Part 8

Throughout New Brunswick there is much excellent land, suited for different purposes. Like Nova Scotia, the province has its salt marshes and dyked lands on the Bay of Fundy, and its “intervales” along the rivers, both famous for their enormous crops of hay. It has, too, districts as well adapted, it is said, for the culture of apples, as the Annapolis valley itself. In fact it, also, is a mixed farming region, where grains of all kinds will grow; where one man pins his faith to dairying; another urges the profits to be made from sheep or poultry or pigs; and a third points triumphantly to his enormous and excellent crops of potatoes. The fact is that practically every branch of agriculture could be made far more productive with better methods and more labourers, even on the farms now being worked—to say nothing of the land that might be cultivated, and is not, at present, for want of population.

The consequence is that while New Brunswick has a ready welcome for good workers—especially those ready to labour with their hands, and having enough in their pockets to tide over the time of seeking for the right niches—the people she wants above all are people to till her fertile soil.

One vast advantage the modern settler on the land has over the old-time pioneer. He will find it easy to get good prices for his produce, either in the local markets or in the more distant but still (owing to railways and steamship lines) easily accessible ones of other provinces or countries.

In common with the other Maritime Provinces, New Brunswick appears to have been somewhat overlooked as a field for immigration from the British Isles, perhaps because, in spite of its possessing seaports of its own, the general line of travel has been by Montreal or New York, or possibly because these provinces have been slow to advertise themselves. “Why did we never hear anything about New Brunswick when we were making inquiries about coming to Canada?” asked a lady, whose settlement with her family in Ontario thirty years ago was due to the excellent report of that province made by a number of Scottish farmers. “If we had only known what a good country it is,” she added, “I daresay we might have stopped there, because it is so much nearer England.”

Nearness to the British Isles is one incontrovertible advantage for settlers leaving behind them friends in the old land; and I must say that the part of New Brunswick that I know best—that is the sunny valley of the St. John—has a pleasantly homelike look to eyes accustomed to England’s green hills and well-tilled fields. The sweeping lines of the low hills, the freshness of the mighty river, the great green woods massed here and there, the shady elms and willows of the little capital, the comfortable-looking farmhouses dotted along the slopes, all have a friendly familiar look of quiet content.

But I would not imply that this province is devoid of life and energy. The commercial capital, St. John (and there are many smaller towns like it), is much alive and “up-to-date,” with its good railway connections and its numerous steamships plying both to American and British ports, and it will be still more busy when its great dry docks and shipbuilding plant are finished. St. John is the Atlantic terminus of the Canadian Pacific Railway, which takes a short cut to Montreal across a corner of the State of Maine, and of one of the two great branches into which the Intercolonial Railway divides. The new National Transcontinental Railway has its Atlantic terminus at Moncton; and altogether it is said that New Brunswick has more miles of railway in proportion to its population than any other country in the world. The province has about thirteen thousand miles of roads, but these generally stand in need of improvement. Of course the numerous rivers necessitate a large number of bridges; and there are nearly four thousand, ranging in type from the quaint old covered bridge, looking like a barn with its ends knocked out, to the great modern erection of steel. The capital, Fredericton, has a bridge about half a mile long, but a few miles higher upstream the St. John is crossed by a primitive-looking ferry.

In some districts population is much scattered. In others the people are “comfortably close together”; but everywhere there is ample room for more people. In fact, there is still land to be had, on certain conditions, for the asking, or “improved farms” may be bought at low prices. Many of these are very good farms; but a few years since the local markets were comparatively poor, work was scarce, and the young people went west or south or to the cities—it is the same story as in Nova Scotia—in search of better opportunities.

With regard to the “free grants,” ten thousand acres have been laid out, in Restigouche county, in hundred-acre lots, and to obtain a title to one of these, the applicant must pay a fee of $5 (about £1) for surveying, reside on the land for three years, clear four acres, build a small house, and do $30 (£6) worth of labour on the roads, or pay an additional $20 (£4) in cash. Besides these free grants, the government has opened to settlement the Blue Bell Tract in Victoria county, between the C.P.R. and the St. John river, on the one side, and the new Transcontinental Railway on the other. This district, watered by the Tobique river, is “a rolling upland, covered with a fine growth of trees, free from underbrush.” Here hundred-acre lots, on a colonization road, are offered for sale at $1 the acre, one-fourth of the money to be paid on taking possession, and the remainder in four equal instalments.

