MANITOBA. 



371 



crease over 1900 of 91,930 acres sold, and the 

 average price was 10 cents an acre greater. The 

 total area of land acquired by the province was 

 stated at 1,089,250 acres, and 291,897 acres had 

 been sold. 



Public Works. Mr. Rogers reported on Jan. 

 30 to the effect that the Municipal Councils were 

 rapidly learning the value of proper road work. 

 Colonization roads had been built into several 

 districts not supplied by railways. A road had 

 been built for this purpose to Edrans, south of 

 Arden. An outlet had been given the settlers in 

 Gimli district, the Fairford road had been im- 

 proved, a road was built near Whitemouth, and 

 one was started that would run from Vassar to 

 Pine River. The only bridges of importance com- 

 pleted during the year were at Portage la Prairie 

 over the Assiniboine and at Rapid City over the 

 Little Saskatchewan. Grants were made, to the 

 amount of $10,000, to assist in building bridges 

 in other parts of the province. A great deal of 

 work had been done in constructing drains. The 

 Government had not only given financial aid to 

 municipalities for this purpose, but had placed 

 the services of engineers at the disposal of au- 

 thorities. 



Education. The school population of Mani- 

 toba in 1901 was 63,881; the number of pupils 

 registered was 51,888; the average attendance 

 was 27,550; the number of teachers was 1,669, 

 of whom 618 were men and 1,051 were women. 

 According to the official report for the year end- 

 ing Dec. 31, 1901, the total receipts were $1,310,- 

 805, against $1,229,878 in 1900, and including 

 $113,451 from legislative grant and $653,359 from 

 municipal taxes. The expenditures were $1,272,- 

 616, including $582,325 for teachers' salaries; 

 $148,987 for buildings, furnishing, etc.; $35,415 

 for fuel; $50,634 for repairs, etc.; and $15,713 for 

 salaries to officials. The assets were given as 

 $2,440,804 taxes due and value of school proper- 

 ties. The liabilities, chiefly debentures,, were 

 $1,155,420. The organized school districts num- 

 bered 1,206, and 1,064 were in operation. In 283 

 schools religious exercises were used in closing, 

 in 169 the Bible was used, in 879 temperance in- 

 .struction was given, in 925 moral instruction was 

 given, and in 254 the Ten Commandments were 

 taught. During the legislative session two im- 

 portant measures were introduced and passed by 

 the Government dealing with Galician education 

 and the organization of the school districts. 



Railways. Railway facilities in the province 

 were considerably expanded in 1902. Early in 

 1901 v negotiations were concluded between the 

 Government, the Northern Pacific and Manitoba 

 Railway Company, and the Canadian Northern 

 Railway Company for the control and operation, 

 under secure conditions, of the system of the 

 former company in Manitoba. The arrangement 

 concluded was, shortly, the leasing by the Gov- 

 ernment of Manitoba for nine hundred and 

 ninety-nine years of all the branch lines of rail- 

 way of the Northern Pacific and Manitoba in 

 consideration of the payment of the following 

 rentals, namely: For the first ten years, $210,000 

 a year; for the second ten years, $225,000 a year; 

 for the third ten years, $275,000 a year; and for 

 the rest of the term, $300,000; and, in turn, the 

 assignment of the lease by the Government, upon 

 regular terms and conditions, to the Canadian 

 Northern Company. The actual mileage of rail- 

 way acquired from the Northern Pacific and 

 Manitoba Railway was 354.65. 



Contemporaneous with the acquisition of the 

 lines of the Northern Pacific and Manitoba Rail- 

 way Company in the province of Manitoba, the 



Government, by agreement bearing date Feb ll r 

 1901, confirmed by act of the Legislature on 

 March 20 of the same year, contracted to and 

 with the Canadian Northern Railway Company, 

 to aid that company by guaranteeing its bonds 

 at the rate of $20,000 a mile for a line of rail- 

 way, estimated at 290 miles, extending from Port 

 Arthur to, and connecting with, the lines of the 

 company already constructed and opened for 

 through traffic between Port Arthur and Winni- 

 peg, on or before Oct. 1, 1901, unless unforeseen 

 difficulties should arise through inability to se- 

 cure men and materials. At the request of the 

 company, the time for completion of the works 

 was extended to Dec. 31, 1901. The Premier was 

 able to announce in January, 1902, that the 

 company had practically completed their con- 

 tract on the latter date, " thereby giving to the 

 people of the province of Manitoba, under most 

 favorable and advantageous terms and condi- 

 tions, an independent line of railway to the head 

 waters of Lake Superior." 



The mileage of the Canadian Northern Rail- 

 way, in and outside the province, with respect 

 to which a guarantee liability on the part of the 

 province exists when the whole system is com- 

 pleted is 979 miles. The extent of the liability 

 upon guaranteed debentures will be $11,195,280. 



The total amount of cash aid given by the 

 province toward the construction of railways in 

 Manitoba, at the close of 1901, was $971,557, cov- 

 ering 545 miles. This was exclusive of the 

 $75,000 promised the Canadian Pacific Railroad 

 for the Forrest and other extensions. 



The direct liability of the province, at the close 

 of the year, with respect to the Manitoba and 

 Northwestern Railway, was approximately $787,- 

 426, to cover which, with the interest to accrue 

 until the maturity of the debentures, the prov- 

 ince held as security 542,600 acres of land in the 

 Northwest Territories. 



The Doukhobors. The main body of this sect, 

 about 15,000 in number, occupies the high pla- 

 teaus of Transcaucasia, in Russia. Here, where 

 the rigors of the climate will not permit the ma- 

 turing of ordinary crops, are great natural mead- 

 ows, and cattle-raising is almost the sole indus- 

 try. The inhabitants live largely upon beef; every 

 year hundreds of animals are broken to the yoke, 

 and one of their chief sources of wealth is the 

 carrying of freight in their ox-wagons over the 

 rough mountain roads. The society was founded 

 in central Russia in the early part of the eight- 

 eenth century, and the name, given to it many 

 years afterward by one of its leaders, is com- 

 pounded from two Russian words: " doukh," 

 meaning " spirit," and " bor," an abbreviation of 

 " boratsia," meaning " to wrestle." Fanaticism 

 has marked the history of these Doukhobors, or 

 Spirit Wrestlers, from their inception, and they 

 have suffered not alone from the terrible persecu- 

 tions of the state and the church, but even more 

 from the tyranny of their leaders, who from the 

 beginning made themselves absolute in their pow- 

 er. These taught, in addition to the doctrine 

 of the founder that God dwells in the human 

 soul, and that this indwelling essence is the su- 

 preme guide to life and light that Christ him- 

 self was merely a sinless man, whose purity gave 

 force to the divinity within him, and that their 

 leaders were also sinless men, qualified by their 

 superior excellence to guide the people. They 

 also taught that it was a sin to read and write, 

 that the Bible was not inspired, and that printing 

 was the invention of Satan to lure souls to de- 

 struction. One of their leaders, toward the mid- 

 dle of the century, declared himself Christ's rep- 



