90 



BRITISH COLUMBIA, PROVINCE OF. 



expert officers. There would be no justification 

 for the change, as the salmon could be caught in 

 Canadian waters by a less destructive method and 

 in reasonable quantities. 



Education. During the fiscal year 189 

 the cost of education to the province was $307,479, 

 and to the cities $81,880. There were in opera- 

 tion at the end of that period 4 high schools with 

 13 teachers, 48 graded schools with 235 teachers, 

 and 240 common schools with '241) teachers. In 

 rural districts these schools were under the con- 

 trol of a board of three trustees (elected), and in 

 the cities of a board of varying numbers. The 

 average attendance during the year was 13,438, 

 and the number of pupils enrolled 21,531. The 

 average actual attendance in high schools was 

 344. in graded schools 9,013, and in common 

 schools 4.080. One of the most important of the 

 measures passed in the Assembly in 1901 was the 

 public schools bill introduced by Mr. Prentice. 

 By it the school districts of the province were 

 divided into three classes, the basis being as fol- 

 lows: For schools of the first class an attend- 

 ance of 1,000: for those of the second class of 

 more than 250; for schools of the third class an 

 attendance of fewer than 250. The per capita 

 grant was $13 and $15 and $20, respectively, with 

 a provision of $300 for each school-teacher. 

 Teachers in the third class were relieved from at- 

 tendance at normal school. 



Mining. Up to 1901 British Columbia had 

 produced $02,584,442 of placer gold, $12,812,800 of 

 lode gold, $12,380,449 of silver, $7,019,026 of lead, 

 $4.302.583 of copper, and $49,140,917 of coal and 

 coke a total of $150,000,000. The annual report 

 of the Minister of Mines for the province, made 

 public June 29, showed a production in 1900 of 

 placer gold, $1,278,724; lode gold, $3,453,381; 

 silver. $2,309,200; copper, $1,615,289; lead, $2,691,- 

 887: coal, $4,318,785; coke, $425,745; miscellane- 

 ous, $251,740. The total was $16,344,751, against 

 $12.393,131 in 1899. The increase in every direc- 

 tion was said by the minister in the Assembly to 

 have l>een most marked. The number of mines 

 in 1899 shipping more than 100 tons was 43, and 

 in 1900 it had risen to GO. In East Kootenay the 

 production of metals increased from $523,000 to 

 $2,855,851 ; in the Slocan district from $1,740,372 

 to $2,063,908; in the coast districts from $4,094,- 

 093 to $4,805,153. There was a decrease in Trail 

 Creek from $3,229,086 to $2,730,300. In coal the 

 Vancouver island collieries showed a gross output 

 of 1.383.376 tons, and the Crow's Nest Pass col- 

 lieries 206,803 tons. Lead showed the greatest in- 

 crease in production $1,813,017, or 206 per cent. 

 over the previous year. 



According to the provincial mineralogist, the 

 mines of the province had paid back in principal 

 and interest to the lenders of the money for their 

 development $6,529,420 in 1898; $6,751664 in 

 1899: and $10.0(59.757 in 1900. There was consid- 

 erable legislation affecting the mines during the 

 year. The placer mining bill made the claims 

 similar in size to those of the Northwest Terri- 

 tories, and this involved a general increase in 

 creek claims, and bar and dry diggings, while 

 bench and hill diggings were abolished altogether. 

 An important clause compelled judgments affect- 

 ing mineral claims to be sent to the mining Re- 

 corder, and entered in the books of the district 

 Free miners were allowed to consoli- 

 late claims up to ten in number. By the inspec- 

 tion of mines act an uniform code of signals was 

 authorized for use in the mines. Monthly returns 

 were to be made by all mines engaged in treating 

 or shipping ores, and they were to include the 

 quantity of ore mined or treated and the assay 



value thereof. Engineers in charge of hoisting- 

 pjants were forbidden to work more than eight 

 hours a day. 



Lands and Works. The report of this depart- 

 ment for 1900 dealt with roads, trails, buildings, 

 dikes, and timber. By it the Government was 

 shown to have built and maintained 5,615 miles of 

 roads and 4,414 miles of trails in the province. 

 Much necessary work was still being done in the 

 mountainous mining regions. Various public 

 buildings had been erected, and many repairs 

 executed. A new court-house at Rossland, altera- 

 tions in the Victoria court-house, and completion 

 of the Nelson Registry Office and of a Government 

 building at Atlin were announced. Important 

 surveys were described, and important diking 

 projects indicated. The timber cut on Crown 

 lands was given as 232,831,982 feet, and as yield- 

 ing a royalty of $116,415. About 43,000,000 feet 

 were reported upon which no royalty was paid. 

 Including licenses, rentals, etc., the total timber 

 revenue was $145,760. 



Labor Troubles. This year strikes and labor 

 struggles were numerous and injurious. The sal- 

 mon-canneries difficulty turned upon the employ- 

 ment of Japanese and Chinamen, and was settled 

 after some deeds of violence had occurred. Mr. 

 Dunsmuir imported Scottish miners to replace 

 the Chinese in his Vancouver island mines, and 

 as soon as their fares had been paid and they 

 had looked around a little most of them decamped 

 to the United States. The trackmen's strike af- 

 fected British Columbia more, perhaps, than the 

 other provinces, but was general in its applica- 

 tion. The Rossland strike was, however, the most 

 important. Immediately after the passage of the 

 eight-hour law in 1899 the Rossland Miners' 

 Union prohibited its members from doing con- 

 tract work. Men earning $5 a day under contract 

 had to go to work at the regular scale of $3.50 

 a day, and the usual result of having no com- 

 petition followed in work which was insufficient, 

 and of operating expenses which were higher to 

 the mine-owners than in any other country. 

 Early in 1900 the latter decided, therefore, that 

 they must, in the interest of their shareholders 

 and the mines, revert to the contract system. 

 They declared that no reduction of wages would 

 follow, but the union thought otherwise, and for 

 sixty-six days it succeeded in keeping the mines 

 shut down. Then, on April 3, a settlement was 

 effected by R. C. Clute, K. C., and Ralph Smith, 

 M. P. P., on the basis of opening up the mines to 

 full capacity at an early date and the right of the 

 companies to employ both union and non-union 

 men. The contract system was then adopted by 

 the miners' union, with a good majority. Fric- 

 tion, however, soon began. The mine managers 

 refused to allow "walking delegates" to visit 

 their properties and interfere with their employees. 

 Agitators declared that the " muckers " were 

 being treated unjustly. At Northport a union 

 was formed and, it was said, a series of aggressive 

 movements were directed against the discipline of 

 the smelter management. The ringleaders in the 

 trouble were dismissed, finally, owing to a con- 

 spiracy against one of the foremen, and the strike 

 then began. At first only a few of the men went 

 out, but a campaign of calumny was started in all 

 the mining regions and sympathy directed into a 

 sort of boycott against the Northport smelter. 

 On July 11, by a ballot of 258 out of 340, it was 

 decided by the union to call out the 1,200 men 

 employed in Rossland and its vicinity. The mine- 

 owners declared that the whole trouble w T as caused 

 by a small clique of agitators, without real reason, 

 and on the day of the strike Bernard MacDonald, 



