Junior, Esquires, and 77 others, inhabitants of the Parish of Saint Martins, in the County of Saint John, praying that the said Parish may be relieved from the operation of an Act to provide for the erection of an Alms House and Work House and to establish a Public Infirmary in and for the City and County of Saint John; which he read. Ordered, That the said Petition be received, and lie on the Table. Mr. Hill, by leave, presented a Petition from Mary Albee, of the Parish of Saint Stephen, in the County of Charlotte, praying to be remunerated for teaching a School in that Parish, for a period of six months, ending in March, 1839; which he read. Ordered, That the said Petition be received, and referred to the Committee for taking Petitions of a like prayer under consideration, to report thereon. On motion of Mr. Partelow, The House went into Committee of the whole, on a Bill to continue the Act to provide for the collection of County and Parish Rates. Mr. Hill in the Chair of the Committee. Mr. Speaker resumed the Chair. The Chairman reported, that the Committee had the Bill referred to them under their consideration, and agreed to the same. Ordered, That the Report be accepted, and the Bill engrossed. Mr. Jordan moved for leave to bring in a Bill, to repeal such parts of the Act to provide for the erection of an Alms House and Work House and to establish a Public Infirmary in and for the City and County of Saint John, as relates to the inhabitants of the Parish of Saint Martins. Leave granted. The said Bill being brought in, was read a first time. On motion of Mr. Partelow, The House went into Committee of the whole, on a Bill to continue the Act for the more speedy and effectual punishment of persons keeping disorderly Houses. Mr. Boyd in the Chair of the Committee. Mr. Speaker resumed the Chair. The Chairman reported, that the Committee had the Bill referred to them under their consideration, and agreed to the same. Ordered, That the Report be accepted, and the Bill engrossed. Mr. Stewart, by leave, presented a Petition from William End, Esquire, Registrar of Deeds and Wills for the County of Gloucester, praying that an Act may pass, legalizing the Registrations in that Office from the year 1827 to 1837; which he read. Ordered, That the said Petition be received, and lie on the Table; and On motion of Mr. Stewart, Resolved, That the said Petition be referred to a Select Committee, to report thereon. Ordered, That the Honorable Mr. Weldon, Mr. Fisher and Mr. Street, do compose the said Committee. On motion of Mr. Partelow, The House went into Committee of the whole, on a Bill to continue the Act to regulate the Inspection of Dry and Pickled Fish for Home consumption and for Exportation. Mr. Hayward in the Chair of the Committee. Mr. Speaker resumed the Chair. The Chairman reported, that the Committee had the Bill referred to them under their consideration, and agreed to the same. Ordered, That the Report be accepted, and the Bill engrossed. A Message from His Excellency the Lieutenant Governor. The Honorable Mr. Johnston, by command of His Excellency, delivered the following Messages : "New Brunswick. Message to the House of Assembly, 4th February, 1840. "J. HARVEY, Lt. Governor. "The Lieutenant Governor lays before the House of Assembly, a copy of a Despatch Despatch from Her Majesty's Secretary of State for the Colonies, transmitting a proposition from the Directors of the Nova Scotia and New Brunswick Land Company, relative to the completion of the payments due from that Company for Lands purchased in this Province; and recommends to the consideration of the House the making of an amicable arrangement with the Company upon that subject. "J. H." The following are the documents referred to in the aforegoing Message: SIR, NEW BRUNSWICK AND NOVA SCOTIA LAND COMPANY. Downing Street, 31st August, 1839. I transmit herewith for your information the copies of a Correspondence which has passed between this Department and the Directors of the New Brunswick Land Company, in respect to the completion of the payment due from the Company to Her Majesty's Government on account of the land purchased by them in New Brunswick. I have to request that you will bring this correspondence under the early consideration of the House of Assembly, in order that they may decide whether the arrangement proposed by the Directors of the Company is such as they can approve. I have, &c. (Signed) NORMANBY. Major General Sir JOHN HARVEY, K. C. B., &c. &c. &c. MY LORD, New Brunswick and Nova Scotia Land Company, 5 Copthall Court, London, 19th August, 1839. We are instructed by the Directors of the New Brunswick and Nova Scotia Land Company, to acknowledge the receipt of your Lordship's Letter, dated 15th instant, enclosing a copy of Major General Sir John Harvey's Despatch, dated 22d June, stating the result of a conference which had taken place on the 21st June, between the Agents of the Crown and those of the New Brunswick and Nova Scotia Land Company. Having very recently received Letters from the Company's Commissioner, Captain Hayne, dated 27th June, on the same subject, the Directors are fully inclined to acknowledge that the period is arrived when the Company is bound to make provision for paying a portion of the balance due for the purchase, and arranging the dates for paying the remainder; and in stating this the Directors also admit that the period is approaching when the first portion so provided will have to be