History of the settlement of Upper Canada (Ontario,): with special reference to the Bay QuintéCanniff, William
History
History of the settlement of Upper Canada (Ontario,): with special reference to the Bay Quinté
Canniff, William
Ontario -- History; Quinte, Bay of (Ont.)
concession uncleared and uncultivated, was an injury to the two-thirds
cleared and cultivated. Large patches of forest, interspersed with
cultivated land, obstructs the water courses, the air, and the light;
nurtured wild animals and vermin destructive to crops and domestic
creatures around a farm house; and especially, are injurious to roads
running through them, by preventing the wind and the sun from drying the
moisture. Besides, no taxes were paid by these wild lots for any public
improvements; only from cultivated lands. The Assembly, however, were
cut short in their work of complaint, by being suddenly prorogued by the
Governor, whose Council was entirely against such an investigation. Here
was the beginning of the Clergy Reserve agitation in the Provincial
Parliament, which continued for many years.”—(_Playter._)
In this connection, the following extract from a report of Lord Durham,
will be found interesting:
“By official returns which accompany this report, it appears that, out
of about 17,000,000 acres comprised within the surveyed districts of
Upper Canada, less than 1,600,000 acres are yet unappropriated, and this
amount includes 450,000 acres the reserve for roads, leaving less than
1,200,000 acres open to grant, and of this remnant 500,000 acres are
required to satisfy claims for grants founded on pledges by the
Government. In the opinion of Mr. Radenhurst, the really acting
Surveyor-General, the remaining 700,000 consist for the most, part of
land inferior in position or quality. It may almost be said, therefore,
that the whole of the public lands in Upper Canada have been alienated
by the Government. In Lower Canada, out of 6,169,963 acres in the
surveyed townships, nearly 4,000,000 acres have been granted or sold;
and there are unsatisfied but indisputable claims for grants to the
amount of about 500,000. In Nova Scotia nearly 6,000,000 acres of land
have been granted, and in the opinion of the Surveyor-General, only
about one-eighth of the land which remains to the Crown, or 300,000
acres is available for the purposes of settlement. The whole of Prince
Edward’s Island, about 1,400,000 acres, was alienated in one day. In New
Brunswick 4,400,000 acres have been granted or sold, leaving to the
Crown about 11,000,000, of which 5,500,000 are considered fit for
immediate settlement.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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