AGRICULTURAL DEVELOPMENT IN NORTH-WEST CANADA. 215 
totals of immigrants in respect to emigration. This has, however, 
been undoubtedly a smaller element than if was ten years ago. 
According to the statistics of the Department of the Interior, which, 
for the reasons explained above, must be accepted with qualifications, 
the following is a comparative statement of the immigration into 
Canada during the years since 1900. 
Comparative Statement of Arrivals at Inland and Ocean Ports during the 
Four Years ending March 31, 1908. 
Great Britain United Other 
| ie. and Ireland States Countries Total 
1904-05 P 7 ‘ = 65,359 43,632 37,255 146,266 
| 1905-06 . 86,796 17,919 44,349 189,064 
1906-07 (9 months only). 55,791 34,659 37,217 124,667 
‘ 1907-08 . 5 | 120,182 58,312 83,975 262,469 
The total number of arrivals during the period of six years from 1901 
till 1906, embracing the two census years 1901 and 1906, was as 
follows :— 
United United Other Total 
Kingdom States Countries Yi 
1901-06 : ; 273,390 240,590 196,572 710,552 
Tt will be observed that during recent years there has been a con- 
siderable increase in the immigration from all the sources indicated, 
but especially from the United Kingdom and from other European 
countries. Large as the immigration from the United States has been 
it has not been so great proportionally as that from other countries. 
The reasons for the increased emigration from the United Kingdom 
have been chiefly the following: the increase of population ; the decline 
of trade, due largely to American fluctuations; the disturbance of the 
labour and money markets, due to the South African war; the activity 
of emigration societies, emigration agents, and steamship companies; 
and the offer of free homestead land in the Canadian North-West. 
Excepting the first—viz., the increase of population—these conditions 
are all temporary. The agricultural population of Great Britain com- 
prises now so small a proportion of the total that agricultural wages 
have risen sharply, and it must thus become more difficult to induce 
the agricultural labourer to change his habitat. It must be realised 
that although during the past two or three seasons many former tenant 
farmers and other persons with capital have emigrated and have esta- 
blished themselves in Canada, this class of men is not accustomed to 
hard physical labour personally. They have been employers and 
directors of labour. In that country labour is difficult to obtain, and 
very expensive when it is obtained. So long as the free homesteads 
are offered, and so long as mining and prospecting offer high remunera- 
tion, the farmer who attempts to cultivate his land by the labour 
of others must be seriously handicapped. in spite of its fertility. 
Gradual Depletion of the Unalienated Public Lands.—An excellent 
map recently issued by the Department of the Interior shows that the 
area of land available for homestead entry south of the North Sas- 
katchewan River is now comparatively small. The only district in 
