mber business. Not to push the trade
to such an extent--to retrench the expenses, by raising the heavy parts
of the supplies near the timber districts; and to follow up the timber
trade with the improvement of the country and cultivation of the soil.

Another great drawback to the prosperity of the Province is the great
consumption of ardent liquors--partly occasioned by the present modes
of conducting the timber business. The amount of spirituous liquors
imported and consumed in the Province in 1824, at the least calculation
was L120,000, exclusive of the County of Charlotte; and add to this
amount the cost of the transport of the liquor to the interior and the
enormous charges on the article in the distant parts of the Province,
the cost to the consumer may be fairly reckoned at treble the amount,
making in the whole the gross sum of L360,000 for ardent liquors alone,
consumed by the inhabitants of the Province, being near twenty gallons
on an average for every male over sixteen years of age.

The number of inhabitants in this Province, according to the census of
last year, is seventy-four thousand one hundred and
seventy-six--besides the large settlement of Madawaska and the parish
of West Isles; and as it is probable the numbers in the different
parishes are taken in some instances under the real amount, the whole
population may be fairly rated in round numbers at eighty thousand. The
subjoined statement will show the population of the different counties
and parishes in 1824:

Population of the Province of New-Brunswick,
IN THE YEAR 1824.

--------------------+-----+-----+-----+-----+-----+-----+-----+-----+------+
| Whites. | People of Colour. |
| Males. Females. | Males. | Females. |
--------------------+-----+-----+-----+-----+-----+-----+-----+-----+------+
C
o | | A | U | A | U | A | U | A | U | i
u | | b | n | b | n | b | n | b | n | n P
n | | o | d | o | d | o | d | o | d |T a
t | | v | e | v | e | v | e | v | e |o e r
i | | e | r | e | r | e | r | e | r |t a i
e | | | | | | | | | |a c s
s | | 16 | 16 | 16 | 16 | 16 | 16 | 16 | 16 |l h h
----+---------------+-----+-----+-----+-----+-----+-----+-----+-----+-