94 



ROYAL SOCIETY OF CANADA 



ifnued to grow steadily, while new trading centres arose at Port Elgin, 

 the Bend (now the City of Moncton) and Sackville became important. 

 Keviewing this period in general, it is plain that it was not only 

 one of active expansion in settlement and population, but the most pros- 

 perous in both respects that the province has yet known, and it estab- 

 lished the greater number of the settlements in existence to-day. 



7. The Modern Period (1850 to the Present). 



There is no distinct division between the preceding and the present 

 period. In general, the transition isi marked by the beginning of rail- 



.Mai' No. ri 



way building, and by the inauguration of the system of granting lands 

 practically free to desirable settlers, which events fall approximately 

 about the year 1850. The period is marked also by the great decline 



