268 



DOMINION OF CANADA. 



ly possible. For communication with England, 

 a sea- voyage of 150 days was necessary ; on its 

 eastern boundary it was walled in by the Rocky 

 Mountains, preventing intercourse with the 

 kindred provinces ; while on the south lay the 

 United States, through which immigrants to 

 the country had to pass. The leading condi- 

 tion upon which this colony entered the Cana- 

 dian Union was, an engagement on the part 

 of the Dominion Government to construct a rail- 

 road from Ontario to the Pacific coast, thereby 

 affording British Columbia means of active 

 communication with Canada, and, compara- 

 tively, with the world at large. It is com- 

 puted that this railroad the Canadian Pacific 

 will be at least 2,500 miles long, extending 

 from Lake Nipissing, north of Lake Superior, 

 and 200 miles from Toronto, to Victoria, the 

 capital of British Columbia ; and it is stipu- 

 lated that it shall be built in ten years, means 

 to be provided by grants of land of twenty 

 miles extent on each side of the road, and by 

 such subsidy as to the Parliament of the Do- 

 minion may seem fit. The estimated cost of 

 the road is $100,000,000; and it is understood 

 that the " subsidy " will not be less than one- 

 fourth of that amount ($25,000,000). The pro- 

 posed gauge is 4 feet 8 inches. Over this ex- 

 tension of the Dominion, and the prospective 

 greatness, Canadian writers are not a little 

 jubilant. They rejoice that, " from the Atlan- 

 tic to the Pacific, from the forty- sixth paral- 

 lel to the north pole, is the fitting description 

 of this new Dominion." Apart from this lat- 

 ter enterprise, the railways of Canada are in- 

 creasing in number and value. Those already in 

 operation exceed 3,000 miles in length ; in pro- 

 cess of construction are more than 1,000 miles ; 

 and charters have been granted for an additional 

 800 miles. The principal of the works not yet 

 completed the Intercolonial is rapidly ad- 

 vancing ; the force employed on it in a given 

 month, recently, was 133,694 men, 11,960 boys, 

 29,426 horses, and 324 oxen ; the approximate 

 expenditure to the present time is more than 

 $7,000,000 ; the total cost will be not less than 

 $17,000,000. It is expected that this railway 

 the direct and chief result, so far, of con- 

 federation will be in full operation in 1873. 

 Its importance as a national work may be 

 judged of from the assurance given, that it 

 will convey freight and passengers from Hali- 

 fax to Sarnia without transshipment, a distance 

 of 1,357 miles. The official tables of railway 

 traffic returns show a steady increase. The 

 total receipts in 1869 were $12,921,861; in 

 1870, $13,451,299; and the first six months 

 of 1871 show $6,734,423, to compare with 

 $6,279,425 for the same period of the previous 

 year. Still more direct evidence of increasing 

 prosperity of the country is afforded by the 

 amount of the revenue of the past year ; it 

 exceeded $19,000,000, and was in excess of 

 that of 1870 nearly $3,000,000. There has 

 been a steady increase of receipts since the 

 date of confederation, a fact attributable, we 



are told to that measure. Official accounts 

 given of banking progress show an increase 

 in paid-up capital of 37 per cent, in three 

 years. Of floating capital, " or money of the 

 people deposited in banks," a great increase 

 is also noted. The total deposits of the last 

 month of the fiscal year were $55,764,076, 

 against $51,528,231 in the first month. The 

 amount of money in post-office and other sav- 

 ings-banks, and in building-societies, of which 

 imperfect returns show nearly $11,000,000, is 

 further proof of the prosperity of a large pro- 

 portion of the people. An authorized statement 

 of the liabilities of the Dominion also tells that 

 "the cost in interest of the magnificent public 

 works which Canada possesses, and which so 

 much increases its wealth, is not more than 

 $1.25 per head per annum; and there is a 

 prospect of a rapid increase of population to 

 divide even this small burden." The particulars 

 of the census just taken do not, however, en- 

 courage this anticipation as to population. It 

 was computed, according to established ratios, 

 that a Dominion population would be shown of 

 more than 4,500,000. The official figures just 

 published are. 3,575,577, fully 1,000,000 less 

 than was not unreasonably expected, and 

 showing an increase in ten years in the old 

 provinces of the Dominion of not more than 

 395,265, or, in Ontario of 16.09 per cent. ; 

 Quebec, 7.18; New Brunswick, 13.38; Nova 

 Scotia, 17.21. Judging from statements by 

 the Dominion press generally, an impression 

 exists that serious errors were committed by 

 enumerators; that, in fact, the enumeration 

 altogether was conducted on a wrong prin- 

 ciple. The explanation, however, of a well- 

 informed Ottawa journal is, that " immigra- 

 tion was balanced by emigration." The lead- 

 ing public men of Canada are evidently much 

 concerned by the question of supplying the 

 large extent of territory recently acquired with 

 the heads and hands necessary for making it 

 more than of nominal value. The continued 

 possession of Manitoba by the French half- 

 breeds is not a pleasant prospect ; while the 

 fisheries, forests, and coal-fields, with " min- 

 erals of almost every description, and a very 

 large quantity of valuable land" (according 

 to the accounts of Mr. Trutch) of British 

 Columbia, call for more means of develop- 

 ment than can possibly be furnished by its 

 present sparse population of white people. 

 The Dominion Cabinet, as well as the respec- 

 tive local governments of Ontario and Quebec, 

 have been boldly attacked for neglect in this 

 matter; but the truth would appear to be, 

 that immigrants by the St. Lawrence route 

 are irresistibly attracted elsewhere. It is 

 shown by official statements that, in the short 

 period of five years, ending in 1870, the num- 

 ber of 248,905 passengers from Europe thus 

 entered the territory of the United States. 

 The Dominion Parliament opened on the 15th 

 of February, and closed on the 14th of April, 

 the number of general acts passed during the 