For settlers with a little more capital, the government of New Brunswick has another proposition. A year or two ago a “Farm Settlement Board” of three commissioners was established by Act of Parliament, for the purpose of buying and improving suitable lands, erecting houses and farm buildings upon them, and selling them again to _bonâ fide_ settlers upon easy terms, at cost price. The payment for these may be spread over ten years, and in special cases the Board is empowered to give two years’ further grace; but the title “remains in the Board” till all payments have been made. (For addresses of persons from whom information may be obtained, see Appendix, Note A, page 296.)

In the ordinary way, farms may be bought in New Brunswick from $10 (£2) to $25 (£5) the acre, according to their size, the character of the soil, the condition of the buildings, their nearness to church, school and markets, and the proportion of land under cultivation. Most farmers in the province own the lands they occupy.

Not every man who might do well on an improved farm is suited to the “roughing it” involved in clearing a free grant; but if a newcomer, with little or no capital, is content to work for a time on wages, he can often put by enough to enable him to start to buy a farm for himself. Wages for a good man run from $10 (£2) or $15 (£3) monthly in the winter months to $20 (£4) in the summer, with board and lodging for a single man and a free house for a married one. Sometimes the farmers hire men only for the busy season, but work may often be obtained by a strong man in the lumber camps, even though he may not have had experience of the work. Of course it means hard, long, patient work to obtain success by such means; but the opportunities in New Brunswick are sufficiently great to ensure that thrift and industry usually have their reward.

The right of every child to a good sound education is recognized in New Brunswick, though in some of the country districts the salaries offered are so small that it is difficult to obtain fully qualified teachers. In this province also, the consolidated school has been tried with success. There is provision for a grammar school in every county, and at Fredericton (which is also the seat of the Provincial University) there is a Normal Training and a Model School for teachers.

The newcomer to New Brunswick may obtain much useful information as to the classes of fruit and stock likely to do well in his particular district, and advice on kindred subjects, if he chooses to write to the Department of Agriculture at Ottawa. Or, if he wishes to obtain instructions from specialists in bee-keeping, poultry-raising or apple-growing, he may write to the provinicial government at Fredericton. In 1904, by the way, the latter began, through experts, the planting and direction of “illustration orchards” in different districts. These are managed on an interesting plan of co-operation, the government supplying the young trees and the expert knowledge, and the farmer supplying the labour and the land and reaping the fruit, on condition that for ten years “he will cultivate and care for the orchard in accordance with the directions of the Department of Agriculture.” The newcomer may also gain much help from his neighbours, especially if he joins the Agricultural Association of his district and shows willingness to make himself one with them generally.

These and other associations formed for serious purposes, as well as the churches, have a great social value in sparsely settled districts; but though the farmers and their families are generally industrious they do not believe in all work and no play, and in the winter especially they find some time for visiting and recreation.

At present by far the greater proportion of the people are natives of the province, chiefly of British stock. Of the remainder, some thousands were born in the British Isles, and several thousands more have come in from the United States. More than a quarter of the people are French; there are also a number of Germans, Dutch, Scandinavians and other foreigners.

In religion more than a third of the people are Roman Catholics; but this body is surpassed in number of church buildings both by the Baptists and the Methodists. Of Protestant denominations, the Baptists are strongest, then follow the Anglicans, Presbyterians and the Methodists. Of course there is no “established church” here, nor in any part of Canada; and the chaplain of the legislative assembly (New Brunswick has only a single chamber), who opens the proceedings with prayer, is chosen in rotation from the Baptists, Anglicans, Presbyterians and Methodists.

VIII PRINCE EDWARD ISLAND

THIS, by far the smallest of the Canadian provinces, seems to exercise a peculiar charm on all who visit or dwell within it. “Abegweit”—“Rest on the Wave”—was the poetic name bestowed upon it by its Indian inhabitants; and rugged Jacques Cartier, the Breton explorer, described the country in glowing terms as “the most beautiful it is possible to see . . . full of beautiful trees and meadows . . . of pease, white and red gooseberries, strawberries, blackberries and wild grain like rye,” and having “the best temperature it is possible to see.”

In shape Prince Edward Island bears some resemblance to a crescent with the two horns turned northwards, and the outer curve lying from nine to fifteen miles away from the corresponding curve of the mainland shores of New Brunswick and Nova Scotia. Its greatest length is about one hundred and forty miles, and its greatest breadth thirty-four miles, but its shores are so deeply indented with bays and inlets that the distance between water and water is in places only two miles.

