LORD STANLEYsaid, he had another petition to present, from an association of persons in this country who were deeply interested in emigration to North America (Minutes of Proceedings, 55). It had reference to Papers which were recently laid upon the table of the House, from which he (Lord Stanley) was glad to see that Her Majesty's Government were prepared to give some assistance, and the guarantee of this country, to the Legislatures of Nova Scotia, New Brunswick, and Canada, for the purpose of establishing a railway between Halifax and Quebec. The petitioners (the Committee of the Canadian Laud and Railway Association) were connected with a number of skilled and unskilled workmen, who could not find employment in this country, and were desirous of emigrating to Canada, and they prayed that, in carrying into effect the railway from Halifax to Quebec, Her Majesty's Government would not lose sight of the connexion which might he wisely and advantageously established between a well-regulated system of emigration and colonisation, and the construction of this great national work. 142 He mentioned this now because he did not see any definite mention made in the Papers as to how far the noble Earl was disposed, with regard to New Brunswick particularly, to take the larger portion of the land adjoining the proposed line of railway as a collateral security for the guarantee of the Government. With regard to Nova Scotia and Canada he believed such an arrangement was unnecessary; but with regard to New Brunswick he was afraid that, looking at its present financial position, and looking also at its want of resources, as well as the peculiar adaptability of its lands to purposes of colonisation, that colony would not be able to give the Government a sufficient security for the payment of the sums to be advanced on loan unless the Government accepted as a portion of the security a surrender of the waste lands, which had already been offered by the colony. He saw no reference to that in the Papers laid upon the table by the noble Earl.
§ EARL GREYsaid, that with regard to the matter to which the noble Lord had adverted, he had only to point out to the noble Lord this circumstance, that the manner in which it was proposed that Her Majesty's Government should guarantee the loan, would make the whole revenue, both territorial and general, liable, in the first instance, for the payment of the interest on the loan. If the proposal had been that this country should make the loan, or should guarantee the interest to the company making the loan, it was obvious that it would then be material, in the first instance perhaps, that there should be a certain right to the laud on both sides of the line to afford the means of meeting the costs. But if the responsibility of this country was confined to guaranteeing the payment of a loan raised in the money market by the colony on the security of all its resources, territorial and general, that arrangement would be no longer applicable.
LORD STANLEYthought the matter well worthy the consideration of the noble Earl and Her Majesty's Government. True, the whole of the revenue and the lands of the colony would be the security for the guarantee of this country; but he doubted very much whether the revenue of the Province would, after providing for carrying on the administration of the Province, be a sufficient security for the sums required to construct the railway through New Brunswick, But even if it were, he thought that 143 in a national point of view, and particularly with reference to emigration from this country, very great advantage would be obtained by placing under the control of the Commissioners, who were, he understood, to act in conjunction with the colonial authorities, the promotion of colonisation along the line by emigrants going out under the superintendence and control of the Government. In that manner the surrender of the control of these lands along the railway, might, not only pecuniarily, but politically, be a most important matter for this country, with a view to transferring thither a large portion of industrious emigrants, who would not easily find their way there if the lands were not taken under the control of the Commissioners, but left to be disposed of by speculators for what they would fetch in the market.
§ EARL GREYwas understood to say that he thought any arrangement of this kind premature at present.
LORD STANLEYsaid, he thought the colony should be in the position of being able to offer a real security for the guarantee of this country; but he was afraid that without the surrender of the lands the colony would not have it in its power to give such security, and he should be sorry indeed if such an opposition were raised as that Parliament would be dissuaded by the insufficiency of the security to refuse its guarantee.
§ Petition to lie on the table.
§ House adjourned to Thursday the 1st of May next.