100 



CANADA. DOMINION OF. 



H-hment in Canada of a braneh of the royal 

 mint. Hie structure, with fittings and plant, 

 \vas to cost $3UU,000 and require an annual out- 

 lay of not more than $/5,000. It would make all 

 gold, silver, and copper coins required in the Do- 

 minion, and, if time permitted, would have author- 

 ity to make British sovereigns out of Canadian 

 gold. The ollicials of the mint would be special- 

 ists appointed by the authorities of the iioyal 

 Mint in London, and he estimated that the 

 profits on the coinage would about equal the 

 annual expenses. An assay office would be estab- 

 lished in British Columbia, and the expenses of 

 freight, insurance, etc., would be paid by the 

 Government, so as to place the miner going to 

 Vancouver in the same position as the miner 

 going to Seattle, and making it possible to re- 

 ceive much of the millions of Canadian gold now 

 going to the American center. The bankers of the 

 country did not approve of this proposal, but Par- 

 liament and the people generally appeared to do 

 so, and it soon became law. Mr. E. S. Clouston, 

 President of the Canadian Bankers' Association, 

 declared it to be a dangerous tampering with the 

 currency and interference with a system which 

 was now almost perfect. The trouble about 

 miners and Seattle was due to the fact that most 

 of them were Americans, and that the American 

 steamers were more comfortable than the Cana- 

 dian. The mint policy would disturb and dis- 

 organize the currency system without any ade- 

 quate return, and bring in the still more danger- 

 ous element of a free-silver coinage question. 

 The policy, however, was carried out, the mint 

 was soon in course of erection, and the assay 

 office was duly established at Vancouver. 



The Census. On Aug. 17 the result of the de- 

 cennial census was announced, and the popula- 

 tion of Canada was stated to be 5,338,883, against 

 4,324,810 in 1881. It was a disappointment to 

 many who had confidently expected that the fig- 

 ures would at least reach the 6,000,000 mark, but 

 was slightly improved by the subsequent addition 

 of 150,000 which had been in some way omitted, 

 and which made the total nearly 5,500,000. The 

 population by provinces was as follows: 



* Decrease. 



The city of Montreal had a population of 266,- 

 826, or an increase of 46,645; Toronto of 207,971, 

 or an increase of 26,751; Quebec of 68,834, or an 

 increase of 5.744 : Ottawa of 59,902, or an increase 

 of 15,748; Hamilton of 52,550, or an increase of 

 3,570; Winnipeg of 42,336, or an increase of 16,- 

 G97; Vancouver of 26,196, or an increase of 12,- 

 487; Calgary 12,142, or an increase of 8,266. The 

 increases in the other cities ran from 1,000 to 

 7.000. Halifax had 40,787, St. John 40,711, Lon- 

 don 37,983, Victoria 20,821, Kingston 18,043 (a 

 slight decrease), Brantford 16,631. The greatest 

 comparative increase was in Sydney, Cape Breton, 

 which had risen from 2.427 to 9,908, while Valley- 

 field, Province of Quebec, as a result of industrial 

 progress, increased from 5,515 to 11,055. There 

 was a decided increase in the number of families 

 in the Dominion, the number for 1891 beino- 921 - 

 043, and for 1901 1,043.296. The number of dwell- 

 ings had also increased from 877,586 to 1,006,652. 



Miscellaneous Statistics. The pulp trade of 

 Canada showed some progress. During the first 

 six months of 1901 Canada shipped to Great 

 Britain $814,110 worth, against $2,000,000 re- 

 ceived from Sweden, $2,750,000 from Norway, and 

 $270,000 from the United States. In May, 1899, 

 Canadian exports of pulp were 5 per cent, of the 

 total imported by Great Britain; in May, 1900, 

 they were 7 per cent.; in May, 1901, they were 

 13| per cent. 



In 1900 there were 35,057 miles of telegraph 

 lines in Canada. Of these, 18,286 miles belonged to 

 the Great Northwestern Telegraph Company, 

 8,886 to the Canadian Pacific Railway Company, 

 2,912 to the Western Union Company, and 4,973 

 to the Dominion Government. The Government 

 lines were largely in regions where the traffic w y as 

 not very great, and where they were more a con- 

 venience than a paying business enterprise. The 

 outlay was .$76,965 and the receipts only $44,529. 



On June 12 the two great concerns which had 

 worked a revolution in the coal and steel industry 

 of Nova Scotia at Sydney held their annual 

 meetings at Montreal. The statement of the 

 Dominion Iron and Steel Company showed a 

 bonded indebtedness of $8,000,000, preferred 

 stock of $5,000,000, common stock of $15,000,000, 

 bills payable of $90,808, and accounts due of 

 $545,848 a total liability of $28,636,687. The 

 credit side of the statement showed $14,551,480 

 as the value of their property, $9,668,406 as the 

 value of the plant, $1,435,849 as due upon pre- 

 ferred stock, $1,205,583 cash in banks and mis- 

 cellaneous sums making the same total as the lia- 

 bilities. 



The Dominion Coal Company showed an esti- 

 mated output of 2,600,000 tons for 1902, against 

 2,044,877 tons in 1901 and 884,500 tons in 1895. 

 The total assets of the company were placed at 

 $22,705,718, the surplus balance at $592,843, the 

 net proceeds from sales, etc., at $687,294. 



Postal Affairs. The report of the Postmaster- 

 General for 1900 placed the net revenue of the 

 year at $3,183,984, and the expenditures at $3,645,- 

 646, leaving a deficit of $461,661, against a deficit 

 in the preceding year of $398,917. The total num- 

 ber of letters posted in Canada was 178,292,500, 

 the post-cards 27,130,000, the registered letters 

 4,312,000, the free letters 6,318,000, the newspapers, 

 etc., 32,972, packages 3,803,750, closed parcels for 

 Great Britain and elsewhere 31,988. The number 

 of money-orders issued was 17,128, and the 

 amount $201,145. The amount paid on money- 

 orders was $2,797,375. Various improvements 

 Avere made during the year, such as the use of 

 automobiles in cities, insurance on registered cor- 

 respondence, the introduction of postal notes and 

 other conveniences for the public. 



Criminal Statistics. The figures for 1900 

 showed an increase in the number of convictions 

 in every province except Quebec. Nova Scotia 

 showed the lowest percentage, 7.07 in 10,000, as 

 against 26.40 in 10,000 in British Columbia. The 

 total number of the convictions was 5,768, or 

 10.72 in 10,000, against 10.75 in 1899. There were 

 fewer indictments among the laboring and in- 

 dustrial classes, and a slight increase in the com- 

 mercial and agricultural classes. The proportion 

 of females was larger than in 1899, but much 

 smaller than in the average of 1884-'96. The fig- 

 ures for 1900 were 5.8 per cent., against the aver- 

 age mentioned of 8.7 per cent. Criminals from 

 foreign countries increased considerably. The 

 proportion of Roman Catholic offenders was 38.8 

 per cent, and the figures generally were stated to 

 indicate the formation of an habitual criminal 

 class with repeated offenses. 



