112 



CANADA, DOMINION OF. 



CAPE COLONY AND SOUTH AFRICA. 



period convictions for crimes against property 

 increased from 2,522 to 4,510, an increase of 79 

 per cent. The greatest increase in this subdivi- 

 sion is in oil'enses against females, which in- 

 creased from GO to 103, or 172 per cent. Analysis 

 of this group shows that the chief increase is 

 under the head of assaults on women, wife beat- 

 ing, etc. During 1887-'97 the convictions for 

 crimes against property show generally large in- 

 creases. Burglary increased from 205 to 549, an 

 increase of 108 per cent.; larceny increased from 

 1,993 to 3,558, or 178.8 per cent. Forgery in- 

 creased from 204 to 409, or 55 per cent. 



Banks. The 38 banks of Canada, with their 

 4J41 branches, made large profits during the year. 

 Jn the statement of June 30, 1899, their liabili- 

 ties included the following items: Capital paid 

 up. $03,674,085 ; reserve fund, $28,956,908 ; amount 

 in circulation, $39.097,708; public deposits on de- 

 mand, $91. 852,000; public deposits on notice, 

 $166,549,940; balance due to banks in United 

 Kingdom, .$6,530.052. The chief assets were as 

 follow: Specie, $9,240,810; Dominion notes, $16,- 

 959,927 : deposits with Dominion Government, 

 $2,010,573; notes, etc., of other banks, $11,015,- 

 S7G: deposits with other banks on demand, 

 $3.000,522; balance due from Canadian banks, 

 $21.074,085; balance due from United Kingdom 

 banks, $10,170.005; Dominion Government deben- 

 tures, $4,898,019; municipal and other securities, 

 $10,232,301, railway securities, $14,875,470; call 

 loans, $30,059,460; current loans, $250,974,389; 

 loans to provincial governments, $3,150,714. 



Mines. Of the gold output of Canada the 

 main feature of 1898 was the very large increase 

 in that of the Yukon. This accounted for $7,500,- 

 000 of the enlargement, which is three times as 

 great an estimated output as that of 1897. With 

 the exception of the gold washings of Saskatche- 

 wan river in the Northwest Territories, there were 

 increases in all the other districts of the Domin- 

 ion. There were increased outputs of coal in 

 all the districts. In copper the largest increase 

 was in Ontario, which amounted to more than 

 50 per cent, of the previous year's output. Brit- 

 ish Columbia showed also a considerable enlarge- 

 ment, while in Quebec a falling off was apparent. 

 A rise in the price of the metal made the propor- 

 tional increase in value greater than that of 

 quantity. In nickel the increase in the quantity 

 was greater than that in the value, owing to a 

 fall in the average price of the metal. A falling 

 away of the production of both lead and silver 

 was in the former case partly offset by the rise 

 in the average price, while in the latter case a 

 lower price for the year aggravated the propor- 

 tional decrease in the value compared with the 

 quantity. The following is a summary of the 

 total production of minerals in 1898: Copper (fine 

 in ore, etc.), $2,159,550; gold, Yukon district, 

 $10,000,000; all other, $3,700,000; iron ore, $152,- 

 510; lead (fine in ore, etc.), $1,206,399; nickel 

 (fine in ore, etc.), $2,583,298; nonmetallic asbestos 

 and asbestic, $480,227; coal, $8,227,958; coke, 

 1 19,200; gypsum, $230,440; mica, $177,598- min- 

 eral water, $155,000: natural gas, $320,000; pe- 

 troleum, $981,106; pyrites, $128,872; salt, $248,- 

 539; structural and clay products, $4,602177- all 

 other nonmetallic, $11,282,419. The total non- 

 metallic was $15,884,596; the total metallic, $21,- 



'_.' M ) I . 



Roughly speaking, $13,000,000 worth of gold 

 and $8,000,000 worth of coal were produced in 

 1898. The previous year the figures, roughly 

 were $7,000.000 of coal and $5,500,000 of gold 

 A summary report of the mineral production of 

 t anada, issued by the Geological Survey, showed 



an increase of more than $9,000,000, or nearly 32 

 per cent., compared with 1897. Compared with 

 1880, the first year for which statistics were is- 

 sued, there was an increase in the value of min- 

 eral products in thirteen years of nearly 270 per 

 cent. In this period the increase in population 

 was about 14 per cent., so that the proportional 

 importance of the mining industry of the country 

 is very much greater than it was at the begin- 

 ning of the period dealt with. Thus the per 

 capita value of the mineral production of the 

 country has increased from about $2.20 to $7.20. 



Immigration. The number of immigrants 

 that arrived in Canada in 1898 was 22,781. Of 

 these, 9,119 were, from the United States, 9,475 

 from England, 733 Irish, 1,400 Scotch, 563 Ger- 

 man, 724 Scandinavian, 545 French and Belgian, 

 5,509 Galicians, and 3,832 other nationalities. 

 There w^as also a marked falling off in juvenile 

 immigration under the auspices of philanthropic ' 

 persons and societies. The statistics in this lat- 

 ter class of immigration since 1893 show a total 

 of 11,184. The Department of the Interior made 

 a vigorous effort to fill a long-felt want by send- 

 ing a special agent to Scotland to secure domestic 

 servants, and the result was that 59 girls came 

 to Canada, all but 3 of w r hom went to Winnipeg 

 and points west. The chief difficulty with regard 

 to inducing female domestics to come to Canada 

 seemed to be their unwillingness to leave the 

 old country unless employment was secured for 

 them before their departure. In regard to immi- 

 gration, the Canadian High Commissioner, Lord 

 Strathcona, suggested that the work in England 

 would be greatly assisted by more help from 

 Canada. His idea was that committees for this 

 work should be formed in all the electoral dis- 

 tricts of Canada to assist the Government agents 

 in looking after new arrivals, and to persuade 

 such arrivals to keep up communication with 

 their friends in the United Kingdom. 



Miscellaneous. In October, 1899, a perma- 

 nent papal delegate arrived in Canada in the per- 

 son of Mgr. Falconio, as a result of questions 

 arising in which Roman Catholic interests are 

 concerned in a country where 40 per cent, of the 

 population are of that faith. The Hon. Peter 

 Mitchell died during the same month, and in 

 him passed away a prominent old-time figure in 

 Canadian politics. The death of Grant Allen 

 removed a famous Canadian author, and in the 

 person of Dr. Wilfiam Kingsford the most elab- 

 orate of Canadian historians passed away, while 

 in Sir William Dawson the country lost its great- 

 est scientist and one of its chief educators. 



CAPE COLONY AND SOUTH AFRICA. 

 The Cape of Good Hope, first settled by the 

 Dutch and Huguenots in the seventeenth century, 

 was taken from the Netherlands by the British 

 in 1806. Many descendants of the original set- 

 tlers who were unwilling to accept British rule 

 migrated in 1835 beyond the Great Fish river, 

 which was then the eastern boundary, and found- 

 ed an independent commonwealth in Natal, on. 

 the east coast; others crossed the Orange river 

 in 1836 and succeeding years and established the 

 settlements that were declared independent and 

 organized into the Orange River Free State in 

 1854. In the meantime Great Britain annexed 

 the Natal settlements, whereupon a majority of 

 the Boer colonists abandoned their farms and, 

 trekking far into the wilderness, established 

 in 1849, on the farther side of the Vaal river, 

 a. new commonwealth, called the Transvaal Re- 

 public, whose independence was recognized by 

 Great Britain in 1852. Natal was separated 

 from Cape Colony and erected into a colony in 



