92 



BRITISH COLUMBIA. 



Mr. Martin's influence was dependent upon the 

 labor vote, and this he continued to hold. From 

 the time of his retirement he devoted himself to 

 forming new combinations against the ministry, 

 and at the end of the year Mr. Semlin was hold- 

 ing office by a very slight thread. 



Revenue and Expenditure. The income of 

 the province for the year ending June 30, 1899, 

 was $1,434,525. The principal items were: Do- 

 minion of Canada, railway lands, $100,000; land 

 sales, $104,180; free miners' certificates, $139,756; 

 mining receipts general, $159,432; real-property 

 tax, $109,307: personal-property tax, $112,160; 

 revenue tax, $84,555; mineral tax, $36,061; regis- 

 try fees, $63,093; "Chinese restriction act, 1884," 

 $29,900. The expenditures amounted to $1,764,- 

 873.81, the principal items being: Public debt, 

 $3(52,330.31; civil government (salaries), $176,- 

 062; administration of justice (salaries), $134,- 

 838; legislation, $34,525; public institutions 

 (maintenance), $111,610; hospitals and charities, 

 $50,700; administration of justice (other than 

 salaries), $112,600; education, $304,560; public 

 works, $335,698.50. 



The Speaker's salary was reduced from $1,500 

 and sessional allowance to $1,000. The hospitals 

 were placed on a different basis. Each will re- 

 ceive $500 a year and 50 cents a day for each 

 patient treated. For the protection of works on 

 Columbia river at Revelstoke $40,000 was put 

 down; for the courthouse at New Westminster, 

 $30,000; for the courthouse at Victoria (altera- 

 tions), $12,000; for Government buildings at 

 Atlin and other places in North Cassiar, $10,000. 

 The Superintendent of Education, who formerly 

 received $2,400 per annum, was cut down to 

 $1,800 this year, and instead of four inspectors 

 three only were provided for. Provision was 

 made for the salary of a minister of mines at 

 $4,000, and of the deputy minister of mines at 

 $150 a month. These were new officers. For a 

 provincial exhibit at the Paris Exposition $15,000 

 was set apart. On the Cariboo trunk road $24,000 

 is to be expended. The capitation grant to the 

 cities of the province for education was as fol- 

 lows: Victoria, $21,500; Vancouver, $23,500 ; New 

 Westminster, $7,000; and Nanaimo, $8,000. 



Railways. Large sums were spent in railway 

 construction in 1898-'99. It is understood that 

 the Canadian Pacific Railway Company has spent 

 more than $9,000,000 in building the Crow's Nest 

 Pass Railway from Fort MacLeod to Kootenay 

 lake. This outlay, $6,000,000 in excess of the 

 Government subsidy, has been in a great measure 

 local. The procuring of ties, piles, and timber 

 and the cutting of rock and other extensive 

 works inseparable from railway construction in 

 mountainous districts have caused expenditures 

 materially beneficial to the entire province and 

 western territories. The settlers in Alberta and 

 adjacent territories found for the first time a 

 continuous demand for all the garden and dairy 

 produce they could bring to market, and the 

 ranchers found local sale for a large quantity of 

 cattle for slaughter. The demand for supplies 

 was felt as far as the coast cities, and added 

 materially to the boom that came with the Klon- 

 dike migration. 



The Boundary Creek Railway is another ex- 

 tensive work now under way, and it is estimated 

 that the cost of the main line and its branches to 

 the mines will exceed $4,500,000. The building of 

 this line along the Boundary creek and Kettle 

 river valley has been undertaken without sub- 

 sidy or other public aid. Along the line of con- 

 truction the mining towns have felt the stimu- 

 lating effect of these large expenditures, and the 



sudden growth peculiar to mining regions has 

 assumed a more permanent and substantial as- 

 pect. With the best modern appliances for con- 

 struction work, the cost of the Crow's Nest Pass 

 Railway has reached, according to reliable state- 

 ments, $28,000 a mile. In addition to these out- 

 lays, the Canadian Pacific Railway Company has 

 built wharves at Nelson and at the railway termi- 

 nus at the foot of Kootenay Lake. They have 

 also established a steamer and barge service be- 

 tween these points, thus filling in the gap in the 

 new route from the east into the mining districts 

 of southern British Columbia. 



Provincial Timber. Mr. R. J. Skinner, Tim- 

 ber Inspector, in his annual report shows that 

 the timber and cord wood cut on Crown lands 

 during the eleven months ending Nov. 30, 1898, 

 and not including that from Dominion lands and 

 Esquimalt and Nanaimo Railway lands, was 70,- 

 755,866 feet; on timber leaseholds, 42,192,178; 

 total, 112,948,044 feet, on which $56,473.83 was 

 paid in royalty. On private property, not sub- 

 ject to royalty, the cut was 11,598,614 feet, mak- 

 ing the grand total cut 124,546,658. The esti- 

 mated amount of royalty to be allowed for re- 

 bate on exportation was $18,775.54. The net roy- 

 alty on timber then would be $37,698.29 ; to which 

 must be added $11,883.61, royalty collected on 

 cord wood, making the total net royalty $49,- 

 581.90. Add to this rental accruing from timber 

 leases in 1898, $46,012.29; special licenses (86 at 

 $50), $4,300; and general licenses, $6,210, and the 

 total net revenue from timber sources is seen 

 to be $106,104.29. 



Land Returns. The total number of pre- 

 emption records issued in 1898 was 467, .against 

 462 in 1897; certificates of improvement, 144, 

 against 204; certificates of purchase, 765, against 

 977; Crown grants, 951, against 766; the total 

 acreage deeded was 371,394, against 609,597 in 

 1897; while 9,126 letters were received by the 

 department, against 8,034 in the previous year. 



Conservative Platform. For the first time 

 in the history of the province it has been decided 

 to conduct elections on straight party lines, and 

 the following is a summary of the Conservative 

 platform as adopted at a large convention in New 

 Westminster, Oct. 6, 1899: Approval of the prin- 

 ciple of the eight-hour law; state ownership of 

 railways; revision of voters' lists; aid in the 

 construction of trails; official inspection of hoist- 

 ing gear; to improve the administration of jus- 

 tice ; to provide an effective system for settlement 

 of disputes between capital and labor; to aid in 

 agricultural development; to have the fisheries 

 controlled by the province; to make the London 

 agency of British Columbia effective; that indi- 

 gent laborers be discouraged from seeking work 

 in British Columbia; that servant girls be en- 

 couraged to immigrate to British Columbia; that 

 mining be actively aided; that medical men and 

 hospitals be aided in the interior; that the sys- 

 tem of education be improved. 



Salmon Canning-. There was a large falling 

 off in the salmon pack in 1898. Irksome and fre- 

 quently changing fishery regulations, coupled 

 with the enforcement of the collection of duty 

 on fish from United States waters, were detri- 

 mental to the fisheries in British Columbia, while 

 these difficulties acted as a stimulus to the in- 

 dustry on Puget Sound, where last year the pack 

 was double that of Fraser river. Still keener 

 competition is feared from this quarter in future, 

 owing to the easier conditions prevailing, the 

 large amount of fresh capital recently invested, 

 and the activity and forethought of the state fish- 

 eries authorities in propagating salmon. During 



