Page:Encyclopædia Britannica, Ninth Edition, v. 4.djvu/861

Rh CANADA 779 other exclusive rights and privileges, which resulted in 1854 in the final settlement of the vexed questions of the clergy reserves and seigniorial tenures in Upper and Lower Canada. The Grand Trunk Railway, which had been commenced in 1847, was now hastening to completion. Nova Scotia had already its first railway ; the important local line connecting the Georgian Bay with Toronto, was developing the resources of Upper Canada; and in the same year, 1854, the Great Western Railway was com menced. By this line Toronto is not only placed in direct communication with Detroit, Chicago, and the whole Western United States ; but by the extension of the line from Hamilton to the vicinity of the Niagara Falls, and the construction there of a suspension bridge, on a grand scale, for railway as well as ordinary traffic, the Great Western Railway of Canada has become an important link in the main lines of transit from Boston and New York to the Western States. Since then the building of railways and the development of railway traffic have been energeti cally prosecuted. The Intercolonial Railway has been completed, as a material bond of union between the older provinces of Canada and the maritime provinces, and a route through Canadian territory, at all seasons, to the seaboard. This has been followed by the more compre hensive scheme of a Canadian Pacific Railway, the surveys for which have been already made ; and its first links are now in process of execution. The actual mileage of the railways within the Dominion completed, up to the close of 1874, extended to 4022 miles. The following tabular view of the railway traffic returns for the two previous years will suffice to illustrate their influence on the rapid growth of Canada in recent years : - Railways. Total 1873. Total 1872. Miles 1873. Miles 1872. ISrockville and Ottawa (7 months)... 8 281,451^ 64,012} $ 232,209 49,609 86 28 86 28 Carillon and Grcnville (no return) for 1873) f 12J 12| Cobourg, Petcrboro and Marmora) 51,785 41,653 22 22 European and North American) 256,189 108 108 5,618,239 4,960,317 351J 351} Grand Trunk 9,342,223 8,531,890 1,377 1,377 821,424 241,464 269 261i London and Tort Stanley (no re-) turn for 1873) j 39,808 24 i 24* Midland of Canada (7 months) Northern do (0 months) New Brunswick and Canada ) 179,948$ 401,950 51,180* 261,737 2 589,728 3 15,909 89 141 138 89 120 124 183,278 158,148 54 54 St Lawrence and Industry (7 months) Toronto and Nipissiiif?(3 months)... Toronto Grey, and J5rucc (no re-) turn for 1873) ) 12,703$ 53,382f &amp;lt;6,G28 12 88 12 Windsor and Annapolis (no return) for 1873) j&quot; 10J 648 5 50 829 25 25 Total 17 139 87G 15 436,018 2,638f 2,508$ 1 8 months. 3 1 month. &amp;lt; 5 months. 5 6 months. jlegraplis. During the same period telegraphic lines of communica tion have been no less energetically prosecuted. At the end of 1874 the Montreal Telegraph Company had 23,267 miles of wire, and 1288 different offices ; and to both additions are being rapidly made. The Dominion Telegraph Company, more recently organized, with its head- office in Toronto, had at the same date GOOO miles of wire, connect ing 300 different offices ; and the British Columbia Tele graph, which was assumed by the Dominion Government, at the admission of British Columbia into the confederation, had already placed the head office at Victoria in communi cation with twenty-one offices, the remotest of which was then distant 557 miles. anks. No less important is the banking system of the Dominion. From the banking returns published in the Canada Gazette it appears that the banking capital has more than doubled since 1870, and this by a steadily progressive increase. The tables are imperfect, owing to some of the banks having omitted to make the requisite returns ; so that, while the following tabular statement illustrates the progressive rate of increase, it falls short of the full amount : Banking Capital of Canada. 1870 29,801,013 1871 36,415,390 1872 45,134,609 1873 55,102,959 1874 60,443,445 Besides the Post-Office Savings Banks, established on the same principle as those in Great Britain, there are local and other savings banks, building and other societies, and the admission of every new province adds to the num ber of such societies, in all of which large amounts are deposited at interest, without accessible returns. The building societies advance funds for the erection of churches, halls, and other public buildings, as well as for private dwelling-houses ; and the majority of the residents in cities and towns are proprietors of the houses which they occupy. The following tabular statement affords an illustrative view of the accumulating fruits of industry within the Dominion. Bank Deposits. Post-Office Savings Banks 3,587,365 Government Savings Banks 3, 862, 676 Montreal City and District Banks 4,303,509 Caisse d Economie de Notre Dame 2,732,055 Chartered Banks 78,790,367 Total $93,275,972 Summary. The evidence of the prosperity, and growing wealth of Canada may be completed in a tabular view of its exports and imports for two successive years, as derived from the latest official returns. The immediate result of confederation was a rapid progress in many ways. New railways were projected and brought into operation; new lines of steamships were established ; fresh avenues of native and foreign trade were diligently sought out ; and a succession of prosperous years was marked by a steady commercial expansion which attained its maximum in 1873. Since that date various causes, and especially the difficulties created by an unredeemable paper currency in the neighbouring United States, have tended to bring about a reaction ; but it is a mere temporary ebb of the advancing tide, in which the commercial world at large has shared. The following is a reproduction erf a condensed compara tive statement of the Commissioner of Customs, as given in the trade and navigation tables for 1874; to which are added from more recent unpublished returns, those of the year 1875, showing the influence of a period of reaction and great depression, alike on the exports and imports of the country. Fiscal Year. Total Exports. Total Imports Entered for Consump tion. Duty. 1868 $57,567,888 $73,459,644 $71,985,306 $8,819,431-63 1869, 60,474,781 70,415,165 67,402,170 8,298,90971 1870 73 573 490 74 814 339 71 237 608 9 462,940-44 1871 74,173 618 96,092,971 86,947,482 11,848,655-75 1872 82,639,663 111,430,527 107,709,116 13,045,493-50 1873 89,789,922 128,011,281 127,514,594 13,017,730-17 1874 89,351,928 128,213,582 127,404,169 14,421,882-67 1875 78,048,870 123,068,093 119,622,871 15,S51, 163-80 Aggregate for) Eight Years) 606,620,160 805,505,602 779,823,311 94,261,207-67 The apparent annual increase shown in the above table, is modified by the following elements, which must be taken into account. The first three years represent the business only of the first four provinces of the Dominion. Manitoba was received into the confederacy in 1871; and the