84 



CANADA, DOMINION OF. 



jor-general in the militia, and receives a salary 

 of $4,000. 



There is a permanent college, the Royal Mili- 

 tary College of Canada, at Kingston. Its ob- 

 jects are to impart a complete education in all 

 branches of military tactics, fortification, engi- 

 neering, and general scientific knowledge. 



Finances. The total debt of Canada, which 

 in 1867 was $93,046,052, in 1882 was $205,- 

 365,252, and bore an average interest of 3*82 

 per cent. The amount of debt payable in 

 Canada was $73,242,377, consisting of pro- 

 vincial debts assumed, savings-bank deposits 

 ($14,229,000), Dominion stock, etc., and $15,- 

 807,910 of Dominion notes. The debt payable 

 in London, which in 1867 amounted to $67,- 

 069,116 and bore an average interest of 5*55 

 per cent., had grown by 1882 to $132,122,875, 

 the rate of interest having been reduced to 

 4-39 per cent. Where, in the first year of 

 confederation, the major portion of the for- 

 eign debt bore 6 per cent, interest, the portion 

 paying so high a rate had, by 1882, been re- 

 duced to $9,254,000, and the large sum of $89,- 

 060,000 bore only 4 per cent., the remainder 

 bearing. a rate of 5 per cent. No less than 

 $4,000,000 of debt was retired in the year last 

 named. 



The Consolidated Fund of Canada is com- 

 posed of her public works, such as canals, wa- 

 ter-power, railways, railway debts, harbors, 

 and river and lake improvements, together 

 with all securities, cash, bankers' balances, 

 lands, mines, and royalties, as well as the 

 revenues from customs, excise, and public 

 lands. The receipts on account of this fund, 

 in 1882, were $33,383,000, of which $21,- 

 581,000 were from customs, and $5,884,000 

 from excise. The further receipts were 

 $23,000,000, consisting of Dominion notes, 

 savings-bank and other loans. The expendi- 

 ture on Consolidated Fund account was $27,- 

 067,000, otherwise, $29,000,000, of which 

 $12,000,000 went in redemption of debt. The 

 sum of $7,351,000 was expended in 1882 on 

 capital account, two thirds of which was for 

 railways, the remainder on canals, telegraphs, 

 and Dominion lands. The post-office savings- 

 banks show an increase during 1882 equal to 

 $2,260,000 over 1881. The number of ac- 

 counts is 25,633 greater (51,463 is the total 

 number), and the average amount at the credit 

 of each depositor has grown from $97 to $184 

 in fifteen years. 



Banking. Canadian banks resemble most 

 closely the joint-stock banks of Scotland, which 

 first came into existence early in the last cen- 

 tury ; with, however, the important difference 

 that where each individual proprietor in the 

 latter is liable to the full extent of his property 

 for the obligations of the bank, the Canadian 

 shareholder is, like the American one, liable 

 only for double the amount of his shares. In 

 some particulars, both of banking and cur- 

 rency, the United States model has been fol- 

 lowed. The decimal currency system of dol- 



lars and cents, used for a hundred years by 

 their American neighbors, was adopted by 

 Canadians twenty years ago. 



The banking system of Canada is not, cer- 

 tainly, a copy of the cash- credit or personal 

 security system of Scotland, where one can get 

 credit from a bank if sureties will vouch for 

 him. Nor is the system closely allied to what 

 may be described as the mortmain or funded 

 security plan of English bankers, under which 

 one must either deposit title-deeds to land or 

 hand over Government or other stock, to ob- 

 tain a loan. Loans are freely made by Cana- 

 dian banks on stocks and bonds, but lending 

 upon real estate is left to the loan societies. 

 The largest item by far among the assets of the 

 banks is their discounts of promissory notes 

 bearing two or more names. The rate of in- 

 terest charged has ranged of late years from 

 7 to 9 per cent. ; to-day it ranges from 6 to 8, 

 7 per cent, being the legal rate. 



Early in 1870 the banks ceased to issue notes 

 of a smaller denomination than $4, and in the 

 next year the $1 and $2 notes were issued by 

 the Government, as they have since continued 

 to be. Offices of the Receiver-General and 

 Government savings-banks were opened in 

 various cities, for the issue and redemption of 

 the small notes and for the sale of Dominion 

 stock. Assimilation of the currency of the 

 various provinces was provided for by Hincks's 

 act of 1870, and the British silver coins, which 

 up to that time had circulated in Canada, were 

 arranged to be withdrawn. 



By the act of 1871 banks were required to 

 hold not less than one third of their cash re- 

 sources in Dominion notes, which are procura- 

 ble in exchange for gold at all times. The 

 Government was constituted the chief specie- 

 reserve-provider and comptroller. An amend- 

 ment of April, 1882, provided that any ex- 

 cess over $9,000,000 to which amount the 

 issue of Dominion notes was at that time lim- 

 ited may be held by the Receiver-General 

 partly in specie and partly in deposits in char- 

 tered banks, the proportion being 20 per cent, 

 in specie and 80 per cent, in deposit receipts. 

 By the act of 1871 banks were exempted from 

 tax upon their circulation. 



Among the twelve heads of departments 

 who administer the affairs of Canada at Ot- 

 tawa, not the least important is the Minister of 

 Finance, a minister of the Crown, who is 

 charged with the direction and control of the 

 public accounts, revenue and expenditure, and 

 financial affairs generally of the country, ex- 

 cepting customs and inland revenue, which have 

 separate ministers. The banks and the currency 

 are under the control of this department. 



The paid-up capital of the twenty-seven 

 banks of Canada at the date of confederation 

 (1867) was under $30,000,000; their circula- 

 tion, $10,000,000 ; deposits, $38,000,000 ; and 

 discounts, $53,000,000. The number of banks 

 had grown by 1883 to forty, whose aggregate 

 capital exceeded $61,000,000 ; circulation, $34,- 



