In none of the foregoing imports is the value of railroad iron, &c., brought via Quebec, in transit for the United States, included. Neither do the exports include the value of ships built at Quebec and sold in England.

The value of transit goods for the United States in 1851 was $750,000 The value of ships built for sale at Quebec, 3,900 tons, at

£9, £351,000.

1,404,000

2,154,000

with which addition the gross trade of Canada for 1851 amounts to $38,200,256.

THE PUBLIC WORKS OF CANADA.

There is no country which possesses canals of the magnitude and importance of those in Canada. The elevation from tide-water to Lake Ontario (exceeding two hundred feet) is overcome by seven canals of various lengths, from twelve miles to one mile, (but in the aggregate only forty-one miles of canal,) having locks two hundred feet in length between the gates, and forty-five feet in width, with an excavated trunk, from one hundred to one hundred and forty wide on the water-surface and a depth of ten feet water.

From Lake Ontario to Lake Erie an elevation of three hundred and thirty feet is surmounted by a canal twenty-eight miles in length, with about thirty cut-stone locks one hundred and fifty feet long, by twentysix and a half feet wide, designed for propellers and sail craft. These locks will pass a craft of about five hundred tons burden, while those on the St. Lawrence have a capacity double this amount.

The total cost of this navigation may be set down at twelve millions of dollars.

The St. Lawrence canal was designed for paddle-steamers, which are required as tugs, or to ascend against the current; but from the magnitude of the rapids and their regular inclination, the aid of the locks is not required in descending the river. Large steamers, drawing seven feet water, with passengers and the mails, leave the foot of Lake Ontario in the morning, and reach the wharves at Montreal by daylight, without passing through a single lock. At some of the rapids there are obstacles preventing the descent of deeply-laden craft, but the government are about to give the main channel in all the rapids a depth of ten feet water, when the whole descending trade by steam will keep the river, leaving the canals to the ascending craft.

The time required for the descent of a freight-steamer from the head of Lake Ontario to Montreal is forty-eight hours; the rates of freight have ranged from twelve and a half cents (the lowest) per barrel, for flour, to twenty-five cents, including tolls. The upward trip requires about sixty hours, and the freight per ton ranges from $1 50 to $3 for heavy goods. The ruling freight on railroad iron last year from Montreal to Cleveland was $2 50 per gross ton, and for the return cargo of flour thirty cents per barrel, tolls included in both cases.

These rates are yet fluctuating, as the long voyage is new, and are

so much influenced by the amount of up-cargo obtained that they cannot yet be considered settled. It is believed that the freight on flour from Lake Erie to Montreal (including tolls) will be brought down to twenty cents, and on iron, up to $2.

The construction of a ship-canal from the St. Lawrence to Lake Champlain, so as to bring the propellers of Chicago to Burlington and Whitehall, is now engaging the consideration of the Canadian government. This project originated with the Hon. John Young, chief commissioner of public works in Canada; and there is little doubt, from the favor it has received from the public, that it will be speedily accomplished. The cost would only be between $1,500,000 and $2,000,000, and its construction is indispensable to protect the revenues of the St. Lawrence canals from the competition of the Ogdensburg railroad. The construction of such a work must produce a corresponding enlargement of the Northern New York canal, whereupon there will be a connexion between Lake Erie and tide-water on the Hudson, via the St. Lawrence, which may be navigated, without transshipment, downward in four, and upward in five days.

The returns of trade on the Canadian canals give indication of decided and satisfactory progress in the leading articles of up and downfreight. The receipts for tolls upon the Welland canal in 1851 are thirty-three per cent. higher than in 1850. On the St. Lawrence, although tonnage has increased, the tolls have not-the revenue being here reduced by a rebatement of toll on cargoes which have passed the Welland.

The following shows the progress of leading articles of up and downfreight on the Welland canal in 1850 and 1851:

The increase is greater than shown by these figures-the column for 1850 being the whole down-trade; while that for 1851 shows the entries at Port Colborne only-the whole down-trade not being attainable.

The gross tolls received from the Welland canal in 1850 were $151,703

Do...

..do...

..do......1851..... 200,000

ST. LAWRENCE CANALS.

The comparative movement of leading articles on these canals for 1850 and 1851 was as follows:

Vessels which passed the several canals during the year 1851:

Total British and foreign-18,874 vessels; 1,973,841 tons; toll, £6,407.

The total movement on the canals for 1851 and three years previous is as follows:

Of the

The receipts of 1851 were £76,216; expenses £12,286. gross tolls the Welland produced £48,241, and the St. Lawrence £21,276.

But a most decided proof of the success of the Canadian canals is to be found in the frequent and important reductions which have been made in the tolls of the Erie canal since 1845, the year in which the enlarged Welland canal first came into serious competition with the route through Buffalo. The policy of the State of New York has been not only to obtain the largest possible revenue from her canals, but also to protect her own manufactures and products against competition from other quarters; and this she has been enabled hitherto most effectually to accomplish, by levying discriminating tolls. Thus foreign salt was excluded from the western States by a rate of toll about twice its whole value. The toll upon this article in 1845 was three cents per 1,000 lbs. per mile, or $21 78 per ton of 2,000 lbs., (about three dollars per barrel ;) while the toll upon New York State salt was only one-thirteenth part of that upon the foreign article. In 1846, (the first year after the opening of the enlarged Welland canal,) the tolls on foreign salt were reduced one-half, and a still greater amount on New York State salt. The next year a further reduction of thirty-three per cent. took place; and in 1850 the toll was again reduced one-half, so that it is now only one-sixth the rate charged in 1845; but it is still subject to a tax five times as great as that paid by New York State salt.

In like manner railroad iron, in 1845, paid a toll of nine mills; in 1846 this was reduced to five mills; in 1850, to four mills; in 1851, to two and a half mills; and in 1852, to one and a half mill. Almost every other article of heavy goods and merchandise for up-freight has likewise undergone frequent and heavy reductions in toll on the Erie