224 



DOMINION" OF CANADA. 



minion, and the only one yet published, gives 

 the total volume ot trade, for 1867-'68, as 

 $131,027,532 viz. : imports, $73,459,644; ex- 

 ports, $57,567,888. The hanking interests of 

 the country are also reported to be in a most 

 satisfactory state. Indeed, money, especially 

 in the West, is accumulating faster than in- 

 vestments can be procured. The rate of inter- 

 est on mortgages has consequently so much 

 declined, that it is now difficult to obtain more 

 than seven per cent. The paid-up banking 

 capital of the Dominion for 1869 is given as 

 $32,323,739 ; circulation, $8,832,205 ; discounts, 

 $56,346,955. There are also not less than 

 $8,000,000 in savings-banks in the several 

 Provinces, besides $1,322, 629 savings in charge 

 of building-societies. Many of the savings- 

 banks in Ontario and Quebec were established 

 by and are under the charge of the Government 

 known as post-office savings-banks. 



In the session of the Dominion Parliament 

 which terminated in June, 1869, an attempt 

 was made to effect a fundamental change in 

 the banking and currency system of the coun- 

 try. The general features of the proposed 

 scheme, as stated by the Finance Minister, were : 

 " The compelling of all bills issued by the banks 

 to be secured by a deposit of Government se- 

 curities, the declaring such bills to be legal 

 tenders, and the compelling of reserves to be 

 held for the security of depositors the whole 

 being modelled on the American national sys- 

 tem." The influence brought to bear upon 

 Parliament by the bankers throughout the 

 Dominion obliged the Government, after a 

 lengthened debate, to withdraw the measure ; 

 but, as it is known that the newly-appointed 

 Finance Minister, Sir Francis Hincks a man 

 of singular energy and ability entertains pre- 

 cisely the same views on the subject as his 

 predecessor, a renewed effort to secure an 

 essentially Dominion currency is expected by 

 all parties. 



The field for legislation open to the Federal 

 Parliament of a confederation such as Canada 

 must necessarily be limited. The fact of the 

 Union being still a dependency at once explains 

 this. Hence, in looking over its printed volume 

 of laws, little more is met with than would 

 emanate from a colonial legislature under the 

 ordinary and more simple form. "We notice, 

 however, more than one law ranging some- 

 what beyond this limit. That for the "en- 

 franchisement of Indians" is not less states- 

 manlike than humane. It enacts, inter alia, 

 that "the Governor in Council may, by let- 

 ter's patent, grant a life estate to an Indian 

 deemed competent, which he may devise to his 

 children, who, in case of his dying intestate, 

 succeed to the fee simple under the law of the 

 Province in which he resided." 



A new law on the death-penalty provides 

 that in future "the sentence shall be executed 

 within the prison walls." 



The Legislature of the Province of Ontario 

 continues its liberal encouragement to local 



improvements and to immigration. A Toronto 

 newspaper designates the year just past as 

 "the railway year," quite a number of charters 

 having been granted, and the likelihood being 

 that work in railway-building has thus been 

 secured for years to come. Prominent among, 

 if not the principal of, these projected railways 

 is the "Toronto and Nipissing," narrow gauge, 

 leading northward from the capital of Ontario 

 to and through the new townships, with the 

 possible intention of in time reaching the 

 Northwest Territory, or at least forming a 

 profitable connection with Northwest travel. 

 Special exertions have been made to induce 

 the English immigrant to partake of the ad- 

 vantages of settlement in Ontario, which in- 

 clude free grants of land and the protection of 

 a homestead law. The official figures of last 

 year do not, however, show much result. 

 The total arrivals at four stations Ottawa, 

 Kingston, Toronto, Hamilton was 53,281, of 

 which the very large number of 39,899 passed 

 on to the United States, over 18,000 taking the 

 St. Lawrence route, and more than 21,000 that 

 of New York (via the Canada Great "Western) 

 to the far "West of the Eepublic. 



The Legislature of the Province of Quebec 

 has also passed laws to facilitate the settlement 

 of Crown lands, " and in all this legislation," 

 we are told, "immigrants have been placed 

 upon the same footing as the natives of the 

 country." The construction of "colonization 

 roads" appears to be the chief work accom- 

 plished so far ; and the removal of settlers from 

 the old, overstocked, French districts to the 

 unsettled lands lying farther north is, no doubt, 

 the chief aim. Mr. Secretary Chauveau, in a 

 report bearing date llth of June, 1869, says : 

 " There was expended during the past eighteen 

 months on colonization roads nearly $67,000 ; 

 and there was voted, for the ensuing eighteen 

 months, $262,000." Neither the local govern- 

 ment of Nova Scotia nor that of New Bruns- 

 wick seems disposed to cooperate, at present, 

 with the Dominion authorities, or those of the 

 two sister Provinces, in promoting extensive 

 immigration. The Governor of the former 

 Province, in reply to a communication from the 

 Secretary of State, at Ottawa, states that his 

 Council had informed him that they were una- 

 ble to do so because " of the present financial 

 condition of the Province ; " and his Excellency 

 of New Brunswick replied that " the attention 

 of his government has been more especially 

 directed to the object of retaining the young 

 men of the Province at home." 



The estimated population of the Dominion at 

 present is about 4,350,000. A regular 'census 

 will be taken in 1871. The Intercolonial Bail- 

 way, to connect the maritime Provinces with 

 the western parts of the Union, is in course of 

 construction, and will probably be completed 

 four years hence. This work is regarded by 

 Canadians with a species of national pride ; 

 and, although there is great doubt as to whether 

 it can, in any degree, be a commercial success, 



