PART X.

INTERCOURSE BETWEEN GREAT BRITAIN AND HER NORTH AMERICAN COLONIES.

The industry of the inhabitants of the British North American colonies is principally engaged in agriculture, the fisheries, mines, and forests; in exporting the products of which to the United Kingdom and other British possessions, and to some foreign countries, and importing from thence, in exchange, the various requisites whose growth or manufacture is ill suited to the climate or condition of these possessions, consists their trade, and the great extent of employment it gives to British shipping.

The most important object of industry in British North America, as well as the most striking physical feature of the country, is the forestlofty, wide-spreading, and apparently illimitable-all unplanted by the hand, and, for a large part, yet untrodden by the foot of man; where, without having planted or sown, he may enter, and reap and gather in what nature for many centuries has been bountifully preparing for his

use.

The importance and value of the North American timber trade to England is so fully established, as to be beyond a doubt. The maritime supremacy of England has been maintained by it, new markets have been created for her manufactures, and a home, with remunerative employment, has been found for her surplus population.

To show the rise and progress of the trade between Great Britain and the North American colonies, the following statements are offered. These have been carefully compiled from Parliamentary returns, and may be relied upon.

Total official value of goods exported from Great Britain_to the British North American colonies in the years mentioned.

As marking the progress and extent of the trade between the United Kingdom and the North American colonies, the following return is presented, showing the ships and tonnage inward and outward in Great Britain and Ireland, to and from those colonies, distinguishing British from foreign, from 1840 to 1850, both years inclusive:

The official value of the import and export trade between Great Britain and the North American colonies, for the years 1818, 1819, 1820, 1832, 1838, 1843, and 1848, is thus stated:

Imports.. $6,610,215 $7,740,905 $6,064,225 $11,779,260 $12,114,765 $10,691,415 $11,279,135 Exports.. 8,976,320 10,005,165 8,381,580 9,544,785 11,696,035 11,287,250 11,240,150

The amount of tonnage inward and outward between Great Britain and the colonies, in 1800, 1805, and 1815, was as follows:

1800.

1805.

1815.

Colonies.

Inward. Outward. Inward. Outward. Inward. Outward.

The following statement, compiled from official returns, exhibits the total tonnage inward in Great Britain from the British North American colonies, as also the total tonnage outward to the same colonies, in 1845 and 1850, distinguishing British from foreign tonnage:

Tons.

Tons. Tons. Tons. Tons. Tons. Tons. Tons.

1, 480, 807 7, 045 1, 373, 724 12, 370 1, 258, 478 72, 178 1, 135, 734 73, 323

268, 329

210, 136

3,082

226,482 230
149, 095
7, 138

Total........ 1,962, 354 7, 0451, 756, 439 12, 600, 1, 530, 562 82, 085 1, 385, 468,92, 434

It will be borne in mind that on the 5th of January, 1850, the change in the navigation laws of England came into operation; and the foregoing table, therefore, shows the extent to which foreign tonnage was eng ged during that year in the trade between Great Britain and the North American colonies.

The extraordinary increase of the timber trade between Great Britain and her North American colonies is presented in the following statements, which commence with the year 1800. In that year there were imported into Great Britain, from the North American colonies, the following quantities of timber:

34,017 loads of fir timber.

843 do oak timber.

850 masts.

424 (standard hundreds) of deals.

7,214 hundreds staves.

In 1819 the timber trade with North America had greatly increased, as will be perceived by the following statement of timber imported into Great Britain from the colonies in that year:

The statements which follow give the quantities and value of the North American timber trade in 1840, 1845, and 1850, distinguishing he quantity entered for home consumption from the whole quantity imported.

Timber imported into the United Kingdom for home consumption.

*

NOTE. Quantities marked thus may be considered as wholly from the British North American colonies.

REMARK.-The above tables are compiled from the Annual Trade and Navigation Accounts and the Yearly Treasury Finance Returns.

To those acquainted with the timber trade, these returns will very likely explain themselves; but, in order to present in more precise form the state of the North American timber during the last three years, the following statement, compiled from the returns of the Board of Trade, is submitted:

Colonial timber and deals imported into the United Kingdom, in loads of 50 cubic feet: In 1849, 1,054,246; in 1850, 1,056,987; in 1851, 1,119,000.

In 1847 there was a large reduction in the duties on Baltic and other foreign timber; and in the North American colonies, great apprehensions were entertained that the remission of those duties would be highly injurious, if not almost fatal, to the colonial timber trade.