PRINCE EDWARD ISLAND 



4S20 



PRINCE EDWARD ISLAND 



Nearly 6,000 people are employed in the in- 

 dustry, and the annual catch is worth from 

 SI ,000,000 to SI ,500,000. Lobster average 

 per cent of the value of the total catch; other 

 important fishes are cod, herring, oysters, smelts 

 and mackerel. The packing or preserving of 

 fish is an important branch of industry ; in fact, 

 with the exception of the manufacture of dairy 

 products, including condensed milk, it is the 

 only manufacturing industry of prime impor- 

 tance. 



Education and Government. The public 

 school system of the province was established 

 in 1851; since that date elementary education 

 has been free. The schools are under the di- 

 rection of a superintendent and council ap- 

 pointed by the provincial government. There 



The People. Prince Edward Island, like the 

 other Maritime Provinces, has suffered from 

 heavy emigration to the Canadian Northwest. 

 In fact, in the decade from 1901 to 1911 the 

 population of the province decreased from 103,- 

 259 to 93728. In 1891 the population was 109,- 

 000, the highest it has ever been. The density 

 of population per square mile (42.91 in 1911) 

 and the average number of persons to a family, 

 5.51, are greater than those of any other prov- 

 ince. Most of the people are of British descent, 

 but there are a few descendants of French Aca- 

 dians and United Empire Loyalists. 



History. It is possible that the island was 

 seen by Cabot in 1497, but the first white man 

 known to have visited it was Jacques Cartier, 

 the French explorer, in 1534. Cartier, however, 



THE FARM 



Wheat 



Animals 



Tumips,Beets, etc. 



Live Stock sold 



Milk 



Potatoes 



Foxes raised 



Oats 



Hay,Clover 



PRINCE EDWARD ISLAND PRODUCTS CHART 



Figures Based on Canadian Government Reports 

 Millions of Dollars Annual ly 



THE FISHERY 

 Lobster 

 Cod 



THE FACTORY 

 Fish preserved 

 Butter.Cheese 

 Flour,Grist 

 Log Products 

 Lumber Products 

 Tobacco 



are two colleges: Prince of Wales College, the 

 head of the public school system, and Saint 

 Dunstan's College, a Roman Catholic institu- 

 tion. Both are at Charlottetown, and both are 

 really advanced preparatory schools rather than 

 colleges of standard grade. Of the latter there 

 are none in the island. 



Prince Edward Island, like the other Cana- 

 dian provinces, has as the titular head of its 

 government the lieutenant-governor, who is ap- 

 pointed by the Governor-General in Council. 

 The legislative assembly is composed of a sin- 

 gle house of thirty members. The province is 

 divided into three counties Prince, Queens and 

 Kings of nearly equal size. The county towns 

 are respectively Summerside, Charlottetown 

 and Souris. The two former are incorporated 

 towns, but practically all other local affairs are 

 under the direction of the provincial assembly. 

 When Prince Edward Island entered the Con- 

 federation in 1873 it was allowed six members 

 in the House of Commons; this number was 

 reduced to five in 1901. 



thought it a part of the mainland. In 1603 

 Champlain took formal possession of the island 

 for the king of France. Sixty years later, the 

 Company of New France, to whom it had been 

 granted, regranted it to one Captain Doublet, 

 of the French navy, who lost it soon afterward 

 because he failed to bring settlers. After the 

 Peace of Utrecht the French made several at- 

 tempts to settle it, but in 1758 there were few 

 residents to offer resistance to British occupa- 

 tion after Louisbourg fell. At that time the 

 population of the island was in the neighbor- 

 hood of 4,000. 



In 1763 the island, together with the remain- 

 der of French Canada, passed formally under 

 British rule. Four years later it was divided 

 into townships of 20,000 acres each. These 

 were granted in many cases to speculators and 

 other nonresidents who had more or less shad- 

 owy claims on the British government's gener- 

 osity. Thus it happened that Prince Edward 

 Island suffered for a century (until 1876) from 

 absentee landlordism. 



