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Legislative Assembly, 9 May 1865, New Brunswick Confederation Debates

60 DEBATES OF THE HOUSE OF ASSEMBLY FOR 1865.

Tuesday, May 9.

  The Speaker called the attention of  the House to a Bill relating to the Charlotte County Bank, introduced by Mr. Boyd yesterday. As it partook of a local character, the Bill came under the rule and could not be received.
  Mr. Boyd said in that case he should  pursue the usual course, and he therefore moved that the rule be suspended.
  Hon. Mr. Allen said, that although  the Bill was of a somewhat public character, yet no harm could arise from its lying over till the people were fully notified of the intention of the Bill.
  Mr. Cudlip thought the rule should be  suspended and the Bill be allowed to come in. Till the affairs of the Bank are fully wound up the people will not feel justified in entering into new arrangements for the opening of another Bank.
  Mr. Kerr said the Bank could carry  out their designs without the passage of such a Bill as this. Its object is to legislate away the rights of certain parties holding notes on the Bank. They could, if they choose, close down their business under the Act without further legislation. He believed that a bank note, payable on demand, should be held to be good till the demand was made. He thought the Bill a local one.
  Mr. Thompson said full notice of the  winding up of the affairs of the Bank had been given. The object of the Bill was to allow shareholders to sell certain lands DEBATES OF THE HOUSE OF ASSEMBLY FOR 1865. 31 they held and divide the proceeds among them. They would thus receive a benefit that would not otherwise be made available. The passage of the Bill would benefit the few interested and injure no one. The people are desirous the affairs should be closed down, so that another can be established there, as now they have to send to a distance, which is very inconvenient.
Mr. Gilbert said it was a principle laid down with regard to all engagements, that unless the demand were made within a certain time, the claim became void. And so with regard to this Bank, unless the notes now out should be handed in within a limited period, the Bank should not be liable. As the Bill was of a public, as well as of a private nature, he was favorable to the suspension of the rule.
Hon. Mr. Anglin said several of his constituents were interested in the Bank and were desirous the affairs should be wound up ; still he thought that time for the publication of the Bill should be given. The shareholders complain that their property is being squandered by the keeping open of an office in St. Andrews. The Bill should be submitted to a Select Committee to provide such safeguards as will secure the interests of the stockholders.
The rule was suspended.
Mr. Cudlip moved the House into Committee of the whole on a Bill to amend an Act relating to the collection of taxes, small debts and other matters relating to the Parish of Portland, and also to limit the action of the Magistrate of the European and North American Railway.
Mr Lewis is the chair.
The Bill was agreed to.
Mr. McClellan presented a petition from C. W. Stockton and others, freeholders of King's County, praying that the Act establishing the Shire Town at Sussex, near the line of Railway, be not repealed.
Mr. McMillan read and presented a petition from Caleb McCully, Alexander Fraser, E. Lobban, and J. Devereaux, against the return of Richard Hitchinson, Esq., as one of the members of the Coun ty of Northumberland, on the ground of bribery and corruption, and want of qualification.
Mr. McMillan moved that the House do on Monday next, May 15th, at the hour of eleven in the forenoon, go into consideration of the matter contained in the petition against the return of Richard Hutchison, Esq.
Mr. Coram presented a petition from the Common Council, praying that Bill may pass relating to the Water Supply of the City and County of St. John.
Mr. Cudlip moved and Mr. McMillan seconded a resolution that the Hon. Joseph Howe, of Nova Scotia, be invited to a seat on the floors of the House.
Mr. Coram moved for leave to bring in a Bill to amend an Act to abolish the Fishery Draft on the Western side of the Harbor, and also presented a petition in support of the same.
Mr. Cudlip moved the House into Committee of the whole on a Bill for the alteration and amendment of the local government of the Parish of Simonds, in the County of St.John
Mr. Young is the chair.
The Bill was agreed to.
Hon. Mr. Anglin presented a petition from Robert Rankin & Co., and others, praying that a Bill may pass for the improvement of the Harbor and Steamboat accommodation at Indiantown.
Hon. Mr. Anglin presented a petition from the Mayor, Aldermen and Commonalty of the City of St. John, praying that a Bill may pass to provide for the registry and conveyance of personal property in the City and County of St. John.
Hon. Mr. Anglin moved for leave to bring in a Bill to provide for the registry and conveyance of personal property in certain places.
Mr. McClellan said as he saw several members of the Government in their places, he wished to ask if any despatches other than those laid before the House had been received from the Governments of the other provinces respecting a Union of the Maritime Provinces. If they had, he gave notice that on the 12th inst. he should move the following address :—
Resolved, That an humble Address be presented to His Excellency the Lieutenant Governor, praying that His Excellency will be pleased to cause to be laid before this House copies of all despatches sent to Her Majesty's Secretary of State for the Colonies, or received from him, and not already laid before theis House, having reference to a Union of the Maritime Provinces ; also all memorandum or Minutes of Council made by the Government of this Province, or transacted by the neighboring Colonies, with any correspondence therewith and relating to said subject.
Hon. Mr. Wilmot replied that all despatches, so far as he knew, had been laid before the House.
Mr. Coram moved for leave to bring in a Bill relating to the debt of the Corporation of the City of Saint John, and presented a petition from the Common Council praying it may pass.
Hon Mr. Anglin presented a petition from J. McGrath, and other inhabitants of Saint John, praying that the Act entitled an Act to abolish the Fishery Draft, may be repealed.
Mr. Gilbert moved the House into Committee of the Whole on his Resolution relating to Free Grants of Land to settlers and the opening of roads at the public expense.
Mr. Needham is the Chair.
As nothing was done, on motion of Mr. Kerr, Mr. Needham left the Chair, and the Speaker resumed his seat.

