RAMIE, CULTIVATION AND MANUFACTURE OF. 



661 



REVENUE. 



Ordinary revenue $4,t47 * 



Kevi-mii- mi r.ijiiul Hrt-iiiint :.'..'..'.: In 



KiTi-ipi-. mi :ir. i.iinl ..i .11 1 \.in.-i--. 6>,OOU 00 



l:rci-i|i(>. tni-t ili-|i!tlt 15,770 H7 



Keeeipi.s, raimbtUMmeDt railway subsidies 9,767 84 



Total $4,447,278 91 



I Al'KNDITL'RE. 



Ordinary expeNclitua' 18,881,20549 



f;i|.n:il expenditure, publle buildings tWvJ'Vl In 



RiMleni|.ti< t IIIM.I. .1 ili-l.i 71.088 88 



Repayment of trust depuslu 1,M7 ni 



Krp ,\ iiinii ul mii way iruaruntei- drp-itit 840,405 89 



Advances to sufferers by wind .storm 43,080 89 



Total $M92,106 21 



Further payment* muile during ihe year from proceeds of 

 loan : 



Railway subsidies $841,085 88 



Railway construction 9,469 78 



Total "$850,45509 



On June 80, 1893, the funded debt outstanding 

 WftB 925,104y966.66 ; less sinking fund invested, 

 $9,994,000; balance, $15,110,266.66; temporary 

 loans and deposits, $3,469,946.38; total, $18,- 

 580.213.04. 



The loan of 20,000,000 francs negotiated by 

 Him. II. Mereier a fewyears ago in Paris ma- 

 tured July 15, 1893. To meet this obligation, 

 Hon. John S. Hall negotiated, in May last, a sec- 

 ond loan of 20,000,000 francs. The loan was for 

 two years, bearing interest at 4 per cent, per an- 

 num, and payable semi-annually. This loan did 

 not increase the funded debt of the province. 



Real Estate. Assuming municipal returns 

 for assessment purposes as representing half the 

 actual value of real estate, the value of all the 

 taxable real estate in the province would amount 

 to about $382,000,000. The value of the property 

 in the province which is not taxed is equal to 

 $69,000,000, the property in Montreal alone that 

 pays no taxes amounting to $21,000,000. Nearly 

 all this untaxed property throughout the prov- 

 ince is exempt on religious grounds, and great- 

 ly increases the burden of general taxation. 



In addition to the Dominion subsidy of 

 $1,278,952.80 to the Province of Quebec for the 

 fiscal year 1893-'94, the following, among other 

 less important amounts, were granted at the last 

 session of the Canadian Parliament: For public 

 works. $126,090; harbors and rivers, $32,100; 

 Soulanges Canal, $1,000.000; St. Lawrence river 

 and canals, $250,000; fisheries, $16,000; collec- 

 tion of revenue customs, $210,345 ; and Lachine 

 Canal, $50,000. 



Industries. The lumber industry is the most 

 important in the province. The revenue de- 

 rived by the Provincial Government from the 

 woods and forests for the year ending June 30, 

 1893, amounted to $888,722, being $264,724 in 

 excess of the revenue from this source for the 

 year before. 



The following is a close approximation of the 

 mini ii fact ii n-s of (Quebec for the last fiscal year: 

 Numlx-rof establishment* in operation, 24,112; 

 capital invested, $120, 909,000; number of em- 

 ploye,-, lis,s:;o; wages paid, $32,000,000 ; and 

 the Mine o| ih- products, $155,295,000. 



Education. I hiring the year ending June 30 

 la-t. the amount expended by the Government 

 of the province for public instruction was $390,- 

 509.67. This, added to the amounts paid by 

 municipalities and cities for the support of 

 schools for the year, would make the total ex- 

 I>enditure for public instruction over $4,000,000. 



Exodus of French Canadians. The emi- 

 gration of French Canadians from the rural 

 districts to the cities, and to the United Stair-. 

 was made the subject of a parliamentary inquiry 

 during the session of 1892, and a committee was 

 appointed to institute an investigation. This 

 committee submitted its report at the last ses- 

 sion of the Legislature, in which it assigned as 

 the chief causes old-fashioned and unscientific 

 methods of agriculture, extravagance and love 

 of dress and display, natural love of travel and 

 adventure, great cost of judicial proceedings, the 

 credit system, and the higher wages obtainable 

 in the United States. 



The closing of many manufacturing establish- 

 ments last summer in the New England States 

 led many thousand French-Canadian artisans to 

 return to the province. 



Pilgrimages. The pilgrimages to the shrine 

 of Ste. Anne, at Ste. Anne de Beaupre, a pretty 

 village on the St. Lawrence, 21 miles from Que- 

 bec, hate of late assumed great magnitude. 

 Probably in no other country in the world would a 

 railroad be specially built for the convenience of 

 pilgrims. This was the main, if not the sole rea- 

 son for the construction, a few years ago, of the 

 Ste. Anne Railway from Quebec to Ste. Anne de 

 Beaupre. A few days after the opening of the 

 road Cardinal Taschereau visited the village and 

 blessed the railway and all its belongings. Since 

 then the influx of pilgrims has enormously in- 

 creased. In 1892 the number of organized" pil- 

 grimages was 149, and the number of pilgrims 

 124.000. During 1893 the number visiting the 

 shrine was estimated at 134,000. Many mira- 

 cles are reported to have taken place, and a 

 great number of disused crutches, canes, etc., 

 are exhibited as evidences of the cures effected. 



Railway Extension. The most important 

 work of recent railway construction in the prov- 

 ince was the completion of the line from Rober- 

 val. on Lake St. .loh ii. to Chicoutimi, at the head 

 of navigation on Saguenay river. The road is 

 64 miles long, and is a continuation of the Que- 

 bec and Lake St. John Railway, 180 miles long, 

 connecting Quebec with Lake St. John and the 

 fishing region. 



R 



RAMIE, CULTIVATION AND MANU- 

 FACTURE OF. Ramie is the Malay name for 

 a broad-leaved, shrubby, fibrous plant of the net- 

 tle family ( Urticacece), often called the "stingless 

 nettle," Known to botanists as the Bcehmeria 

 nivea, and sometimes commercially as " rhea " 



and "rheeft," In China it is called "fchoti-ma," 

 in treaty ports of that country "China grass," in 

 Sumatra " eo/oee," and in Europe and America 

 by the Malay name, ramie. It grows with 10 or 

 15 shoots, springing from one root stock, and at- 

 tains at best a diameter of f of an inch and a 



