DOMINION OF CANADA. 



DDFAURE, JULES A. S. 



North Shore Railway, which under govern- 

 ment management yields but $70,000 a year. 

 It is proposed to sell the road to the Canada 

 Pacific syndicate, who, it is estimated, could 

 earn from it usa branch of the Pacific Railway 

 a- much as $500,000 a year, and would be will- 

 ing to pay for the property $8,000,000. 



A -iccial session of the Manitoba Legislature, 

 called to take action on the boundary extension 

 as soon as the Dominion Parliament should pass 

 a law on the subject, opened March 3d. Mani- 

 toba, when it was created a province of the 

 Dominion, was allowed the sum of $551,447 as 

 an otl'sct to the debts of the other provinces 

 a-sumed by the Dominion. The expensive sys- 

 tem of irovernment set up brought the " Prairie 

 Province " into financial straits. The govern- 

 ment was subsequently simplified by the abo- 

 lition of the Upper Legislative Chamber and the 

 redaction of the number of salaried ministers. 

 Nevertheless, the capital in the hands of the 

 Dominion Government, which allowed five per 

 cent per annum interest, has been consumed 

 to meet current expenses, until there only re- 

 mains of it the sum of $243,060. There were 

 withdrawn from the fund in this way $158,486 

 between 1872 and 1875, and in 1880 the addi- 

 tional sum of $100,000 was taken to supply a 

 deficit. The annual subsidies from the Domin- 

 ion Treasury amount to about $100,000, being 

 made up of the annual interest on the remain- 

 der of the indemnity fund, $12,153, a specific 

 grant of $30,000, and 80 cents per head of the 

 population. The revenue collected by the 

 province from taxation does not exceed $15,- 

 uOO. The total amount available for the cur- 

 rent provincial expenses is therefore only about 

 $115,000 a year. The expenses amounted in 

 1880 to $181,329, and in 1881 were expected 

 to be as great, or somewhat greater, on account 

 of the extension of territory. 



The agricultural capabilities of British Co- 

 lumbia are of an inferior order, but its mineral 

 resources are probably very rich, and its tim- 

 ber undoubtedly of great value. Professor G. 

 Dawson, of the Geological Survey, states that 

 110,000,000 acres, two thirds of the total area 

 of the province, including Vancouver and Char- 

 lotte Islands, are covered with timber. The 

 most valuable wood is the Douglas fir or Ore- 

 gon pine. This esteemed commercial tree is 

 found throughout Vancouver Island, adjacent 

 to the 49th parallel of latitude, from the coast 

 to and along the eastern slope of the Rocky 

 Mountains; near and about Fort George; 

 northeastward as far as McLeod'sLake, at Jacla 

 Lake, at Babine Lake, and in many other lo- 

 calities. This tree frequently exceeds 8 feet in 

 diameter above the ground, and grows to a 

 height of from 200 to 300 feet, forming great 

 and dark forests. Masts for export are hewed 

 oetagonaDy from 20 to 32 inches diameter, and 

 60 to 120 feet long. Yards are hewed of 12 to 

 24 inches diameter, and 50 to 102 feet long. 



The Western hemlock, which grows much 

 larger than the hemlock of the Eastern prov- 



inces, is also found everywhere throughout the 

 region of abundant rain-fall, being particularly 

 fine and large in the Charlotte Islands. The 

 other most important tree of the province is 

 the red cedar, which grows there to a prodi- 

 I_MMI;S size. From Puget Sound about 150,000,- 

 000 feet of timber a year are shipped to Cali- 

 fornia, 25,000,000 feet are sent to foreign coun- 

 tries, and 25,000,000 feet used at home. 



In presenting the budget to the Columbia 

 Legislature, Mr. Beaver complained that the 

 Dominion would not assist the province by leg- 

 islation to collect from the Chinese some con- 

 tribution to the taxes. The Indians and the 

 Chinese escape taxation altogether, and pay 

 nothing for the support of the provincial gov- 

 ernment, but contribute to the expenses of the 

 Dominion Government the duties on the im- 

 ported and excise articles which they con- 

 sume. 



The revenue of Newfoundland for 1880 was 

 $928,565, a decrease of over $60,000 as com- 

 pared with 1879. This decrease was owing to 

 smaller importations of molasses, sugar, spirits, 

 wines, and tobacco. There is a floating debt 

 of $77,825. The estimated requirements for 

 1881 were $989,860. The total expenditures 

 were $1,105,490. The consolidated and deben- 

 ture debt of the province on January 1, 1881, 

 amounted to $1,450,990; but in the early part 

 of the year $100,000 of this was discharged. 

 The ship-building of 1880 was 132 vessels, of 

 4,998 tons; the total shipping owned in the 

 colony is 1,830 vessels, of 86,561 tons. The 

 imports for the year 1880 were $6,966,243 in 

 value, or $38.33 per capita ; the exports, $6,784,- 

 883, or $37.33 per capita. 



DUFAURE, JULES ARMAND STANISLAS, 

 French ex-Minister, died at Paris, June 27th, 

 aged eighty-three years. Dufaure was the last 

 survivor of the illustrious group of statesmen 

 who came to the front in the reign of Louis 

 Philippe. Free from vanity and ambitious in- 

 trigue, he was one of the most trusted and 

 esteemed of French politicians, and in every po- 

 litical crisis for the last forty years he exer- 

 cised a quiet influence not inferior to that of 

 the more conspicuous actors. Less of a theorist 

 than the other statesmen of his school, which 

 formed its ideas on the model of English con- 

 stitutionalism, he understood better the capa- 

 bilities and tendencies of France, and he did 

 more than the others by his efforts as a prac- 

 tical politician and by his own example to im- 

 plant constitutional principles in France, and 

 to lay the foundations for the secure establish- 

 ment of the republic. Dufaure was born De- 

 cember 4, 1798, at Satijon, in the department 

 of the Charente-Inferieure. He immediately 

 took a high position at the bar upon complet- 

 ing his legal studies at Paris. He entered polit- 

 ical life in the early part of the reign of Louis 

 Philippe, being elected deputy in 1834 for 

 Nantes, which city returned him regularly, 

 except during the empire, from which he held 

 aloof, until 1878. He was appointed a mem- 