FREE GRANTS AND OPENING ROADS

Mr. Gilbert said :—To my mind the interests of the new settlers, and the means taken by the Legislature to promote these Interests, are of great importance. I intended to have submitted these resolutions to the late Parliment, but its dissolution prevented. I now submit them to this new House. Looking at the industrial resources of the country, gradually on the wane, and seeing the people who have almost exclusively devoted themselves to the lumbering and shipbuilding interests suffering from their prostration, laboring with little or no prospect of a return commensurate with their labour. Seeing all this, it is time the Legislature turn its attention to that branch on which the Province must chiefly depend for its prosperity. I refer to its agricultural resources. We must not lose sight of the necessity that exists for the opening up of the waste lands of our Province. By this means we shall increase our population and add to our revenue. The present system is most objectionable, as it allows a settler to go where he chooses, but provides no roads by which he can get to his land. This, we know, discourages him, and he leaves the Province for another home. If the Government would lay off lands in townships, and make roads through them, new settlers would not have this source of discouragement to contend with. I now know many cases where a man who has settled in the backwoods has to carry his seed wheat and whatever else he needs from the settlement to the place where he lives, on his back. This is very hard. The country here is not an open one, as in Western Canada, but is covered with heavy timber ; and I contend that it is not a sound policy that a new settler should have to spend his labor in grubbing up stumps on the roads when all his exertions should be put forth to clear this growth of timber from his lands. Our climate is healthy, our soil is fertile, and so far as we can compete with other parts of this continent ; but on account of the thick growth of timber a settler cannot get as quick a return for his labor as in many other places on this continent. In Upper Canada, the inducements are much greater than here. What we want is a population. It is this that has developed the United States. Their prosperity is attributable to the large immigration which they have received. It is a subject of importance that we offer inducements to settlers to come here, and at the end of say five years, to give them a free grant. When a man has lived five years in a place he becomes attached to it, and does not want to leave.During that time, it may be, he has raised a family, which, the more it increases, the more dutiable articles they consume, which produces a return to the revenues of the country. My idea is to lay off say five or ten thousand acres of land a year, to make free grants of alternate lots, and to make roads through them. By this means the people will be able to get hold of those large blocks of land which now are held by speculators in lumber, or reduce the price on them so that new settlers can compete with them. I hope this matter will be taken up by the Government—a Government I expect a great deal from—during the recess, and that some provision will be made for it.— If something of this kind be done, we shall be able to get emigrants not only from England and Ireland, but also from the North of Europe who, knowing that we possess a healthy climate, a fertile soil, and that they will receive free grants of land, and have roads made at the public expense, will be willing to come here. All then required will be that the benefits to be enjoyed here are made known. This system has been adopted in Lower Canada, and is to be in Upper Canada. We should act so as to come into competition with them. We cannot expect to have wealth without labor, nor labor without population, nor population without inducements. I trust this matter will receive that attention at the hands of the Government that it demands.
Mr. Kerr.—I wish to ask the hon. member for Westmorland what he estimates the expense of this work, and where he expects the funds for carrying it out to come from.
Mr. Gilbert.—It is my intention to move the House into Committee on a resolution for the saving of large sums to the public revenues. The expense of laying out these lots and making roads will not be more than $4,000 or $5,000 annually, and this amound could be saved by a reduction of the present expenditure.
Hon. Mr. Anglin.—This seems an unusual mode of instructing the Government. To various plans introduced by the hon. member for Westmorland it has already been replied, that the Government have [...]

Source:

New Brunswick. Reports of the Debates of the House of Assembly. St. John: G.W. Day, 1865-1867. Microfilm copies provided by the Provincial Archives of New Brunswick.

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Selection of input documents and completion of metadata: Gordon Lyall.

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