paid. Having referred very carefully both to the contents of Sir John Harvey's Despatches, addressed to your Lordship, and to Captain Hayne's Letter of the 27th June, the Directors do not find any data as to the number of acres to be conveyed by the Crown to the Company which might enable either the Colonial Department or the Directors to calculate the Balance due from the Company to Her Majesty's Government, neither can the Directors infer from Captain Hayne's letter that the Crown Survey is yet perfectly adjusted, nor the Map completed, so as to form a component part of the Company's title. Being, however, extremely desirous to prove that they have never supported any plea for delaying payment of the balance which was not actually connected with the incomplete state of the Crown Survey, the Directors beg leave to propose to your Lordship, that the payment of the whole sum which shall be finally ascertained to be due to Her Majesty's Government, shall be divided into four instalments, payable as follows, viz:- £8,000 as speedily as the receipt of the payment of a call now about to be made upon the Company's Capital Stock enables the Directors to pay the amount, say on or about the 20th October next. £8,000 the 30th September, 1840. £8,000 the 30th September, 1841; and the remainder as the amount may be finally adjusted, on the 1st September, 1842. The payment of the first of these instalments to be made unconditionally, and the payment of the other instalments to be conditional on the complete adjustment of the Survey, and the details therewith connected. The grounds upon which the Directors appeal with confidence to your Lordship for the modification in the payment of the balance by instalments, instead of at once, are, that the New Brunswick and Nova Scotia Land Company, although not bound by the conditions of the original contract to make any improvement upon their tracts of land, have expended upwards of £70,000 in roads, clearings, and settlements: that Crown Lands in the Province of New Brunswick, which at the time of the original contract were selling at five shillings per acre, are now offered for sale at two shillings and six pence and three shillings and six pence, Currency: that the state of political affairs in British North America has very materially diminished the emigration of British Subjects to these Provinces, and thus deprived the Company of any returns arising from sales of their Lands; added to which there is a very heavy existing pressure in the Money Market. We are particularly desired to take this occasion to apologize for an apparent want of attention on the part of the Directors, in not having duly acknowledged your Lordship's Communication, dated 17th June last. It was, however, deferred at the time, because it appeared from the tenor of that Communication, that a reference from the Colonial Department to the Lieutenant Governor of New Brunswick, on the subject of the Survey, was awaiting a reply from thence; neither had the Directors received any conclusive information on the subject from the Company's Commissioner. GENTLEMEN, (Signed) We have, &c. J. BAINBRIDGE, Downing Street, 31st August, 1839. I am directed by the Marquis of Normanby to acknowledge the receipt of your letter of the 19th instant, in which you propose to pay the remainder of the purchase money due on account of the Land bought by the New Brunswick Land Company of Her Majesty's Government. In reply, I am to inform you that as the payments of the Company form a part of that Territorial Revenue which has been ceded to the local Legislature in return for a Civil List, Her Majesty's Government have no authority to relax the conditions of the original agreement in respect to the manner and rate of payment; but Lord Normanby will transmit a copy of your letter to Sir John Harvey, and will direct him to bring it under the consideration of the House of Assembly at their next meeting, in order that their opinion on the proposed arrangement may be ascertained. "New Brunswick. I have, &c. Message to the House of Assembly, 5th February, 1840. "J. HARVEY, Lt. Governor. "The Lieutenant Governor informs the House of Assembly, that frequent applications have been made to him for Licences to practice Physic and Surgery, for the granting of which a previous examination is by Law required; but there is no properly constituted Board of Examiners, and in some instances the Gentlemen applied to for the purpose have declined to serve: The Lieutenant Governor therefore invites the attention of the House to this subject, and recommends that provision be made for the appointment of a Medical Board, to whom applicants for Licences may present themselves for examination, and authorizing reasonable compensation to the Members of that Board for their services. "J. H." The Honorable Mr. Johnston, also by command of His Excellency, laid before the House, copies of Despatches from the Home Government, and various other documents, viz: 1st. Copy of Despatch from Colonial Office, with its enclosures, relative to Steam Communication between Great Britain and British North America. 2nd. Copy of Correspondence between Colonial and Treasury Offices, relative to remission of Duties on Military Equipments sent out for the Militia. 3rd. Copies of Despatches from Colonial Office, relative to Canal between Bay of Fundy and Gulph of Saint Lawrence, with opinion of Mr. Charles Hare upon the subject. 