Its soil is peculiarly fertile; and compared with the other provinces—all of which have large stretches of wild land, either uncultivated or uncultivable—it may well claim the title of the “Garden of the Gulf,” for 86 per cent. of its surface is occupied by farms, and very little of the remaining 14 per cent. is actually worthless for agriculture.

It has no mountains or wild, rugged hills, no great forests, and of course no great rivers; but the land is pleasantly undulating, vegetation is usually richly green, contrasting with soil of a warm reddish hue, with glints of shining water, or with lines of snowy breakers, roaring on the sands. In general the character of the scenery is mild and gentle and smiling; with a glad wealth of colour when the orchards are breaking into bloom, or when the first touch of frost is kindling a magic glow amongst the maples and sumach trees. But the wildly-beating surf on the reefs of the north shore forbids that even here nature’s majesty and strength and terror should be forgotten.

The climate is milder than that of the mainland near by, neither so sharply cold in winter nor so fiercely hot in summer, though all writers have praise for the “Island’s” clear blue skies and plenitude of sunlight.

Prince Edward Island is reached by steamers from Point du Chêne in New Brunswick to Summerside; and from Pictou in Nova Scotia to Charlottetown; or from Pictou to Georgetown, when the strait is full of ice. Strongly-built ice-breaking steamers, however, usually manage to keep open communication with the capital of the little province; and in winter there is an “ice-boat service,” by which the adventurous can cross from Cape Tormentine to Cape Traverse. The ice-boat is contrived to travel either in water or on the ice by means of “twin keels,” which in case of necessity serve as “runners.”

The people, however, have for long demanded improved means of communication with the mainland, and at last a “car-ferry” steamer (powerful enough to force its way through the worst ice) is to be constructed to connect the railway on the island with the Intercolonial line on the mainland. Both are owned by the Dominion government. “The island railway is of a narrow gauge, but it is to be changed this year to the standard gauge (4 ft. 8½ ins.) of the Canadian and American lines.” When this is done, Prince Edward Island will be very happily situated in the matter of transportation service, for into her three counties, all with easy water-communication, is packed a well-branched railway line of two hundred and sixty miles.

Prince Edward Island was first called the Island of St. John, but historians are not agreed as to who bestowed this name upon “the right little, tight little island.” Some people think it was John Cabot; some Samuel Champlain; but, at any rate, it bore the name from the time its history began until 1799, when it was re-christened in honour of Queen Victoria’s father. In 1663 it was granted by the “Company of New France” to a French naval officer, Doublet, and a few fishing stations were established. As late as 1728 it had only three hundred inhabitants; but after the deportation of the Acadians from Nova Scotia in 1755, a good many of these hapless people took refuge in the peaceful island. It was annexed by the British the year before the capture of Quebec, and was amongst the territories formally ceded to England by the Treaty of Paris in 1763.

In 1767 the soil of nearly the whole island was disposed of in one day to officers and other gentlemen, who agreed to settle the country, and, by paying small “quit-rents” for their lands, to provide for the cost of government. Small reservations were made for the support of churches and schools; but the plan, it may be said, was an utter failure, saddling the island for many years with a class of absentee landlords, who did practically nothing for the country. For more than a century the cultivators of the soil remained in the position of tenants.

In 1873, when the province agreed to enter into Confederation, the Dominion government granted $800,000 (£160,000) to aid in buying out the land-owners; but many would not sell, till an Act was passed in 1875 obliging them to sell at a fair price to the Provincial government, which in turn sold to the tenants.

Many years earlier, in 1851, the Islanders had secured responsible government. At that time the Parliament consisted of a Governor and Legislative Council, appointed by the Crown, and an elective Assembly. Later, the Council also was elected by owners of leasehold and freehold property worth $325 (£65) and over. Finally, in 1893, the unusual arrangement was made of amalgamating the two branches of the Legislature; and now fifteen councilmen, chosen by the property-owners, and fifteen assembly men, elected by the men of the Province, on a property qualification so low that scarcely any man is excluded, sit and vote together.

The legislature of Prince Edward Island, which first met in 1773, is housed in a fine old, grey stone building in Charlottetown, fronting on Queen Square, about which are other public buildings, including the Law Courts, the General Post Office, the Custom House, and the market building, which every Tuesday and Friday, when the country people come in to dispose of their produce, presents a very animated scene.

But to return to the government. The expenditure on the salaries of the Lieutenant-Governor, the cabinet ministers and the members of the assembly; the administration of justice; the support of schools and public works and some other charges amount to $420,000 (about £84,000). Three-fourths of this is met by the subsidy from the Federal government, and the remaining quarter is raised by provincial taxes, which are very low. The province is represented in the Dominion parliament by four senators, and four members of the House of Commons.

