616 REPORT— 1883. 
The population of Canada, which in 1871 was 3,635,024, had in 1881 reached 
4,324,810, being an increase in the ten years at the rate of 18:98 per cent. Of 
these the French settlers were in a considerable majority, the remainder bei 
Trish, English, Scotch, Germans, Indians, and Africans. The averages of all the 
provinces give 1:24 persons to a square mile; 513'8 acres to ‘a person; and 503 
acres of unoccupied land to a person. The married numbered 1,380,044; the 
widowed 160,330; and the unmarried (mostly children), 2,784,396. The propor- 
tion of sexes is now nearly equal. According to religious denominations the 
population is divided into many sections. The Roman Catholics are by far the 
largest body, having 1,791,982 members, and the Presbyterians next, with 676,155, 
while Pagans can boast of 4,478, and Unitarians close the list with 2,634. 
There is no State Church in the Dominion. The emigrants who are daily 
thronging into the country seem in their social status to be undergoing change ; 
formerly there were many more labourers, fewer mechanics, and also more farmers. 
The climate of Canada, as the author pointed out, renders railways a necessity ; 
and, after alluding to the various lines in progress, he summed up, in the following 
figures, their present position :— 
1882. Miles open, 7,530} ; number of passengers, 9,352,355; tons of freight, 
13,575,787 ; earnings, $29,027,789; working expenses, $22,390,708; paid-up 
capital, $415,611,810; increase per cent. of passengers over those in 1881, 342 
per cent. ; increase per cent. of freight over that in 1881, 124 per cent. 
The canal system, so necessary for the navigation of rivers containing rapids, as 
do most of those in Canada, is now being superseded by railways; the decrease in 
passengers during the past five years being nearly 36,000 per annum, and the tons 
of freight being nearly 200,000 per annum. 
The school laws, though varying in the provinces of Quebec and Ontario, 
provide for the efficient education of the rising generation, the returns showing 
that nearly the whole population between the ages of five and sixteen are attend- 
ing school. In 1797 a grant of 500,000 acres of unoccupied lands was set apart 
for the establishment and endowment of a university and four foundation grammar 
schools. Among the items of educational outlay is included that of the post 
office; and here the author, in concluding, showed how greatly, and with what 
rapid strides, the system in Canada had advanced. The number of letters carried 
in 1868 was 18,000,000; owing mainly to a reduction in the rate, in 1870 it had 
increased to 24,500,000, and in 1882 to 56,200,000, whilst the package post had. 
kept pace with that of the letter. The revenue was over $2,000,000, and the 
expenditure nearly $2,500,000, this being (as the author pointed out) owing 
to the cost of conveyance in unsettled districts. Since June 1, 1882, newspapers 
and periodicals printed and published in Canada, and posted from the office of 
publication, have been carried free—a step very obviously in advance of any 
European nation. 
3. Recent Changes in the Distribution of Wealth in relation to the Incomes 
of the Labouring Classes. By Professor Leone Levi, F.S.S.—See 
Reports, p. 353. 
4. On the Number of the Deaf and Dumb in the World. 
By Wituram HE. A. Axon. 
A rigidly accurate estimate of the total number of human beings incapable of 
speech is impossible. Many congenital déaf mutes will escape classification in 
their earliest years, as parents will not recognise the unpleasant truth until doubt 
is no longer possible. The proportion of deaf-mutes to the ordinary population 
varies in different countries, but appears to be on the average about one in ever 
fifteen hundred. Taking this as the basis minimum, Guyot in 1842, when the 
i 
