BRITISH COLUMBIA 



.937 



BRITISH COLUMBIA 



In the Kootenay district the steamers on the 

 lakes furnish connections between some of the 

 points not reached by railroads, and on the 

 Fraser River steamers ascend as far as Yale. 

 There is also steamship connection between 

 Vancouver, Victoria and Prince Rupert. Most 

 of the interior, however, is dependent on high- 

 ways and trails, and of each of these there, are 

 over 15,000 miles. 



Trade and Commerce. The ports of British 

 Columbia Vancouver, Victoria, Nanaimo, New 

 Westminster and Prince Rupert are the nat- 

 ural outlets for Canadian trade with the Far 

 East. To some extent they compete with ports 

 in the United States not only for Canadian but 

 for American trade. Vancouver, for example, 

 is 500 miles nearer Yokohama than is San 

 Francisco, and this is no slight advantage. 

 Prince Rupert is 400 miles nearer Japan than 

 is any other port in North America. From 

 Vancouver and Victoria the Canadian Pacific 

 operates two lines of steamships, the Empress 

 to Japan and China, and the Australian to 

 Honolulu, Fiji Islands and Sydney. There are 

 a number of lines which operate between the 

 various Pacific ports in Canada and the United 

 States. Several other lines, both Canadian 

 and foreign, operate between British Columbian 

 ports and Alaska, Australia, Hawaiian Islands, 

 China and Japan. Over 12,000 ships, with a 

 total tonnage of 12,000,000, enter and clear 

 each year from all these ports. The foreign 

 commerce of the province amounts to about 

 $100,000,000, of which sixty per cent is imports. 



Education. The provincial ministry or 

 executive council is also a council of public 

 instruction, and the provincial secretary also 

 acts as minister of education. Subject to the 

 approval of the council, the superintendent of 

 education has entire charge of the school sys- 

 tem. All public schools are free, and no 

 religious instruction or control is permitted. 

 Education is compulsory for all children be- 

 tween the ages of seven and fourteen, although 

 some exceptions are allowed. The school en- 

 rollment is about 50,000, and the teachers 

 number 2,000. As in the other provinces, the 

 schools are supported partly by the provincial 

 government and partly by local taxation. The 

 total expenditure for educational purposes is 

 about $5,000,000 a year, of which the province 

 provides $2,000,000. 



High schools, or superior schools, may be 

 formed in connection with the common schools 

 whenever ten pupils are qualified to carry on 

 the studies. Admission to high schools and 



promotion through the four-year course is reg- 

 ulated by examinations conducted by the pro- 

 vincial department of education. Normal 

 schools for teachers have been established at 

 Vancouver and Victoria, and in 1912 a charter 

 was given to the University of British Colum- 

 bia, whose endowment consists of 2,000,000 

 acres of crown lands. This school was ready 

 to receive students in 1915; it absorbed the 

 McGill University College of British Columbia, 

 which had been affiliated for ten years with the 

 great McGill University at Montreal. 



Government. The government is exactly 

 like that of the other provinces of the Domin- 

 ion. The lieutenant-governor, who receives an 

 annual salary of $9,000, is appointed by the 

 Governor-General of the Dominion for a five- 

 year term. He is the direct representative of 

 the Crown. The ministry, or executive coun- 

 cil, is composed of six members of the legisla- 

 tive assembly. Their appointments are made 

 by the lieutenant-governor, but they are re- 

 sponsible to the assembly. Ministers receive 

 $6,000 a year, except that the premier receives 

 an additional $3,000. The assembly comprises 

 forty-two members, each of whom is elected 

 for four years. Three senators and eleven 

 members of the House of Commons represent 

 British Columbia in the Dominion Parliament 

 at Ottawa. 



Justice is administered by the police magis- 

 trates, the county courts, the supreme court 

 and the court of appeal. The police magis- 

 trates have jurisdiction in minor cases, such 

 as actions for debt involving less than $100. 

 The intermediate courts, ten in number, have 

 a wider original jurisdiction and also some 

 appellate jurisdiction. The supreme court, 

 composed of a chief justice and five associate, 

 or puisne, judges, has full criminal and civil 

 jurisdiction. The court of appeal is the court 

 of last resort, except that some important cases 

 may be further appealed to the Privy Council 

 (which see) ; it is composed of a chief justice 

 and four associate judges. The judges of 

 county courts receive $3,000 a year; of the 

 supreme court, $6,000; of the court of appeal, 

 $7,000. A chief justice receives $1,000 addi- 

 tional. 



Provincial Revenues. British Columbia, like 

 the other provinces, receives an annual subsidy, 

 whose size is determined by the population, 

 the debt, the wealth of the province and other 

 factors. This subsidy now amounts to about 

 $750,000, about seven per cent of the total 

 provincial revenue. The largest source of in- 



