CONSUMPTION IN CANADA—DAVIDSON. 17 
where also the conditions do not show violent extremes, are 
the five towns selected from the Ontario Bureau of Statistics 
Reports for detailed analysis. It is probable that the very large 
percentage of large houses in St. John is an indication, not of a 
large wealthy class, but of lack of prudence and foresight in the 
inhabitants in the years which followed the great fire. We 
might therefore conclude that in two towns only, Quebee and 
Montreal, do the extremes of wealth and poverty show them- 
selves; and that the average condition is also the condition of 
the great majority of the inhabitants of Canada. We might, 
perhaps, alse conclude that the average income obtained from the 
returns made to the Ontario Bureau is not far below the average 
income in Canada. Mr. Ames shows that in the district he has 
investigated there is a weekly average income of $10.20 per 
family, an average monthly rental of $8.73 per family, or 18 per 
cent. of the family income, and an accommodation of 5.02 rooms 
per family (U.S. Bulletin of Labor, p. 44. The average weekly 
income of the towns in Ontario is nearly $9.00, of which 17 per 
cent. is expended on rent in places where rents must be much 
lower than they are in industrial districts of Montreal, and where 
accordingly better accommodation will be given for the money. 
We may readily infer that the returns have been made by the 
occupants of houses of 7 or 8 rooms; and an overwhelming pro- 
portion of the inhabitants of the towns, of which an analysis of 
the house accommodation has been made above, occupy houses 
containing from 5 to 10 rooms. Since, according to Engel, and 
according also to the best canons of local taxation, the expendi- 
ture on house rent is the best indication of income, we might be 
safe in concluding that the average income set down above is the 
average for Canada; but at the best the conclusion is problematic 
and based on a series of assumptions and inferences from data 
which are themselves only,approximately correct. 
The main qnestion is the actual accommodation obtained for 
Proc. & Trans. N. S. Inst. Scr., VoL. X. TRANS.-—B. 
