592 



QUEBEC. 



Quebec Bridge subsidy $30,000 was paid, and 

 an extra expenditure of $13,933 on account of the 

 royal visit was met. The net public debt of the 

 province was placed at $25,491,038, with an addi- 

 tional $1,736,974 as its increase by conversion. 

 The estimated expenditure for 1902-'03 was $4,- 

 581,555.16. 



Mr. Flynn, in criticizing the budget speech for 

 the Opposition, declared that the sum of $403,197 

 received and credited to revenue by the Treasurer 

 was really part of the capital of the province 

 as being the product of timber sales during the 

 year from Crown lands. If this amount were de- 

 ducted, it would turn the alleged surplus into a 

 deficit of $331,857. 



Agriculture. The report of the Minister of 

 Agriculture in Quebec, dated Feb. 1, 1902, said 

 that conditions showed a marked improvement. 

 The policy of granting Government premiums to 

 cheese factories had proved successful, and $5,000 

 had been expended in 1901 for the purpose. 

 Farmers' clubs had increased in 1901 from 530 to 

 543. On Dec. 31, 1900, they had 16,077 members, 

 with total receipts for the year of $86,338 and 

 an expenditure of $77,074. Horse and cattle 

 breeding had been encouraged and improved. Mr. 

 DCch&ne referred to the methods of handling milk 

 as being still the chief obstacle in the way of a 

 greater dairying development. Speaking at the 

 Dairymen's Convention held at Rivi&re du Loup 

 on Jan. 9, 1901, Mr. Leon Gerin referred to the 

 results of help from the governments of Canada 

 and the province to the dairy trade in the follow- 

 ing terms : " The effects I observe are three : 

 First, the increase in the number of creameries. 

 In 1895, the first year of the service, there were 

 in the province of Quebec 307; in 1899, 711. In 

 the six counties below Quebec in 1895 there were 

 52 creameries; in 1899, 86. The second result is 

 the increased quantity of butter exported. In 

 1895 our butter sent to Great Britain was hardly 

 2,700,000 pounds; in 1900 it exceeded 24,000,000 

 pounds. The third result is the relative selling 

 value of our butter. In 1895 Australian butter 

 was quoted at 9 to 13 shillings a quintal dearer 

 than Canadian butter.. In the same period we 

 have succeeded in reducing the difference between 

 our butter and Danish butter by from 6 to 9 shil- 

 lings a quintal." 



Mines and Minerals. There was a great de- 

 velopment in asbestos-mining in the eastern town- 

 ships of Quebec in 1901, and the work done and 

 plants put in warranted the hope of a good out- 

 put of chrome in Colraine and of gold in Beauce 

 next year. Copper also assumed a little more 

 importance. Mica passed through a difficult 

 phase, owing to the low prices. The other min- 

 rals of the province were worked as in previous 

 years. A new industry, from which much was 

 expected, is that of compressed peat. A small es- 

 tablishment for the purpose was set up at Ca- 

 couna and yielded satisfactory results; but in the 

 autumn it was burned. 



The Bureau of Mines report showed in the year 

 1900-'01 the issue of 193 prospecting permits and 

 12 mining licenses. Asbestos was perhaps the 

 most active mineral. From 1,500 to 2,000 men 

 were employed, and their product was valued at 

 $1,284,424. The blast-furnaces at Radnor and 

 Drummondville were in full operation, with an 

 extraction of 14,449 tons of pig-iron. The total 

 minerals produced were valued at $1,727,731, in- 

 cluding, besides asbestos, iron ore valued at $30,- 

 978; copper ore at $126,500; mica at $39,600; 

 ocher (calcined) at $14,595; cement at $28,000; 

 and granite at $146,000. The number of workmen 

 employed was 2,792, and the wages paid $865,110. 



Public Lands and Forests. The Hon. Mr. 

 Parent, in his report for the year ending June 

 30, 1901, said that the territory of the province 

 still available for concession was 6,777,287 acres. 

 In the year 183,228 acres had been sold for $95,- 

 026. Three grants to the extent of 1,700 acres 

 were also given, and 10,900 acres were conceded 

 to the parents of families of 12 living children. 

 The leasing of fishing privileges and licenses on 

 inland and salt waters yielded $46,537, and hunt- 

 ing permits realized $9,184. The total revenue 

 from woods and forests was $830,874, and with 

 the proceeds of sale held in June, 1901, and of 

 arrears paid amounted to $1,234,072. The total 

 area of all lands granted or sold for colonization 

 was 198,690 acres, against 174,127 in 1900. Re- 

 fen-ing to the sale of timber limits, 4,634 square 

 miles sold for $375,947, the Premier said in his 

 report: " To comply with the many requests that 

 had been made to me by persons engaged in un- 

 dertakings such as those I have alluded to, and 

 with the view of supplying ra\v material to sev- 

 eral very prosperous industrial establishments 

 whose existence already dates some years back, 

 and to others recently erected, I deemed advisable 

 to put up to auction the lease of a rather large 

 extent of public lands scattered throughout near- 

 ly all the agencies in the province, and also to 

 include in the advertisements of sale certain ter- 

 ritories already put up to auction and not bid 

 for." As a sequel to these facts, he gave a list 

 of 28 pulp and paper mills in operation or ready 

 to begin work, and 12 more in process of organ- 

 ization. 



Railways. In the year ending June 30, 1901, 

 the province paid for construction of railways, in 

 money subsidies or land subsidies converted into 

 money, $128,318. The roads interested were the 

 Great Northern, $39.584; the Ottawa and Gati- 

 neau Valley, $22,500; the Pontiac and Pacific 

 Junction, $31,234; the Quebec Bridge, $30,000; 

 and the Montfort colonization, $5,000. Accord- 

 ing to the annual report of the Department of 

 Public Works, the total grants of land to Quebec 

 railways up to the end of the fiscal year was 

 13,324,150 acres; the number of miles constructed 

 was 998; the total cash payments were $4,481,656. 

 The total railway mileage of the province on 

 June 30, 1901, was 3,481, of which 575 miles had 

 been constructed prior to confederation in 1867. 



Education. The report of the Superintendent 

 of Public Instruction for the year ending June 

 30, 1901, issued under date of Jan. 10, 1902, de- 

 scribed the general condition of affairs as im- 

 proving, but not yet satisfactory. The following 

 table is compiled from his elaborate statistics: 



