CANADA. DOMINION OP. 



CAIM-: 



97 



the l;it tor year. The aim of the Government is to 

 a uniform depth that will enable vc<-els drawing 14 

 feet of water to puss through all the canals. 



Minerals. In 1891 there were 13,412 miners in 



the Dominion. The chief items of production in 



is; i.-, wereasfollow: Copper. $949.229 : -old. $l.9K>.- 



921: iron ore. S238.070: lead. sT-l'.i.Hiiti : nickel. 



60.984: bricks, sl.soo.ooo : silver, $U5v 



;il. s7.774.178: irypsum. $2<i2.- 



(iiK; pctr.il. -um. $1.201. 1S4: building stone. $1.2no.- 

 Ol)it. The total was s22.500.ooo. compared with 

 no.uoo in ist4. During 1*96 new discoveries 

 were made of various minerals, notalily anthracite 

 . or a substance so like it as to be equally use- 

 ful, and gold in large quantities. 



Fisheries and Shipping 1 . The total number of 

 _;stered in the Dominion on Dec. 31, 1895. 

 was 7,262, with a tonnage of 825,836. The steam- 

 er- WL-IV 1.71 s in number, with a tonnage of 247,- 

 (i()7. The value of this registered tonnage was 

 estimated at $24,775,080, while the new vessels 

 built during the year were 250. at a cost or valua- 

 tion of $732.150. The men engaged in fishing 

 numbered 70.000. and in 1895 the Government ex- 

 pended $420.165 on the fisheries. The value of the 

 fisheries in 1804 was 820.719.573, the chief items 

 being the salmon of British Columbia, the herring, 

 whitefish, and salmon trout of the Great Lakes, and 

 cod. lobsters, pickerel, and fur seals in other 

 localities. 



The shipping cleared at Canadian ports in 1895 

 was 10,976,829 tons, compared with 11.280,000 tons 

 in 1*94. and the number of men employed was 429.- 

 963. showing also a slight decrease. This tonnage 

 was divided as follows: British. 3.206 vessels, of 

 3.944,224 tons; Canadian. 12.918 vessels, of 2.054.- 

 024 tons: foreign, 11.752 vessels, of 4.928.581 tons. 

 The increase was mainly in the foreign or Ameri- 

 can: the decrease was divided between the British 

 and the Canadian. The tonnage of the \< 

 trading between Canada and the United States in 

 the inland waters amounted to 8.124.134 in 1895. 

 It comprised 16,866 Canadian vessels with a ton- 

 nage of 5.196.811. and 15,547 American vessels with 

 a tonnage of 2.927.323. The coasting trade of 

 Canada, always very large, showed a total tonnage 

 last year of 25.473.434, a reduction of about 1,000,- 

 000 tons. 



Postal Service. Canada is in the Postal Union, 

 and during 1895 107.565.000 letters went through 

 its mails. 24.025.000 post cards, and 96.176.206 news- 

 papers, books, and parcels. In its Postal Savings 

 Bank $7.448.028 was kept on deposit, and $13,187,- 

 322 worth of money orders were issued. The rev- 

 enue was $3.815.456. and the cost of carrying the 

 mails was s2.164.5s.9. The total expenditure was 

 1 6.313. The registered letters numbered 3. 1 83,- 

 200. 



Insurance. The cash received for fire insurance 

 premiums in 1895 by Canadian companies was 

 $5.986.925, and the amount paid for losses was 

 $5.019.516. The division of business among other 

 companies was as follows: British companies, losses 

 paid. $3,439.223; premiums received. $4.808,971; 

 American companies, losses paid. $771.132: pre- 

 miums received, $1.024.051. Since these figures 

 were compiled a difference has been caused in the 

 business by fears of " free silver." and through it. 

 for a time. American companies lost considerable 

 business, especially in the life department. The 

 total Canadian fire insurance in force in 1895 was 

 M*4.368: the total life insurance. $319.781.939, 

 divided as follows: British companies, $34.589,584; 

 American companies, s96.731.278 : Canadian com- 

 pani 1.077. The new insurance effected 



was $44.781.584. and the yearly increase realized 

 from the sum total was $10.312.499. 



