ONTARIO. 



596 



merit of Education for use in the schools of the 

 province. It was claimed that Roman Catholics 

 had their separate schools supported by Govern- 

 ment and municipal grants, in which they could 

 prescribe the books to be used and the course of 

 study to be pursued, and that it was manifestly 

 unfair to emasculate history and leave the teach- 

 ings i>l the Bible doubtful, to suit the prejudices 

 of those who rarely sent their children to the 

 public schools, and, when they did so, did it to 

 suit t heir own convenience. 



Fr.mi tin- last annual report of the Minister 

 of Education, it appears that the number of 

 children of school age in the province was 615,- 

 781 ; the number of those registered in the 

 schools was 491,741 ; the average attendance of 

 rural pupils was 48 per cent., of towns 61 per 

 cent., and of cities 67 per cent. The number of 

 female teachers was 68 per cent, of the entire 

 number employed 8,280; the number of school- 

 houses, 5,876 ; and the total sum expended for 

 educational purposes for the year was $5,189,062. 

 As a rule, the schools throughout the province 

 were kept open the full year ; 57 per cent, of the 

 public schools used the authorized Scripture 

 readings, 37 per cent, the Bible, and 93 per cent, 

 of all the schools were opened and closed with 

 prayer. The number of separate schools in the 

 province was 289. 



The Minister of Education also reported that 

 during the past ten years (1883 to 1892, inclusive) 

 the mechanics' institutes and free libraries of 

 Ontario issued 6,198,509 volumes of books, and 

 that their total receipts amounted to $1,039,692. 



Hospitals. The Inspector of Prisons and 

 Public Charities, in his last annual report, stated 

 that 29 hospitals received aid from the province, 

 the amount in 1892 being $99,341.79, or almost 

 $10,000 more than for the preceding year. The 

 number of patients in the hospitals in 1892 was 

 11,404, an increase of 881 over 1891, and the 

 daily cost per inmate was 79-31 cents. Two new 

 hospitals were opened during the year St. Jo- 

 seph's, in Chatham, and the General Hospital at 

 Stratford. 



Of the entire expenditure of the province for 

 1892, nearly one dollar out of every four was for 

 the maintenance of public institutions for the 

 care of the dependent. In 1891 there were 3,888 

 patients in the insane asylums of the province, 

 in 1892 4,072, and the per capita cost for main- 

 tenance for the year was $135.15. At Mimico 

 buildings were recently erected, where the chronic 

 insane are provided with comfortable homes, and 

 a new asylum is being built at Brockville. 



New Parliament Building. In the spring 

 the new building erected for the provincial Par- 

 liament in Toronto was completed, at a cost of 

 $1,250,000. The plan of the building was by 

 R. A. Waite, of Buffalo, and the work of con- 

 struction was begun in 1886. The architectural 

 design of the building is Romanesque, its prin- 

 cipal frontage is 435 feet, with a depth of 200 

 feet, and the main plan forms a double letter E, 

 inclosing within its walls over 76,000 square 

 feet. The center facade measures 120 by 125 

 feet, and rises to a height of nearly 200 feet. 



Fisheries. Next to agriculture, the fishing 

 industry is the most important of the province. 

 The value of the product for 1892 amounted to 

 $2,042,198, and for the year before to $1,806,389. 



The most important fish were trout, of which 

 the value for the year was $633,705; whit, li-li, 

 $<W1,2W1; herring, $372,686; pickerel, $148,671; 

 and coarse lish, $107,377. During the year 2,790 

 persons were employed in the fisheries. The 

 increase in the catch over that of the previous 

 year was noticeable in almost every kind of fish 

 taken, but especially in whitcfish, salmon trout, 

 and herring. 



Agriculture. The value of farm lands in 

 the province is decreasing, notwithstanding the 

 fact that farming operations have been gener- 

 ally rewarded with good crops. The chief cause 

 is the lower prices received for farm produce 

 and the opening up of Manitoba and the North- 

 west for settlement. The following table gives 

 the area and produce of the principal field crops 

 of Ontario for 1892 and 1893, with the yearly 

 average for the twelve years 1882-'93 : 



The value of the various kinds of live stock in 

 the province in 1892 was as follows : Horses, 

 $55,812,920; cattle, $45,548,475; sheep, $8.569,- 

 557; hogs, $5,479,093; poultry, $2,091,450. The 

 amounts received for the sale of live stock in 

 1892 were : Horses, $4,280,132 ; cattle, $15,979,- 

 135; sheep, $2,640,190; hogs, $8,775,852; poul- 

 try, $778,308. The total wool clip for 1892 

 amounted to 5,643.706 pounds. 



In 1892 there were 856 cheese factories oper- 

 ating in Ontario, the product for the year being 

 93,848,948 pounds, valued at $8,959,939. 



The area in orchard and pardon in the prov- 

 ince in 1893 was about 195,000 aciv>, and the 

 yield of fruit for the year less than an average, 

 excepting for grapes and small fruits, which 

 yielded well. 



There are in the province about 200,000 bee- 

 hives, and the product of honey for 1892 was 

 estimated at 6,853,770 pounds. 



Timber Sales. The sale of timber lands 

 forms the most important source of provincial 

 revenue. The mileage sold in 1892 was 633 ; the 

 total price realized, $2.315,000; the average 

 price per mile, $3.657; and the highest price per 

 mile, $17,500. The best average price per mile 

 ever obtained before was $2,859, and the highest 



