But beyond
Manitoba, and chiefly in Prince Albert, there were large
numbers of half-breeds settled over the prairie. So long
as no immigrant came prying about for choice land the
half-breeds had naught to complain about, but the rapid
influx of population soon altered the whole face of the
matter. Several squatters who had toiled for many a long
year upon holdings, were obliged to make way for strangers
who had "friends at court"--for even in the North West
wilderness there is, in this sense, a court--and who took
a fancy to the particular piece of land upon which "these
lazy half-breeds" were squatting. Newspapers, whose
business it is to keep the skirts of government clean in
the matter, deny this altogether. But, unfortunately,
there is no use in denying it. It is but too true, and
it is with a feeling of very great regret that I myself,
a Conservative, and a warm well-wisher of the
administration, affirm it. It is true that in many and
many a case, in a greater number of instances than even
opponents of the administration suppose, a half-breed
who has toiled for a number of years upon a lot, effecting
improvements and taking pride in his property, has been
dispossessed by an incomer because he could not show a
patent from the Interior Department.
But almost as fruitful a source of dissatisfaction as
these heartless and dishonest displacements has been the
difficulty which the unfortunate squatter has experienced
in obtaining his patent.
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