110 



CANADA. DOMINION OF. 



the quantity carried by the railways of the State 

 to tide water amounted to 4,132,740 tons, an in- 

 crease of 207,980 tons. 



Mr. Collingwood Schreiber, chief engineer of 

 railways and canals, reported a marked im- 

 provement in the manner in which the St. Law- 

 rence Canal Deepening Works are being carried 

 on. The necessity for fulfilling the wishes of the 

 Government and the general expectation that the 

 canals should be opened for a 14-foot navigation 

 next spring has been strenuously urged upon 

 the contractors from time to time, and they have 

 responded by the increase of their plant and the 

 extension of their organizations as required of 

 them putting forward every effort to place their 

 respective sections in a condition for operation 

 by the desired date. Based on the contract prices, 

 the estimated cost of the thirteen sections of the 

 Soulanges Canal, including land purchases and 

 damages, is $5,250,000. The total payment to 

 Nov. 1, 1898, including October estimates, is 

 $4,251,158. This leaves a balance of $998,841 still 

 to be earned by the contractors. There has been 

 expended on the enlargement of the Lachine 

 Canal, now almost completed, $8,112,832. The 

 approximate value of the work under construc- 

 tion is $570,000, of which $555,939 has been paid. 

 The works of construction and enlargement of 

 the Cornwall Canal, estimated to cost $4,710,000, 

 are practically completed, and all that is re- 

 quired is some cleaning up. The amount ex- 

 pended on these works, including Sheek's island 

 dam, to Nov. 1 is $4,593,939. Mr. Schreiber says 

 that if the contractors continue to push forward 

 their operations as they have done recently the 

 Farran's Point enlargement work will be ready 

 for navigation in the spring of 1900. The esti- 

 mated cost is $720,000, and $420,208 of this has 

 been expended. The Rapide du Plat enlargement 

 has been completed. The work cost $1,833,400. 

 It is estimated that the Galops Canal work will 

 cost $4,030,000. So far the expenditure has 

 reached $2,729,565. 



The Indians. The annual report of the In- 

 dian Department for 1898 was made public on 

 March 17. The Indian population throughout 

 the Dominion, as shown by statistics, which are 

 closely approximate and as accurate as the cir- 

 cumstances of the case admit of, reached an ag- 

 gregate of 100,093 souls in 1897-'98, against 99,- 

 364 for the preceding year. The area of land 

 under cultivation by Indians during the year 

 aggregated 111,880 acres. In considering the 

 amount of crops secured relatively to the acre- 

 age farmed, a distinction must be made between 

 the area described as under cultivation, which 

 includes fallow lands, new breaking, and " made " 

 pasturage, and the area actually seeded down, 

 which in the spring of 1897 was 40,368 acres. 

 The crop of cereals, vegetables, and roots har- 

 vested in the autumn of that year amounted to 

 1,120,900 bushels, and of hay and other fodder 

 76,458 tons were secured, the increase over the 

 preceding year being 101,500 bushels and 2,164 

 tons respectively. The receipts of the Indians 

 from various sources aggregated $2,633,395. This 

 amount exceeded by $167,793.30 that of the year 

 before, which was $2,465,601. In Ontario the 

 earnings of Indians from wages and general in- 

 dustries surpassed those of the preceding year 

 by $85,757. In Quebec the decrease in agricul- 

 tural earnings extended to general industries; 

 but, as many of the Indians of this province have 

 depended on the United States for a market for 

 the baskets and fancy wares manufactured by 

 them, a considerable falling off in revenue from 

 this source has necessarily resulted from the 



withdrawal by the American Government of the 

 privilege so long accorded them of passing their 

 manufactures and exchanges through the cus- 

 toms without exaction of duty. These deficits 

 were more than counterbalanced by the renewed 

 opportunity afforded a good many for earning 

 money in consequence of a greatly revived de- 

 mand for moccasins and snowshoes to supply the 

 influx of gold seekers into the Klondike region. 

 In Manitoba many Indians depend almost en- 

 tirely -upon fishing and hunting, ^and reference to 

 the table of earnings will show a decrease from 

 these sources in that province amounting to $39,- 

 519.05. In the Northwest Territories there has 

 been an increase from all sources, aggregating 

 $49,357. 



During the year 273 schools (including day, 

 boarding, and industrial) were in operation. The 

 total enrollment was 9,886; the average attend- 

 ance 5,533, or 55 per cent, of the enrollment. The 

 enrollment during the preceding year was 9,628, 

 and the average attendance 5,357, so that there 

 has been something gained in both directions.. 

 On June 30 the balance to the credit of the In- 

 dian fund was $12,203. The deposits, upon which 

 interest is allowed at the rate of 3 per cent., 

 amounted during the year to $4,452, and the with- 

 drawals to $4,088. During the year 1,416,845 

 acres of surrendered surveyed Indian lands were 

 sold, and realized the sum of $27,318, as against 

 $12,520 obtained from 1,445,110 acres disposed of 

 the year before. The much higher aggregate 

 value thus obtained is principally attributable 

 to the fact that a large proportion of the lands 

 sold in 1897-'98 were in the Passpasschase reserve, 

 near Edmonton, and brought good prices. Col- 

 lections during the year amounted to $105,382, 

 and the capital of the Indian trust fund stood 

 at $3,725,746 on June 30. Disbursements in the 

 course of the year aggregated $267,324. Expendi- 

 ture from the consolidated fund amounted to 

 $952,590. 



The Post Office. On March 20 the report of 

 the Postmaster-General for the year 1897-'98 was 

 made public. The workings of. the department 

 during the year were marked by several changes. 

 The deficit, which for the fiscal year ending June 

 30, 1896, amounted to $781,152, was reduced to 

 $47,602 at the close of the fiscal year 1897-'98, a 

 result rendering possible the reduction of the do- 

 mestic letter rate from three to two cents an 

 ounce, and the rate between Canada and the 

 mother country and a large number of Great 

 Britain's colonial possessions from five to two 

 cents a half ounce. The deficit, which for the 

 fiscal year 1895-'96 amounted to $781,152.19, was 

 in the following year reduced to $586,539.92; and 

 in the fiscal year 1897-'98 was further reduced 

 to the sum of $47,602.30, being a reduction of 

 $733,549.89 in the tw^o years following July 1, 

 1896. 



In the past year 1,064 mail services have been 

 let by public tender for sums aggregating $139,- 

 923. The previous yearly cost of these same serv- . 

 ices was $167,647. The result of these -changes 

 was an annual saving of $27,721, or for the four 

 years that the contracts run, $110,886. In sev- 

 eral cases mail services have been transferred from 

 stage to railway, the net result being that the 

 mileage of the combined railway and stage mail 

 services for the fiscal year 1897-'98 exceeds that 

 for 1895-'96 by 938,283 miles. 



At the close of the fiscal year 1897-'98 there 

 had been a net increase of 179 in the number of 

 post offices compared with the number in opera- 

 tion on June 30, 1896. In the year the number 

 of money-order offices was increased from 1,349 