4th. Copy of Despatch from Colonial Office, relative to Tennure of Offices in the gift of the Crown. 5th. Copy of Communication from Keith Stewart, Captain of Her Majesty's Schooner Ringdove, upon the subject of protection afforded to the Fisheries, and inspection make by him of Light Houses in the Bay of Fundy, &c. 6th. Copy of Communication from Moses H. Perley, Esquire, Agent in New Brunswick, for the North American Colonial Association of Ireland, with various documents from that Association. These documents being severally read at the Clerk's Table are as follow: STEAM COMMUNICATION BETWEEN GREAT BRITAIN AND BRITISH NORTH AMERICA. Downing Street, 4th May, 1839. SIR, With reference to my predecessor's Circular Despatch of 24th October last, I have the honor to transmit herewith for your information, an Extract of a Letter from the Secretary to the Lords Commissioners Commissioners of the Treasury, stating the arrangements which have been made by their Lordships for establishing Steam Communication between Great Britain and British North America. I also enclose an Extract of a Report, addressed to the Post Master General by the Deputy Post Master General at Quebec, on the subject of the route by which the Mail may be most conveniently carried from Halifax to Quebec. On this point I do not feel competent to express any decided opinion, more especially, as I have not before me any late report on the state of the Metis Road, but I request you to take the subject into your early consideration, and to report to me your opinion as to the route which it would be most advisable to select for the conveyance of the Mail, not only with reference to rapidity of communication, but with reference to security in the event of collision between this country and the United States. Major General Sir JOHN HARVEY, &c. &c. &c. (Signed) I have, &c. NORMANBY. "With reference to your Letter of the 3d instant, and its enclosure from Sir John Harvey, urging the importance of establishing a Steam Communication between this Country and British North America, at the earliest possible moment; and to the correspondence which has previously taken place on the subject of Steam Communication with Halifax, I have it in command from the Lords Commissioners of Her Majesty's Treasury, to request you will state to the Marquis of Normanby, that my Lords have not failed to use their earnest efforts to carry the views expressed in their former communications into effect. "In furtherance of this object, the Lords of the Admiralty, in communication with this Board, advertised for tenders, but no offer was made on conditions which answered the advertisement, or which my Lords considered it would be satisfactory to accept. "Subsequently, however, my Lords have been able to conclude an arrangement, by which a communication by Steam twice every month will be effected, and they have every reason to believe this arrangement will be carried into effect in June, 1840. "With reference to this point, my Lords herewith transmit copy of a Letter, dated 12th instant, from the Board of Admiralty, which will furnish Lord Normanby with the detailed information. "Their Lordships would further add, that they have directed a considerable reduction to be made in the Packet rate of Postage on Letters from and to the British Colonies in North America, which has already come into operation. "These arrangements, my Lords trust, will carry into effect the expectations held out by them in their former communications. But much of the benefit to be derived therefrom will depend upon the efforts made in the Colonial possessions of Her Majesty in improving the Roads, and their Lordships cannot too earnestly press this subject upon Lord Normanby's attention." "With reference to your Letter of the 27th February last, respecting the conveyance of the Mails in Steam Vessels, by Contract, between this country and the North American Colonies, I am commanded by my Lords Commissioners of the Admiralty, to acquaint you for the information of the Lords Commissioners of Her Majesty's Treasury, that my Lords have concluded an agreement with Mr. Cunard for the conveyance of the Mails, &c., twice in each Calendar month, between Liverpool and Halifax, (Nova Scotia,) and between the latter place and Boston, United States, and also, between Pictou, New Brunswick, and Quebec, as long as the Saint Lawrence is open, for the sum sanctioned by the Lords of the Treasury, viz. £55,000, in Vessels of not less than 300 Horses Power, for the trans-Atlantic passage, and not less than 150 Horses Power for the other passages. The service to commence 1st June, 1840, or sooner, if possible. To F. BARING, Esq. &c. &c. &c. (Signed) "I am, &c. "JOHN BARROW." "The route from Quebec to Halifax at present travelled, after leaving the River Saint Lawrence at Saint André, 108 miles below Quebec, passes for about 100 miles through the Territory in dispute between our Government and that of the United States. The greater part of this route is undeserving the name of a Road. It comprises precipitous mountains, forests and swamps, over and through which, at certain periods of the year, the unfortunate Couriers have to convey the Mail bags on their backs, no other mode of conveyance being practicable; and I will leave you, Sir, to fancy the toil and misery which must attend the transport of fifteen or sixteen hundred pounds weight of Mails (for an English Mail now amounts to this enormous weight,) through such a wilderness. This line of communication, as