400 



NORTHWEST TERRITORIES OF CANADA. 



are not getting and can not get, under present 

 conditions, the amount of money proper to carry 

 on the affairs of the country. :> The mounted- 

 police force were getting as large a grant as the 

 territorial Government was receiving for carrying 

 on the agriculture, public works, and education 

 of the whole vast region under their care. He 

 estimated $900,000 as a fair amount under con- 

 ditions in which they would assume certain re- 

 sponsibilities now accepted by the Dominion. 



Education. The number of school districts 

 erected in 1900 was 49, against 51 in the pre- 

 vious year; the schools in operation numbered 

 492, against 454 in 1899; the number of pupils 

 enrolled was 20,343 and 18,801 respectively. The 

 average attendance in 1900 was 9,430, and the 

 total grants earned by all the schools was $163,- 

 014, against $147,547 in 1899. The receipts for 

 the year included $27,346 of balances in hand on 

 Jan." 1, 1900, $150,656 from Government grants, 

 $185.823 from taxes collected during the year, 

 $67,502 as proceeds of debentures making a 

 total, with other miscellaneous sums, of $489,566, 

 against $416,005 in 1899 and $340,261 in 1898. 

 The expenditures were $455,855, including $234,- 

 976 for teachers' salaries, $79,353 for school build- 

 ings and repairs, and $32.259 for debenture in- 

 debtedness. There were $73,590 due to school 

 districts, chiefly arrears of taxes, and $156,621 

 due by school districts. There were 353 licenses 

 to teach granted in 1900, of which 181 were to 

 women and 172 to men. Of the 592 teachers who 

 taught in the territories in 1900, all but 5 per 

 cent, had professional or normal training. The 

 average monthly salary paid to teachers was 

 $44.39 for the time during which they taught. 



Coal. The production of coal in the territories 

 in 1900 appears, from all accounts, to have in- 

 creased, but the export decreased from 61,618 tons 

 in 1899 to 31,888 tons in 1900. In his annual 

 report, J. H. Ross declared, under date of Feb. 

 26, 1901, that the output of 22 mines was 303,730 

 tons of bituminous coal and 17,549 tons of an- 

 thracite. Coal-mining provides occupation for 

 800 men, and the annual output at nearly all 

 the mines is rapidly increasing. 



Agriculture. G. H. V. Bulyea, Commissioner 

 of Agriculture, presented his annual report on 

 March 1, 1901. The statistics showed a consid- 

 erable decrease from the preceding year in most 

 of the chief lines of production. Reasons varied 

 in the different districts and territories, but cli- 

 matic changes seem to have been the main causes. 

 Taking a three-year period as presenting the fair- 

 est view of the matter, wheat showed a product 

 of 5,542,478 bushels in 1898, 6,915,623 bushels in 



1899, and 4,028,294 bushels in 1900. The acreage 

 was respectively 307,580, 363,523, and 412,864, 

 while the yield per acre was 18.01 in 1898, 19.02 

 in 1899, and only 9.75 in 1900. In oats the pro- 

 duction was 3,040,307 bushels in 1898, or 28.93 

 to the acre; 4,686,036 bushels in 1899, or 34.81 to 

 the acre; 4,226,152 bushels in 1900, or 24.08 to the 

 acre. In barley the production was 449,512 bush- 

 els, or 26.29 to the acre, in 1898; 337,421 bushels, 

 or 23.62 to the acre, in 1899; 353,216 bushels, or 

 20.72 to the acre, in 1900. Some progress was 

 made in the work of the 19 Government cream- 

 eries. The number of pounds of butter manu- 

 factured increased by 135,000, while the quantity 

 of milk supplied diminished, and the quantity of 

 cream increased. The patrons numbered 1,169 in 



1900, the inches of cream supplied were 560,989, the 

 pounds of milk 46.211, against 1,303.221 in 1899, and 

 the pounds of butter made were 637,052, against 

 501.907 pounds in 1899 and 484.948 pounds in 1898. 



The prices of cattle varied throughout the ter- 



ritories during the year. Exported cattle from 

 the Calgary and Lethbridge districts brought 

 about $50 a head, while $40 to $42 a head was 

 paid for light cattle. Elsewhere prices went 

 from $40 to $45. As a rule, the stockmen ob- 

 tained $50 a head for four-year-olds and $45 for 

 three-year-olds. Yearlings ranged from $16 to 

 $18, and two ; y ear-olds from $23 to $27.50. The 

 total export of cattle from the territories in 1900 

 W 7 as 55,129 head, compared with 41,471 in the pre- 

 vious year. According to C. W. Peterson, Deputy 

 Commissioner of the Department of Agriculture, 

 " an interesting feature of the cattle business in 

 the territories is the movement from Ontario, 

 Manitoba, and the farming districts of the terri- 

 tories to southern Alberta and western Assini- 

 boia. The importations from Ontario amounted 

 to 11,434, from Manitoba 24,896, from Saskatche- 

 wan 738, from eastern Assiniboia 4,996, and from 

 northern Alberta 222, making the total influx of 

 cattle into the ranching districts of the territories 

 42,286." 



The sheep industry of this region in 1900 was 

 prosperous, the total stock 225,000, the home mar- 

 ket for wood favorable, and the export market 

 for mutton unlimited. Yet there was no tendency 

 to expansion in the industry. Most of the mut- 

 ton produced during the year went to British 

 Columbia, and some large shipments of Assiniboia 

 sheep went to Winnipeg. In swine, the territories 

 are reaching the point of supplying the local de- 

 mand. In 1900 only 670 head of hogs were im- 

 ported, against 1,925 head in the previous year. 

 Extensive pork-packing establishments have been 

 erected at Edmonton and Calgary. 



Autonomy. The problem of making the terri- 

 tories, with their great area and small popula- 

 tion of 98,967 in 1891 and 220,000 in 1901, into a 

 province, came up for practical discussion and 

 preliminary arrangement this year. Dr. T. A. 

 Patrick, M. L. A., in 1898, and Mr. F. W. G. Haul- 

 tain in 1900, had expressed themselves very 

 strongly in favor of some kind of action to relieve 

 the territories of their disabilities and financial 

 difficulties. The Premier had declared the posi- 

 tion to be impossible and the present financial 

 and administrative powers entirely inadequate. 

 In the constitutional sense, there were difficulties 

 over the election law, and the territorial Legisla- 

 ture possessed no power to disqualify a man for 

 membership in its own body. There was no au- 

 thority to administer criminal justice. Only part 

 of the civil jurisdiction had been granted, and 

 this made tw T o sets of officers necessary. There 

 was no control over the Registry Office, and cer- 

 tain powers were greatly controlled by the federal 

 land titles act. On the other hand, it may be 

 pointed out, the Dominion Government paid all 

 the expenses of the police, the administration of 

 justice, the Lieutenant-Governor's office, the reg- 

 istrar's, the care of the insane, etc., besides giving 

 a direct grant for educational and miscellaneous 

 purposes. These sums amounted, for the year 

 ending June 30, 1900, to $742,775, but the amount 

 actually granted the Territorial Government was 

 inadequate to their financial needs, and continu- 

 ous requests for aid \vere going to Ottawa. Hence 

 the agitation for a new status and revised condi- 

 tions. The proposals were various and included 

 the annexation of a portion of the eastern section 

 of the territories to Manitoba; the establishment 

 of Saskatchewan and part of Alberta into one 

 province; the centralization of all the districts in 

 one great province; and their division into two 

 provinces. 



Annexation to Manitoba. On March 28 the 

 subject came up for discussion in the Legislature 



