hewn SAG TONS 
OF THE 
Hova Scotian Enstitute of Science. 
SESSION OF 1898-99. . 
I.—SraTISTICS OF EXPENDITURE AND CONSUMPTION IN CANADA. 
—By Proressor JOHN Davipson, M. A., PHIL. D., 
Fredericton, N. B. 
(Read Nov. 14th, 1898.) 
The ultimate test of a nation’s prosperity is the quantity and 
quality of the goods it contains. Other tests are relative and 
indicate business activity: rather than national welfare. All 
wealth is produced to be consumed, and the whole process of 
production is carried on for the benefit of the consumer. For 
him there is seedtime and harvest; for him the factories and 
the stores are run; for him railroad and steamship lines operate, 
and banks conduct their business. It is conceivable that the 
volume of business may be large within a nation which yet is 
poor and relatively unprosperous. Increased activity does not 
always mean increased welfare; and that community alone is 
rich and prosperous at whose command this activity places a 
large stock of consumable goods; and the most satisfactory evi- 
dence of this command is provided by the statistics of the 
consumption of the community. That is direct evidence; all 
other evidence is indirect and presumptive. , 
Unfortunately, direct evidence is not always available. We 
depend for information almost entirely upon government bureaus 
and departments ; and these are concerned chiefly with their own 
Proc. & Trans. N.S. Inst. Scr., Vou. X. TRANS,—A. 
