WHY ENGLISHMEN DO NOT EMIGRATE TO BRITISH COLUMBIA.

Otago Daily Times, Issue 238, 24 September 1862, Page 6

WHY ENGLISHMEN DO NOT EMIGRATE TO BRITISH COLUMBIA.

The North British Review contaias a long and interesting article on the affairs of.British Columbia, with this-, plain, statement of , ficts:— } ,';.- f •.•,•,-:'. •.;;. f :^-y..,; ■;,--.- ■;- There are two obstacles to the speedy colonisation of British Columbia—namely, its great distance from England, and the want- of roads into the interior. While Canada, the Cape, Australia, and jSTew Zealand,, offer their lands on liberal terms, it is scarcely to be expected that the British emigrant, unless under extraordinary inducements, will turn" his attention to the youngest and most distant of the colonies, as a voyage of five months or an expensive journey across the Isthmus must be undertaken before he can reach the settlement. The distance "of the colony from the mother country counterbalances for the present its great attractions, and will continue to do so until a road is constructed across British North America. Thisjs_ a desideratum which we believe is now seriously engaging the attention of scientific men and of statesmen. AVithout it, not only will British Columbia continue practically inaccessible to the best class- of (jemigrants, but a permanent barrier must continue to be interposed to the colonisation of a territory not inferior in fertility to the best portions of Canada. ' The basin of Lake Winnepeg and the valley of the Saskatchewan have been recently explored by order of the British Government and Canadian Parliament. The quantity of laud in British North America fit for settlement and capable of cultivation is estimated at no less than 500,000 square miles. The climate is no drawback, the heat of the summer being sufficient to bring the most of the cereals to maturity over vast tracts of country far north of the 47th parallel. The lied River settlement is an example of the great productiveness of this portion of the American continent; and there are, it has been ascertained, enormous areas in the Saskatchewan and Lake Winnepeg basins equally suited for agriculture, and rich in most of the elements of wealth. The passes of the Rocky. Mountain's have been examined, and these expeditions have resulted in the discovery that there exists no practical difficulty in the construction of a road, and even a railway; from the shores of Lake Superior to Frascr River, and as British vessels can nnw proceed for two thousand miles into the American continent, by the St. Lawrence and the canal and Lake navigation of Canada, a road for the remainder of the distance to British Columbia ought, considering its importance, to present as few difficulties in a financial, as it does in an engineering point-of view. In the colony itself the want of communication is severely felt. The force despatched in aid of the first co'onisis in road-making has proved wholly inadequate, and there are no funds, in the present undeveloped state of the colony, available even for the most necessary public works. Possessing as yet little or no export trade, and the gold of the miners passing over the boundary into the United States territory, to evade the duty on its export the public resources of the country are restricted to such duties as can be levied on imports, and these in a somewhat unsettled state of society are not always easily collected. Capital for making the first roads in a new" colony might, we think, be endowed with the elemeuts of success; immigration would set in, aud a rapidly increasing population would soon enable the local government to pay off the debt thus incurred, and the commerce of Great Britain could not but feel in a short time the effect of &> provident an outlay- Such is the course adopted by the Government of the United States in its new settlements. Roads are the first necessities of civilisation; without them there can be neither trade, social progress, nor political government. At present the population of British Columbia is almost wholly fed and clothed from the neighboring States*of Oregon and California. The exports of the colony are insignificant, and consist only of a few tons of oil, a little coal, and some barrels of cranberries. Some spars that were ordered from England had to be purchased from a neighboring state, although the forests of British Columbia abound with the finest timber in the world. There were then in the colony no means of transporting them to the coast. Hay, which sells at price's ranging from £8 to <£16 per ton, is imported from California, as are building materials from Puget Sound and Oregon. "In our present state," writes an intelligent settler, "we are compelled to sit on an American chair, wear an American hat, read an American book, and patronize an American tailor: in fact America reigns supreme, and this must be the case while we are driven of necessity to American markets to obtain our supplies. All the articles that we require now fetch here three times their cost in England, and are, moreover, of an inferior description. A ready and remunerative market is a great boon to the shipper, but we have more to offer—we have good harbors and a free port. Not one iota of duty has to be paid on the goods shipped to Victoria; there they can remain till they are sold; and when sold, first-class paper on England in payment is at the disposal of the merchant." These facts cannot, generally be known in England. The imports into British Columbia and Vancouver Island amount to 700,000 dollars yearly, but the gold of British Columbia, in consequence of the absence of trade with the mother country, instead of finding its way to England, goes to swell the exports of the precious metal from California.