The population, despite the prosperity of the island, diminished by over nine thousand between 1901 and the next census year, 1911. It has been suggested that this was due in part to the “lure of the West,” and perhaps in part to the fact that many of the people are descended from that race of wanderers and excellent pioneers, the Scotch. During the great migration of the American loyalists northward, the Island of St. John obtained a considerable addition to its population. These were of various races; but in 1803 Lord Selkirk brought out eight hundred Highland crofters, and after a short time of hardship these colonists settled down happily. Many of their descendants still dwell in the island.

There are a few manufacturing establishments at the capital—Charlottetown—and at others of its small centres of population, but chiefly of a description depending directly on the industries of fishing and farming.

The island is naturally a favourable place for fishermen. Its fisheries of cod, mackerel, herring, lobsters and oysters are important, the latter fishery being the most valuable of its kind in Canada. The “Malpeque oyster,” from the bay so named, is widely famous, and the provincial government is taking steps “to extend and develop this industry by the replanting and cultivation of an area estimated at one hundred thousand acres.”

The tourist trade is such an important branch of the island’s industries that, in this connection, it is matter for congratulation that the summer visitors can find trout in the numerous streams and can enjoy sea-fishing from boats. As for game, moose and bears need not be looked for in the “Garden” province; but wild fowl are plentiful in the season.

After all, however, the soil is the chief source of wealth, and the island possesses “a fertilizer of singular value and potency” in the mussel or oyster mud found in vast quantities in all its bays and river mouths, and consisting of “the organic remains of countless generations of oysters, mussels, clams and other bivalves.” This is a veritable “mine of wealth to the island,” enriching the poorest soils, so that they grow excellent crops of clover, turnips and potatoes.

In times past the settlers of Prince Edward Island made the mistake—common in farming virgin soils—of continuing year after year to raise the same crop, without taking any measures to secure the continued fertility of the soil. Happily, through private enterprise and government encouragement, more scientific methods are coming into fashion, and the farmers are going extensively into dairying. In consequence, many farms have gone up 50 per cent. in value and productiveness during the past two decades; and, in the last census, little Prince Edward Island could point with pardonable pride to a much greater product from her dairy factories than could be shown by either of the far larger provinces of Nova Scotia and New Brunswick.

In proportion to size this province has the largest population of any, but there is room still for many a good farmer. It is not a land of free grants, but there are farms for sale at reasonable prices which could be farmed to great advantage by men with a little capital, trained in good English methods. Of course the prices depend on situation and worth of buildings, as well as on the quality of the land, but farms of different sizes ranging from ten to two hundred and fifty acres may be bought at from about £2 the acre (in the case of good-sized farms) to £16 the acre.

In Prince Edward Island such a large proportion of the people are farmers that their importance to the community is recognized more readily than where the mercantile classes predominate and have the ear of the government. Great efforts are now being made to give an education in the public schools suited to the needs of the rural population. At the Teachers’ College and Normal School in Charlottetown courses of lectures are given in agriculture. At several places school gardens have been introduced with good results, and in others one “consolidated school,” with different teachers for different classes, has taken the place of six ordinary schools, the children being taken to and from the centre in vans. Steps have also been taken to arrange for better salaries for teachers.

The farmers and their families work hard, but usually find some time for reading, music, or other recreations, and social gatherings, especially in the “slack” winter season, and as a rule they live well. They are rarely addicted to indulgence in any liquor stronger than tea. In fact, the sale of intoxicants, unless prescribed by a doctor, is prohibited in Prince Edward Island, and, though the law may be sometimes evaded, the consumption of strong drink is much less than it was a generation ago.

There are many churches in Prince Edward Island. Considerably over one-third of the people belong to the church of Rome, and of the Protestant denominations the Presbyterians are much the strongest. The people support their own churches, largely by congregational subscriptions, supplemented in poor districts by grants from the “Mission Funds” of the particular religious body. Of course the churches are a very important factor in the social as well as the religious life of the people. In this connection, societies and organizations, such as the “Sons of Temperance” and the “Foresters,” are also of importance.

There is a demand in Prince Edward Island for farm workers, and though the wages are not quite so high as in some parts of Canada, it has the advantage for British immigrants of being nearer to England, and of conditions more closely resembling those of the “Old Country.” Wages for an experienced man, with board and lodging, range from $12 (£2 8s.) a month in the winter to $16 (£3 4s.) a month through the busy season, of about eight months; a married man can often obtain a cottage rent free.