NORTHWEST TERRITORIES. 



NOVA SCOTIA. 



557 



Lieutenant-Governor of the Northwest Terri- 

 tories, submitted a report of the last session of 

 the Territorial Legislature, from which the fol- 

 lowing facts are quoted. Among the ordinances 

 passed were these : 



To amend an ordinance respecting revenue and ex- 

 penditure. 



To make regulations with respect to coal mines. 



To amend and consolidate as amended the judica- 

 ture ordinance. 



To enforce the destruction of noxious weeds. 



Kespecting municipal assessment and collection of 

 taxes and licenses. 



To abolish priority among execution creditors. 



Further to amend the liquor-license ordinance of 

 1891-'9& 



To incorporate the city of Calgary. 



To amend the ordinance respecting mortgages and 

 .sales of personal property. 



The Territorial appointments made since the 

 previous report by the Lieutenant-Governor were 

 as follow: Justices of the peace, 70; notaries 

 public, 16 ; coroners, 4 ; issuers of marriage li- 

 censes, 12 ; advocates, 15 ; commissioners for 

 taking affidavits, 37. 



Finances. The estimated revenue for the 

 fourteen months ending Aug. 31, 1894, was : Bal- 

 ance of local funds on July 1, 1893, $10,040.69 ; 

 Dominion appropriation, 1893-'94, $199,200; 

 special additional Dominion vote, 1893-'94, 

 $1,334 ; special supplementary Dominion vote, 

 1892-'93, $2,500; receipts from local sources, 

 $31,000 ; proportion of Dominion vote for 1894- 

 ? 95 for July and August, 1894, $30,438.32 ; total, 

 $274,513.01. 



The most important items of expenditure dur- 

 ing the same period were estimated as follows : 

 For schools, $114,000 ; roads, bridges, and mis- 

 cellaneous district expenditure, $88,928 ; clerical 

 assistance in legislation, $14,770; printing and 

 advertising, $8,000. The total expenditure was 

 estimated at $274,513. 



Fisheries. The product and value of the 

 fisheries in 1893 were as follow : 



There was a slight falling off in the catch 

 compared with the year before, owing probably 

 to the fact that restrictions were placed upon 

 promiscuous fishing. 



Agriculture. Of the estimated 240,000,000 

 acres in the Northwest Territories suitable for 

 agriculture and grazing but a very small per- 

 centage has been utilized. Those engaged in 

 farming, a small number, usually limit their 

 production to their own needs or to local re- 

 quirements, as the price of grain has been too 

 low and the cost of transportation too high to 

 make production for export profitable. 



The chief industry of the Territories so far 

 has been grazing : but of late the rich and ex- 

 tensive coal fields have been successfully worked, 

 and the mineral wealth of the country made ap- 

 parent. In the summer of 1894 rich placer gold 

 mines were located on the south branch of Sas- 



katchewan river, 15 miles below the town of 

 Medicine Hat. A discovery of free gold was 

 also made in Jaspar Pass, near Edmonton. 



Education. By far the largest item in the 

 expenditure of the Government is made for the 

 support of public schools, of which there were 

 279 in the Territories in 1893. The number of 

 pupils in attendance was 7.789, and the percent- 

 age of attendance was 71'2. The foregoing 

 does not include the children attending Indian 

 schools, of whom there were 2,284 in 1893. 



Maintenance of Order. With the excep- 

 tion of the local police force of 2 towns, the only 

 body of men available for the suppression of 

 crime, the maintenance of order, and the pro- 

 tection of property over an area of 906,000 

 square miles, is the Northwest mounted police. 

 There is but 1 prison in the Territories, that 

 being in Regina, the capital, and the number 

 confined in it on June 30, 1893, was 16. The 

 total number of convictions in cases tried by the 

 stipendiary magistrate and inspectors of North- 

 west mounted police for the year was 296. This 

 enumeration does not include convictions made 

 by justices of the peace. 



Election. In November, 1894, the election 

 was held, when most of the old members of the 

 Legislature were re-elected. The whole country 

 is divided into 29 electoral districts, each dis- 

 trict returning 1 member. The number of rep- 

 resentatives sent to the Dominion Parliament 

 is much smaller, and they are only voted for at 

 the general or Dominion election. 



Irrigation. Between Medicine Hat and 

 Crowfoot Crossing there is a large area contain- 

 ing over 3,000,000 acres, which forms part of 

 the arid belt of the Northwest Territories. This 

 land would be excellent for settlement if there 

 were any regular rainfall, but sometimes it does 

 not rain in that region for two or three years, 

 or, at all events, not sufficiently to make crops 

 reliable. In the summer of '1894 irrigation 

 works were begun in this district, and by the 

 end of the year such results were obtained as to 

 warrant the belief that the whole arid region 

 may be rendered suitable for agriculture or 

 grazing. 



The Wood Buffalo. The wood buffalo,which 

 a few years ago ranged in large herds through 

 the woods and over the prairies of the North- 

 west Territories, is rapidly becoming extinct. 

 The Indians hunt them whenever they can, in 

 season or out of season, and large numbers have 

 been slaughtered by white hunters, who had not 

 the same excuse for killing them. They are 

 now principally to be found in the Athabasca 

 district, but are rare even there. As the num- 

 bers of the buffalo diminish, the survivors seem 

 to become more wary, and accomplished hunters 

 as the Indians are, they are compelled to follow 

 their trail sometimes for weeks, and very often 

 without success. 



NOYA SCOTIA. Legislature. The provin- 

 cial Parliament was convened at Halifax, Jan. 4, 

 1894, and was prorogued Feb. 12. The follow- 

 ing were the members of the Cabinet in 1894: 

 W. S. Fielding, President of the Council and 

 Provincial Secretary; J. W. Langley, Attorney- 

 General and Commissioner of Crown Lands ; 

 Charles E. Church, Commissioner of Works and 

 Mines ; and Thomas Johnson, C. F. Maclsaac, 



