86 



BRITISH COLUMBIA. 



623; animals and their products, $149,269; 

 agricultural products, $23,303; miscellaneous, 

 $196,805 ; total, $7,843.!<~> s . 



The imports into the province for the year 

 ending June 30, 1893, were: Value of total im- 

 ports,^$4,934,066. Goods entering for home con- 

 sumption : Dutiable, $3,002,673 ; free, $1,255.495 ; 

 total. *4.!>1S,108; duty collected, $1.307,250. 

 The imports for the year ending June 30, 1894. 

 were : Value of total imports, $5,320,615. Goods 

 entering for home consumption: Dutiable, 

 $3,582,233; free, $1.738,282; total, $5,330,901; 

 duty collected, $1,308,631. 



naileries. -Daring 1893 the value of the 

 total catch of fish of the province was $4,443,963. 

 To this amount should be added the value of the 

 H-ih consumed by the Indians, estimated at 

 $3,000,000. The yield of salmon for the year 

 amounted to 29,000,000 one-pound cans, and 

 salmon not so preserved, fresh, smoked, and 

 salted, which, added to the foregoing figures, 

 would bring the aggregate to about 33,200,000 

 pounds, valued at $3,150,799. The increase in 

 value of the salmon catch over that of the pre- 

 ceding year was $1,500,000. 



The shipments of salmon were distributed as 

 follow: To Great Britain, 455,313 cases; east- 

 mi Canada, 114,792 cases; Australia, 8,830; 

 local sales and stock on hand, 11,294 cases. 



The shippers of Alaska salmon to Great 

 Britain continue to be the chief competitors in 

 this trade with British Columbia. Prices ruled 

 low during the year, which, together with other 

 causes, produced a falling off in the salmon 

 eat <-h and other fish products for 1894. 



Fur-seal Fisheries. The political difficul- 

 ties with which this important inuustry was sur- 

 rounded have been settled by the Bering Sea ar- 

 bitration (see " Annnal Encyclopaedia " for 1893, 

 pa ire ?!)), but with results far from satisfactory 

 to those immediately concerned in sealing opera- 

 tions in British Columbia. These claim that 

 what they call the one-sided regulations accom- 

 panying the award have practically ruined the 

 Bering Sea fur-seal industry, in which so much 

 British Columbia capital w.as invested. Not- 

 withstanding the disabilities complained of, the 

 provincial sealers' catch for 1893 amounted to 

 ! i),:',:\-> skins, bring 24,000 more than the year 

 before. Most of the seals were taken by vessels 

 cruising in Japanese waters, the remainder hav- 

 ing been secured by schooners that fished off the 

 British Columbia and Alaska coasts, south of 

 Bering Sea, and off the Commander Islands on 

 -ian <-'.ast. 



Mining. -The output of coal last year was 

 ,!)4 tons, against 826,335 tons the year be- 

 fore. The exports were 768,917 tons, the re- 

 mainder being consumed locally. Of the coal 

 exported, San Francisco took 490.679 tons. The 

 coal mines employed to 2,844 men, the earnings 

 per miner ranging from $2.75 to $5 a day. 



The total gold product of the province last 

 year was valued at $353,355, the Cariboo dis- 

 trict contributing $203,000 <u this sum. The 

 number of persons engaged in this industry in 

 the province during the year was 1,247, earning 

 wages ranging from $1.50 to $4.50 a day. 



Agrimlt lire. Though the province has large 

 areas of fertile land suited for agriculture, its 

 productive capabilities have not been developed to 



BULGARIA. 



any great extent. Most of the food products con- 

 sumed in the province are imported. The distance 

 from centers of consumption, cost of transpor- 

 tation, and low prices deter many from engag- 

 ing in farming, while those so employed often 

 limit their production of grains, etc., to family 

 requirements. The agricultural products of 

 British Columbia for 1894 have been estimated 

 as follow : Wheat, 190,266 bushels ; barley, 37,- 

 720 ; oats, 637,967 ; and 94,565 tons of hay. 



The overflow of Fraser river lands in the 

 spring of 1894 caused a loss of many millions in 

 property. A large acreage of growing crops' 

 was destroyed, and many farmers were practi- 

 cally ruined. To prevent a recurrence of such a 

 disaster, the Dominion and provincial govern- 

 ments intend constructing dikes along the 

 banks of Fraser river where there is any danger 

 of an overflow during a flood. On Sept. 27. 

 1894, the Dominion Government surveyors be- 

 gan the survey of the banks of the river from 

 Yale to its mouth, to devise a suitable diking 

 scheme. 



Manufactures. British Columbia is the 

 largest manufacturing province in the Dominion 

 in proportion to its population. Among its "in- 

 dustrial establishments are salmon canneries, 

 sugar refinery, smelters, shipbuildings, furniture 

 factories, and chemical works. There are 770 

 industrial establishments. The fixed capital is 

 $7,246.062; working capital, $7,157,732; num- 

 ber of hands employed, 11,507; amount paid in 

 wages in 1893. $3,586,897 : value of raw mate- 

 rial, $5,119,258; value of articles produced. 

 $11,999,928. 



Public Works. During 1893 a commodious 

 courthouse was erected at Vancouver City. 

 The Parliament buildings now being erected at 

 Victoria are under contract to be completed by 

 Nov. 30, 1895. The Dominion Government has 

 purchased a site at Victoria for a central build- 

 ing for all Dominion offices customs, post 

 office, inland revenue, etc. During 1893 the 

 Dominion Government erected and equipped an 

 extensive quarantine station at William's Head. 



Early in 1894 the Nelson and Fort Sheppard 

 Railway, joining the Spokane and Northern Rail- 

 road at the boundary line, was completed. The 

 other lines opened for traffic in 1894 were the 

 Revelstoke and Arrow Lake Railway, from the 

 Canadian Pacific Railway to the center of the 

 Slocan district; and the Victoria and Sidney 

 Railway, extending through the farming districts 

 of Victoria and Saanick to Sidney, a point on 

 the Gulf of Georgia. The projected lines are the 

 British Pacific Railway, designed to traverse the 

 heart of the northern and middle portions of the 

 province, and the Fraser River and Chilliwhack 

 Railway, an extension of the Esquimalt and 

 Nanaimo Railway. 



Educational. The provincial Government, 

 at the session of 1894, granted $188.745 for edu- 

 cation. The number of schools in operation in 

 1893 was 166; teachers employed, 207: pupils 

 enrolled during the year, 11.490; average daily 

 attendance, 7,111'4; teachers' salaries, $174,- 

 847 ; cost of each pupil on daily average attend- 

 ance, $27.9(5. 



BULGARIA, a constitutional monarchy in 

 eastern Europe, tributary to Turkey, of which it 

 formed a part before it was created an autono- 



