434 



NOVA SCOTIA. 



upon public printing, $52,219 upon steamboats, 

 ferries, and packets, $20,000 for salaries, $109,690 

 on roads and bridges, $21,000 for the provincial 

 engineer's office, $148,194 upon debenture interest, 

 $11,500 for election expenses, and $32,000 for mis- 

 cellaneous purposes. The actual total receipts 

 from all sources for the year ending Sept. 30, 

 1901, were $1,843,995. The expenditures were 

 $1,781,336. 



The assets of the province on Sept. 30, 1901, 

 were stated at $1,308,054, of which $1,056,128 was 

 a Dominion of Canada provincial indebtedness 

 from before confederation. The liabilites inclu- 

 ded $2,043,500 of provincial debentures payable in 

 Halifax, and $1,727,666 payable in London. 



Education. According to the report .of the 

 Superintendent of Education, Dr. A. H. McKay, 

 there were 1,848 school sections in the province 

 compared with 1,875 in 1900; and 145 sections 

 without schools, against 132. The schools in op- 

 eration had decreased from 2,417 in 1900 to 2,387 

 in 1901 ; the number of teachers from 2,557 to 

 2,492; the number of male teachers had decreased 

 from 616 to 540, while the number of female 

 teachers had increased from 1,941 to 1,952. The 

 total days' attendance in the year was respective- 

 ly 11,318,771 and 10,763,651. Of the pupils in 

 1901 there were 91,114 in the common schools and 

 7,296 in the high schools. The provincial aid to 

 the schools increased from $248,309 to $254,778, 

 while the municipal funds for that purpose de- 

 creased from $119,923 to $119,876, and section as- 

 sessments from $519,620 to $470,108. The total 

 annual enrolment of pupils decreased in the same 

 period from 100,129 to 98,410, and the daily aver- 

 age attendance from 56,224 to 53,643. On March 

 25 a Committee on Education reported to the 

 Legislature: 



" Your committee are inclined to the opinion 

 that the schools of this province, as at present con- 

 ducted, are top much absorbed in book work and 

 in verbal studies, which seek to train the memory 

 only, but which fail to give adequate discipline 

 or to fit the pupil for skilled labor or practical 

 life. Your committee do not wish to be under- 

 stood as reflecting in the least on the men in 

 charge of our educational system. The defects in 

 the system are a legacy that has been handed 

 down to them from the past, and will take time 

 and patience to remove, and we feel certain that 

 the Superintendent of Education and the teach- 

 ers throughout the province will be glad to em- 

 brace any opportunity that may be offered to 

 effect the necessary reform. It will not be denied 

 that our schools should, as far as possible, pre- 

 pare the pupils for an intelligent apprenticeship 

 in the calling that is to yield them a livelihood. 

 The child's education should cultivate a taste 

 in him for his future work. The apparent in- 

 ability on the part of the pupils to turn the re- 

 sults of the work done in the schools to practical 

 every-day use is the defect that in many quarters 

 is charged against the existing system." 



Mines. The mineral production for the year 

 ending Sept. 30, 1901, included 419,567 tons of 

 iron ore, compared with 15,507 in the previous 

 year; 3,625,365 tons of coal raised, against 3,238,- 

 245 tons; 120,000 tons of coke made, compared 

 with 62,000 tons; 135,637 tons of gypsum, against 

 122,281 tons. Grindstones decreased in produc- 

 tion 50,000 tons to 315 tons. Limestone increased 

 from 50,000 tons to 95.794 tons. And pig-iron 

 rose from nothing to 90,034 tons. The revenue of 

 the Mines Department for the year ending Sept. 

 30, 1901, was $437,726, which included royalties 

 on coal of $367,925, and lesser sums for other roy- 

 alties, leases, rentals, licenses, and fees. The sum 



of $2,630 was paid to the Dominion Iron and 

 Steel Company as an allowance of 6J cents on each 

 ton of coal consumed in the local manufacture 

 of iron and steel up to Aug. 16, 1901. The Uni- 

 ted States took 624,273 tons of Nova Scotia coal 

 in 1900, and 590,086 tons in 1901. 



A dispute that arose between the Dominion 

 Coal Company of Sydney and its employees as 

 to the rate of wages was decided, under the 

 terms of the miners' arbitration act, by a Board 

 of Arbitrators. The decision was against any 

 present increase. 



On Feb. 26, 1902, the Nova Scotia Mining Soci- 

 ety met in Halifax, with President W. L. Libbey 

 in the chair. In his opening address Mr. Libbey 

 reported great increase in the facilities of local 

 coal-mines; substantial progress in obtaining the 

 confidence of capitalists in provincial resources 

 and transportation arrangements ; marked prog- 

 ress in systematic and legitimate development 

 work below ground; a fairly plentiful supply of 

 labor in the coal districts and gold areas; an in- 

 adequate supply of technically educated mining 

 men. A report was then presented from the com- 

 mittee which had been appointed to urge upon 

 the Government suggestions regarding the follow- 

 ing subjects: 1. A Government assay office. 2. 

 Technical education. 3. Encouragement to deep 

 mining. 4. An improved departmental report. 5. 

 To revive the legislation of 1885 requiring a rec- 

 ord of plans of the workings of all metalliferous 

 mines. 6. That in future appointments to the 

 office of deputy inspector shall be subject to a 

 technical examination. 7. That the present in- 

 accurate maps of the Mines Office be rectified. 8. 

 That all rentals be made payable on two fixed 

 days in the year. 



Transportation. The new railways opened in 

 1901 included the Inverness and Richmond, 61 

 miles, from Port Hastings to a junction with the 

 Intercolonial Railways at Point Tupper, and the 

 Midland Railway, 57 miles, from Windsor to 

 Truro. The Cape Breton Railway Extension from 

 Point Tupper to St. Peters, and thence to Louis- 

 burg, was under construction, and several pro- 

 jected lines were under survey. All were con- 

 nected with the mineral development of the 

 province. The traffic of the railways under pro- 

 vincial control in the year ending Sept. 30, 1901, 

 included the carriage of 206,018 passengers, with 

 receipts amounting to $857,747 ; the carriage of 

 freight and livestock, with returns of $594,868; 

 and the carriage of mails and sundries, with re- 

 turns of $153,180 a total of $836,187, compared 

 with $654,828 in 1900. 



The most important piece of legislation in 1902 

 was that relating to the South Shore Railway 

 the granting of sufficient Government assistance 

 to insure the biiilding of a line between Halifax 

 and Yarmouth. The Opposition declared that in 

 the contract made in this connection the public 

 interests were not sufficiently protected. 



The Government side of the agreement with 

 Messrs. Mackenzie and Mann was explained and 

 defended by Mr. Longley in the Assembly on 

 March 13. In the course of his speech he said: 

 " Under the arrangement proposed, the Govern- 

 ment were to advance $13,500 a mile, upon which 

 the company were to pay interest, with a pro- 

 viso that if the interest were not paid after throe 

 years the Government should have the right to 

 take possession of the road. In that case, the 

 Government would have obtained possession of 

 the road at a cost of $13,500 a mile, whereas if 

 it were constructed as a governmental work no 

 one believed that it could be constructed for less 

 than $20,000 a mile. Certainly this was $6,500 