VOL. xxxvi. 7 A 



Banks and Banking. By ad of the Dominion 

 Parliament in 1871 a uniform currency was estab- 

 lished, with a single gold standard. The British sov- 

 ereign was made legal tender a was Un- 

 American gold eagle at a fixed weight. Silvercoin was 

 to be legal tender up to $10 in amount. Dominion 

 notes are issued, the greater pan being held by the 

 banks as security for their reserves, and the re- 

 mainder is in circulation as $1 and $2 bills to the 

 extent, in 1895, of $21.397,000. The banks of 

 Canada had last year a paid-up capital of $61,800,- 

 700; notes in circulation, $30.807.041: dej 

 $190,916.939. Their reserve fund amounted to $27.- 

 01 o.oOO. and the rate of discount was 54- to 7 per 

 cent. In the savings banks postal, special, and 

 Government $57,578.981 were on deposit in ls!i.">. 



Business. The failures of the year aggregated 

 over $15,000.000. They numbered nearly 1.900. and 

 were about $2.000.000 less than in 1894. " The ;. 

 were $6.054.127. The business of the loan companies 

 was very dull during the year. 



International Affairs. The Canal Commission 

 has been referred to elsewhere. The following 

 resolution was unanimously adopted by Parliament 

 on Feb. 5, 1896, in connection with the Venezuelan 

 trouble : 



" That in view of the threatening aspect of for- 

 eign affairs this house desires to assure her Maj- 

 esty's Government and the people of the United 

 Kingdom of its unalterable loyalty and devotion to 

 the British throne and Constitution, and of its con- 

 viction that, should occasion unhappily arise, in no 

 other part of the empire than the * Dominion of 

 Canada would more substantial sacrifices attest the 

 determination of her Majesty's subjects to main- 

 tain unimpaired the integrity and inviolate the 

 honor of her Majesty's empire: and this house re- 

 iterates the oft-expressed desire of the people of 

 Canada to maintain the most friendly relations with 

 their kinsmen of the United States." 



The Alaskan Boundary Commission concluded 

 their report, and in January, 1896. it was submitted 

 to the governments concerned. The surveys had 

 been carried on since 1892 by Dr. F. C. Mendenhall, 

 and then by Gen. Duffield for the United States 

 and by AV. F. King for Canada. Later, differences 

 developed as to the boundary between British Co- 

 lumbia and the State of Washington, involving the 

 ownership of great tracts of mining country. The 

 Bering Sea regulations do not seem to have checked 

 pelagic sealing to any extent, and the United States 

 Government demanded a modification of the Paris 

 award, without success, while the same award of 

 damages to Canadian sealers was being finally set- 

 tled by a commission sitting at Victoria. B. C.. in 

 November. 1896. Another international point 

 raised was the execution of the American alien- 

 labor law against Canada. During the Canadian 

 elections the Conservative party favored retaliation 

 along similar lines, and the Liberal leader, Mr. 

 Laurier. has intimated his intention of taking ac- 

 ticn unless some modification is effected in the 

 American regulations. 



CAPE COLONY AND SOUTH AFRICA. The 

 British colony of the Cape of Good Hope and the 

 neighboring colony of Natal, together with the in- 

 dependent Boer republics the South African Re- 

 public and the Oranire Free State occupy the 

 temperate part of South Africa south of the Lim- 

 popo and Orange rivers. Between this region 

 and the Zambesi are the British protectorates of 

 Bechuanaland and British South Africa, or Rhode- 

 sia, occupying the elevated central region, gener- 

 ally fertile, salubrious, and rich in minerals. The 

 southern half of Portuguese East Africa takes up 

 the coast region in the east, from the mouth of the 

 Zambesi to the Zululand Reserve. In the west the 



