his makes to them, it must be observed, that a farm which
was only worth two dollars an acre when the settler first came to it,
will, as soon as others have cleared around him, rise to twenty or
thirty dollars per acre. Every man, therefore, who settles and clears
land, not only benefits himself, but increases the value of the property
of those all around him; while the feller of timber on the Ottawa only
puts a few dollars into his own pocket, and does no good to the
province, as the timber-dealers in England reap all the harvest.

It would appear very strange that the ship-owners should have joined the
Canadian timber merchants in persuading the government to continue these
duties, were it not from the fact that the ship owners appear,
invariably, to oppose any measure advantageous to their own interests.
That the carrying trade to the Canadas is of importance is certain; but
of how much more importance to the ship owner is the reduction of
expense in building his ship, which must ensue if the timber duties were
reduced. The ship owner complains that he cannot sail his ship at as
low a rate as foreigners; that he must be protected, or that he cannot
compete with them in any way; and yet he opposes the very measure which
would materially assist him in so doing. But the fact is, that, as I
shall eventually show, the carrying trade with Canada would not be lost,
though the cargo would not be the same; and there is every reason to
suppose that the employment of the shipping would very soon amount to
the same tonnage as at present.

The next consideration is, to what should the duty be reduced, so as not
to affect our revenue? This is a question easily answered.

In the Report on Timber Duties, Appendix Number 10, we have. in round
numbers, for the year 1833:--

+==========================================+========+==========+
Y YLoads. YDuty paid.Y
+------------------------------------------+--------+----------+
Y Y Y (pounds) Y
+------------------------------------------+--------+----------+
YTimber exported from Canada and American Y Y Y
+------------------------------------------+--------+----------+
Yprovinces, calculated in loads Y 719,000Y 300,000Y
+------------------------------------------+--------+----------+
YTimber from the north of Europe, in ditto.Y 444,000Y 985,000Y
+--------------