338 



GREAT BRITAIN, POSSESSIONS OF. 



! for cultivation from being subji 

 summer drought is 60,000 square miles; the 

 prairie-lands, with occasional scattered groves 

 and belu of timber on the margin of rivers, 

 well adapted for agriculture, cover 120,000 

 square miles; the timbered lands, in which 

 occasional prairies are interspersed, as in the 

 Peace River district, and which are suitable 

 for the growth of wheat and other grains, cover 

 466,226 square miles. There is a belt of land, 

 comprising 928,200 square miles, lying out- 

 side the prairie and timbered portions, which, 

 though beyond the agricultural zone, properly 

 speaking, is sufficiently supplied with timber, 

 and may be utilized for the growth of barley and 

 grass. Rock and swamp, in which the timber of 

 1 1 j e more southern regions gradual ly disappears, 

 occupy 642,800 square miles. In other terms, 

 we mar set down 875,184,000 acres of agricult- 

 ural land, yet to be brought under cultivation, 

 outside the limits of the organized provinces, 

 the greater part of which is well adapted to the 

 growth of wheat. The population in 1861 was 

 8,090,661 ; in 1871 it was 3,906,810, exclusive 

 of Indians in the Northwest and Hudson Bay 

 Territories, distributed as follows: Ontario, 

 1,620,842; Quebec, 1,191,605; Nova Scotia, 

 887,800; New Brunswick, 285,777; Manitoba, 

 18,000; British Columbia, 86,586, including 

 Indians. The nationalities comprised, were: 

 1,082,1)40 French, 846,414 Irish, 706,869 Eng- 

 lish, 549,946 Scotch, 202,991 German, 29,622 

 Dutch, 23,085 Indian, 21,496 African, 7,773 

 Welsh, 2,962 Swiss, 1,623 Scandinavian, 1,035 



8*l of Canada. 



Italian, 879 Spanish. 607 Russian, 126 Jews, 

 and 89 Greeks. There were 1, r.i.'J'j'.i Komnn 

 Catholics, 494,049 belonging to tin- Church of 

 England, 667,091 Methodists, and 644,908 

 Pn shyterians ; also 5,146 not profi-Ving re- 

 ligion, l,886pagans, 634 Monnons, 409 Deists, 

 20 atheists, and 18 Mohainme>: 



The above statistics of population do not in- 

 clude Prince Edward Island, which has re- 

 cently been admitted into the Dominion, and 

 which had, in 1871, a population of 94,021. 



The total value of imports into the Di'inin- 

 ion during the fiscal year 1872-78 was $126,- 



586,623; exports, $90,610,573, showing a total 

 trade of $217,197,096, an increase 01 

 817 over that of the preceding yeiir. 'I he 

 growth of the commerce during the four years 

 is shown in the following statement : 



YKARS. T..UITI*).. 



18W-TO $14M87,8 



1870-T1 : 170.M6.5W 



1871-'78. 1*4,070,190 



18W-T8. 817,1117,096 



The exports for the fiscal year ending June 

 30, 1878, as compared with those of the pre- 

 vious year, were as follows : 



The receipts for the year ending June 80, 

 1878, were $20,133,676, and the expenditures 

 $19,951,119. The receipts for 1878 embraced 

 the following itnn> : Customs, $12,747,042; 

 excise, $4,453,671 ; post-office, $882,198; pub- 

 lic works, including railways, $1,229,888; bill 

 stamps, $199,366 ; miscellaneous, $671,824. 

 The gross revenue and expenditure uf the 

 Dominion for six years, since Confederation, 

 have been as follows : 



Becelptf $108,348.69941 



Expenditure DC, 408.851 87 



Surplai receipts for nix year* . . $6.949,747 64 

 The expenditure during these years includes 

 payment toward sinking fund and several ii. m> 

 which were formerly charged to capital nc- 

 crued. During four of these years there wns an 

 i-\|i, inlitmv on capital account out of income 

 of $6,101,027.68. 

 The total debt of the Dominion, In 1873, 



amonntnl t< $1*2.400. 179 88 



The total aucta to 40,213,107 82 



Net debt $82,187,078 04 



The average rate of interest is 5.41 per < 

 At the 'lute of th'e lost census the net debt 

 of the Dominion amounted to $21. 72 per head, 

 and the interest to $1.2 per head. 



Tlic really m:i<:nilicent public works of Can- 

 ada represent its public debt; mid the- iin 

 represents the rent the present gem-ration pays 

 for them. The country owes its present great 

 development of wealth to these works, and the 

 policy of Parliament is now to extend them. 



