population already established in that to which they transfer themselves. It may not be altogether irrelevant to mention, as bearing on this subject, that the painful circumstances which attended the emigration of 1847 created for a time in this Province a certain prejudice against emigration generally. The poll tax on emigrants was increased, and the opinion widely disseminated that, however desirable the introduction of capitalists might be, an emigration of persons of the poorer classes was likely to prove a burden rather than a benefit. Commercial depression, and apprehensions as to the probable effect of the Free-trade policy of Great Britain on the prosperity of the Colonies, had an influence in the same direction. To counteract these tendencies which were calculated, as I thought, to be injurious in the long run both to the Mother-country and the Province, public attention was especially directed, in the Speech delivered from the Throne in 1849, to emigration by way of the St. Lawrence, as a branch of trade which it was most desirable to cultivate (irrespective altogether of its bearing on the settlement of the country) in consequence of the great excess of exports over imports by that route, and the consequent enhancement of freights outwards. These views obtained very general assent, and the measures which have been adopted since that period to render this route attractive to emigrants destined for the West (the effect of which is beginning now to be visible in the yearly increasing amount of emigration by way of Quebec from the continent of Europe), are calculated not only to promote the trade of the Province, but also to make settlers of a superior class acquainted with its advantages.[3] [Sidenote: Ottawa Valley.] This important region (the valley of the Ottawa) takes the name by which it is designated in popular parlance from the mighty stream which flows through it, and which, though it be but a tributary of the St. Lawrence, is one of the largest of the rivers that run uninterruptedly from the source to the discharge within the dominions of the Queen. It drains an area of about 80,000 square miles, and receives at various points in its course the waters of streams, some of which equal in magnitude the chief rivers of Great Britain. These streams open up to the enterprise of the lumberman the almost inexhaustible pine forests with which this region is clothed, and afford the means of transporting their produce to market. In improving these natural advantages considerable sums are expended by private individuals. £50,000 currency was voted by Parliament last session for the purpose of removing certain obstacles to the navigation of the Upper Ottawa, by the construction of a canal at a point which is now obstructed by rapids. [Sidenote: Demand for labour.]