a sense of the inconvenience and damage
which are experienced in young countries, when considerable tracts of
land are kept out of the market in the midst of districts that are in
course of settlement. To this feeling much of the hostility to the
'Clergy Reserves' was originally due. The upset price of Government
wild land in Canada varies from 7_s_. 6_d_. currency to
1_s_. currency an acre, according to quality, and by the rules of
the Crown Land Department now in force, it is conceded at these rates,
except in special cases, in lots of not more than 200 acres, on
condition of actual settlement, of erecting a dwelling-house, and
clearing one-fourth of the lot before the patent can be obtained. The
price is payable in some parts of the country in ten yearly
instalments; in others in five; with interest in both cases from the
date of sale.

I have little faith in the efficacy of such devices to compel actual
settlement. They hinder the free circulation of capital, are easily
evaded, and seem to be especially out of place where wild lands are
subject to taxation for municipal purposes, as is the case in Upper
Canada.[5]

[Sidenote: Seigniorial tenure.]

A good deal of land in Lower Canada is held in se