B - -, However Whose Means Were Probably Extremely Small,
Fought Shy Of Buying; And After Looking At A Number Of Farms,
He
told Q - - that, on mature reflection, he thought he could employ his
capital more profitably by renting a number
Of farms, and working
them in the English manner, which he felt certain would answer
admirably in Canada, instead of sinking his capital at once in the
purchase of lands. Q - - was fairly caught; and B - - hired some six
or seven farms from him, which he worked for some time, no doubt
greatly to his own advantage, for he neither paid rent nor wages.
Occasionally, other land-speculators would drop into the tavern,
when a curious game would be played between Q - - and them. Once of
the speculators would ask another if he did not own some land in a
particular part of the country, as he had bought some lots in the
same quarter, without seeing them, and would like to know if they
were good. The other would answer in the affirmative, and pretend
to desire to purchase the lots mentioned. The former, in his turn,
would pretend reluctance, and make a similar offer of buying. All
this cunning manoeuvring would be continued for a time, in the hope
of inducing some third party or stranger to make an offer for the
land, which would be accepted. It often happened that some other
person, who had hitherto taken no part in the course of these
conversations, and who appeared to have no personal interest in
the matter, would quietly inform the stranger that he knew the
land in question, and that it was all of the very best quality.
It would be endless to describe all the little artifices practised
by these speculators to induce persons to purchase from them.
Besides a few of these unprincipled traders in land, some of whom
are found in most of the towns, there are a large number of
land-speculators who own both wild and improved farms in all parts
of the colony who do not descend to these discreditable arts, but
wait quietly until their lands become valuable by the progress of
improvement in their neighbourhood, when they readily find
purchasers - or, rather, the purchasers find them out, and obtain
their lands at reasonable prices.
In 1832, when we came to Canada, a great speculation was carried on
in the lands of the U.E. (or United Empire) Loyalists. The sons and
daughters of these loyalists, who had fled to Canada from the United
States at the time of the revolutionary war, were entitled to free
grants of lots of wild land. Besides these, few free grants of land
were made by the British Government, except those made to half-pay
officers of the army and navy, and of course there was a rapid rise
in their value.
Almost all the persons entitled to such grants had settled in the
eastern part of the Upper Province, and as the large emigration
which had commenced to Canada had chiefly flowed into the more
western part of the colony, they were, in general, ignorant of the
increased value of their lands, and were ready to sell them for a
mere trifle.
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