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APPENDIX A. 



GENERAL INFORMATION ABOUT CANADA. 



The Dominion of Canada includes the whole of British 

 Geiural North America to the north of the United States, and 



iTiformation. has an area of nearly 3,500,000 square miles. It is 



divided into eight separate provinces, and the population 

 at the laat census was 4,829,411 — viz.: Prince Edward Inland, 109,088; 

 Nova Scotia, 450,523; New Brunswick, 321,294 ; Quebec, 1,488,586 ; 

 Ontario, 2,112,989; Manitoba, 154,472; the North-West Territories, 

 67,554; British Columbia, 92,767; and unorganised Territories, 32,168. 

 The extent of the country will be better understood by stating that it 

 is larger than the United States without Alaska, and nearly as large as 

 the v/hole of Europe. • ' 



The government of the country has at its head 

 Constitution atid the Qovenior-General, the representative of Her 

 (jfovemment. Majesty. The Dominion Parliament consists of the 



Senate and of the House of Commons, and the 

 government of the day is in the hands of the majority, from whom the 

 Privy Council, or the Cabinet, who act as the advisers of the Governor- 

 General, are taken. The members of the Senate are nominated for life 

 by the Governor-General, and the duration of the House of Commons 

 is fixed by the Act as five years. Each province has also its local 

 Parliament, in some cases of two Houses, as in Prince Edward Island, 

 Nova Scotia, New Brunswick, and Quebec, and in others of only one, 

 as in Ontario, Manitoba, and British Columbia. The head of the 

 Provincial Government is known as tlie laeutenant-Governor, and is 

 appointed by the Governor-General. The constitution of Canada is 

 contained in the British North America Act, 1867, which defines the 

 powers both of the federal and of the local Legislatures. It may be 

 said, generally, that the fonner deals with matters concerning the 

 community as a whole, and the latter with subjects of local interest. 

 Twenty-seven years' experience has demonstrated that the country has 

 made great progress under the existing institutions, and the prin- 

 ciple of union is recognised by all political parties as the sure foundation 

 on which the future of the Dominion depends. There is a free and 

 liberal franchise in operation, both for the Provincial and Dominion 

 Parliaments, which gives most men the benefit of a vote. In the 

 provinces there are county and township councils for regulating local 

 affairs, such as roads, schools, and other municipal purposes, so that 

 the government of the Dominion is decentralised as far as practicable, 

 in the spirit of the Imperial legislation before mentioned. 



Nothing connected with Canada is so much misrepresented 

 Climate, and misunderstood as its climate, but it has only to be 



experienced to be thoroughly appreciated. It is warmer 

 in summer and much colder in winter than in Great Britain : but 



