CANADA, DOMINION OF. 



99 



history of emigration into Canada is disappoint- 

 ing. According to Sir Richard Cartwright, 886,- 

 000 immigrants arrived in Canada during the 

 past ten years, at a cost to the Canadian Gov- 

 ernment of about $3,000,000. Of the whole 

 number arriving, according to the same author- 

 ity, hardly 150,000 remained in Canada, the rest 

 going to the United States. 



Fast Steamer Service. To facilitate the 

 connection between the Canadian Pacific Rail- 

 way and the route across the Atlantic, and to 

 insure a quicker mail service, the Canadian Gov- 

 ernment, in the summer of 1894, contracted for 

 a fast steamship service on both the Atlantic and 

 the Pacific Ocean. The service is to be first class 

 in equipment and every respect, and the speed 

 to be 20 knots an hour; deep-sea trial, long 

 course. For the first ten years an annual sub- 

 sidy of $750,000 will be granted to the Atlantic 

 fast-service steamers, and for the succeeding ten 

 years $500,000 a year. The subsidy granted to 

 the steam service 'between Canada and Australia 

 is $125,000 a year. For this service New South 

 Wales gives $50,000 annually ; the other Aus- 

 tralian colonies have not yet made their contri- 

 butions. 



Canals. The Sault Ste. Marie Canal, connect- 

 ing Lake Huron with Lake Superior on the Ca- 

 nadian side, begun a few years ago, was partially 

 opened for traffic toward the close of 1894. It 

 is about two thirds of a mile long, with a mean 

 width of 152 feet, and a depth, when completed, 

 made suitable for navigation at a mean water 

 level by vessels drawing 20 feet. There is one 

 lock 900 feet long and CO feet wide, with a depth 

 of water on the sills of 20 feet 3 inches at the 

 lowest recorded water level. The cost of the 

 work will be about $3,000,000. 



The entire amount expended by Canada on 

 canal works and their maintenance has been 

 $71,310.793. Of this sum, $20,692,244 was ex- 

 pended before confederation. $4,173,921 by the 

 Imperial Government, and $16,518.323 by the 

 provincial governments. The total amount 

 spent for canal construction and enlargement 

 alone is $61,151,330. The revenue derived by 

 the Government of Canada from canals since 

 confederation is $9,850,579, being an average of 

 $380,000 a year. 



In October, 1894, Plon. George E. Foster. Min- 

 ister of Finance, negotiated a loan in London of 

 $2,500,000. Part of the money will be used for 

 deepening the Canadian canals, one object being 

 to make the Great Lakes accessible to the war 

 ships of the British navy ; but most of the money 

 raised will be spent in completing the work on the 

 Sault Ste. Marie Canal, and in meeting obliga- 

 tions already incurred in the work. 



Postal Affairs. The gross revenue of the 

 Post-Office Department of Canada for last year 

 was $3,696,062, and the total expenditure $4.343,- 

 758. The expenditure has exceeded the revenue 

 continuously during the past twenty-six years. 

 The item of expenses, however, as compared with 

 revenue, has been gradually decreasing during 

 recent years. It is estimated that the annual 

 loss through the free transmission of newspapers 

 amounts to $100,000. The number of post offices 

 in the country is 8,656; the total number of let- 

 ters posted last year was 106,290,000, of which 

 3,254,000 were registered and 4,723,000 were free 



letters. The number of postal cards sent during 

 the same period was 22,790,000. 



Criminal Statistics. There are 5 peniten- 

 tiaries in the Dominion, situated at Kingston, 

 Ont. ; St. Vincent de Paul, Montreal, P. Q. ; 

 Dorchester, N. B. ; Stony Mountain, Man., and 

 New Westminster, B. C. The total number of 

 persons confined in these penitentiaries on June 

 30, 1893, was 1,194, of whom 1,160 were males 

 and 34 were females. Of the entire number, 8 

 were charged with murder; 12, manslaughter; 

 27, rape and similar offenses; 4, bigamy; 86 

 burglary and robbery with violence ; 17, for- 

 gery and offense against currency; and 13, ar- 

 son. Of those committed during'l893, 233 were 

 born in Canada, 35 in England, 25 in the United 

 States, 15 in Ireland, and 7 in Scotland. 



Divorce. During 1893 15 divorces were 

 granted in Canada, divided between the prov- 

 inces as follow : Ontario, 3 ; Quebec, 4 ; Nova 

 Scotia, 5; New Brunswick, 2; British Colum- 

 bia, 1. 



Indian Affairs. The Indian population of 

 Canada in 1893, according to the figures fur- 

 nished by the Government, was 99,717, a de- 

 crease of 9,488 from the number given the year 

 before. This reduction is attributable to a cor- 

 rection of the estimated Indian population of 

 British Columbia for 1892. 



.Though the majority of the Indians are op- 

 posed to everything that would obliterate the 

 lines of demarcation between themselves and the 

 white population, many of them show an eager 

 interest in the education of their children in the 

 industrial and other schools provided for them 

 by the Government. The number 'of children 

 attending these schools in 1893 was 7,699. 



The amount to the credit of the Indian fund 

 in Canada on June 30, 1893, was $3.530,774, the 

 expenditure from which was $263,964. The ex- 

 penditure from parliamentary appropriations 

 was $933,739, making a total of $1,197,693 ex- 

 pended on Indians during the year. 



Telegraphs. The principal telegraph lines 

 are in private hands, and the Government owns 

 and operates only those lines that have been 

 built in furtherance of the public service, be- 

 tween those places where the traffic could not 

 be expected to be sufficient to compensate pri- 

 vate outlay. Of such Government telegraph 

 lines there are 2,700 miles in operation, 207 

 miles being cable. In 1893 the telegraph com- 

 panies of Canada had 28,775 miles of line, 69,111 

 miles of wire, 2,692 offices, and the number of 

 messages sent during the year was 4,550,253. 

 The project of connecting Ca'nada and Australia 

 by means of a cable has been so far realized 

 that the work is now being vigorously prose- 

 cuted. 



Political,. During 1894 there was no excit- 

 ing subject of discussion in Dominion politics. 

 The matter of Government expenditures was 

 still a fruitful topic, as heretofore, for Liberal 

 censure ; but the tariff changes, largely in the 

 direction of a reduction, made at the last ses- 

 sion of Parliament, robbed the arguments of the 

 antiprotectionist of much of their force, even 

 in appealing to those who. if they were not free- 

 traders, were at least theoretically so. The ar- 

 gument of the opponents of the Government is 

 that the reductions when made were not suffi- 