already observed, passes through a portion of the Territory in dispute between Great Britain and the United States, and on this account Her Majesty's Government may not deem it advisable to incur a heavy expense in improving it. It is, nevertheless, the natural channel to New Brunswick and Nova Scotia, for it leads through the heart of the former Province, taking in Fredericton the seat of Government. Should it become absolutely necessary to adopt another route, there is only one choice, and that is the neglected road partially opened by His Excellency Sir James Kempt, which leaving the Saint Lawrence at Metis, 207 miles below Quebec, strikes the Restigouche River near the village of Campbelltown, New Brunswick, and bears the name of the Metis or Kempt Road. This This road was never completed, and is now almost filled up by a secondary growth of trees, and is, consequently, in such a state as to be barely practicable for a foot post, which I established some years ago, and which now travels weekly. The distance from the Saint Lawrence to the Settlements on the Restigouche, by this route, is about 95 miles. It will cost from £15,000 to £18,000, judiciously laid out, to make this a good carriage road. After reaching Dalhousie on the Restigouche, the roads become better and continue so along the shore of the Gulf of Saint Lawrence, and thence to Halifax. The journey from Quebec to Halifax, by this route, (after the Metis Road is improved) may be accomplished in from seven to eight days; but then it must be recollected that Fredericton is left out, and that that City can only be communicated with by a lateral route from Miramichi, a distance of about 100 miles. As a preliminary step to a thorough amelioration of the Post to Halifax, it will be for the Government to decide which of the two roads, the Penniscouta or the Metis is to be permanently improved. The advantage of the Metis Road is, that it runs through a territory not as yet disputed by the United States, and free from every risk of hostile interruption from the Americans, unless they can overrun the whole of New Brunswick. In a Military point of view this road is especially deserving the support of Government, (whether the Penniscouta is abandoned or not,) because supplies of Troops and Arms may be brought up the Restigouche by water from Halifax to within 300 miles of Quebec, at periods when the River Saint Lawrence is not practicable. I beg leave here to refer to a Communication from me to you, dated 25th August last, covering copy of a Memorial to the Governor General, which details at some length my views on the Post Roads to Halifax. "Whichever of the two Roads Her Majesty's Government may permanently improve, the Mails may be carried through in from 7 to 7 days, probably 7. I would not undertake to pledge myself to a shorter course of Post than seven days. A light express with a small Valise of Letters may, under very favorable circumstances, get through in six days, or six days and a half. It has already once been accomplished in six days on good winter roads, but it is a very different thing travelling light to conveying a Mail weighing a thousand or fifteen hundred pounds." SIR, DUTIES ON MILITIA CLOTHING. Downing Street, 22d July, 1839. I have the honor to transmit to you, for your information, the enclosed copy of a Correspondence which has passed between my Under Secretary of State and the Secretary to the Treasury, on the subject of the remission of the Export Duty on certain Military Equipments, supplied by Messrs. Hayter and Howell, for local corps in New Brunswick. I have it in command from the Lords Commissioners of Her Majesty's Treasury, to transmit a Letter from Messrs. Hayter and Howell, dated 15th instant, requesting permission to ship, duty free, certain articles of Military Equipment for local corps formed in New Brunswick; and I am to request that in submitting the same to the Marquis of Normanby, you will move his Lordship to favor my Lords with his opinion thereon. JAMES STEPHEN, Esquire, &c. &c. &c. SIR, I am, &c. G. J. PENNINGTON, Pro. Sec. Downing Street, 26th June, 1839. I am directed by the Marquis of Normanby to acknowledge the receipt of your Letter of the 18th instant, enclosing an application from Messrs. Hayter and Howell, to be allowed to ship free of duty certain Military Equipments, intended for local corps recently formed in New Brunswick. In reply I am to inform you, that if the Lords of the Treasury should be satisfied that the order for these Equipments proceeded from the Lieutenant Governor of New Brunswick, Lord Normanby is of opinion that the application of Messrs. Hayter and Howell should be conceded. I have the honor, &c. G. J. PENNINGTON, Esquire, &c. &c. &c. SIR, (Signed) JAMES STEPHEN. Treasury Chambers, 12th July, 1839. With reference to your Letter of the 26th ultimo, on an application of Messrs. Hayter and Howell, to ship, duty free, certain Military Equipments for a local corps formed in New Brunswick, I am commanded by the Lords Commissioners of Her Majesty's Treasury herewith to transmit a copy of a Letter from Messrs. Gilpin & Co. addressed to Messrs. Hayter and Howell, and to acquaint you, for the information of the Marquis of Normanby, that on the assurance therein given that the expenses of the Government of New Brunswick will be reduced in proportion to the remission of duties granted, and adverting to the peculiar circumstances under which the local corps of that Province |