Page:Encyclopædia Britannica, Ninth Edition, v. 4.djvu/862

Rh 780 statistics of that year include six months returns from the new province, amounting to $254,063 total imports, $286,357 entered for consumption, and $15, 723 22 duty collected. In 1872 the exports of Manitoba were valuec at $85,541, the imports at $942,247, and entered for consumption, $1,020,172, on which $46, 839 90 duty was collected. In the same year the returns for British Columbia appear as follows : exports,$l,912,107; imports, $1,790,352 ; entered for consumption, $1,767,068 ; duty collected, $342,400 48. In 1874 the returns of Prince Edward Island give the following additional elements to swell the aggregate amount : exports $722,129 ; imports, $1,908,522; entered for consumption, $1,913,696; duty collected $219,458 - 07. Deducting those sums and values from the years named, there remains abundant evidence of a steady and rapid increase in the commerce of the four older provinces up to the year 1874, when the depression prevailing in the United States, in part due to reaction resulting from the effects of the southern war, began to be felt in Canada as well as in other countries. The great expansion which has taken place in the commerce of Canada since 1867, and the influence of the reaction of 1874, are shown in the following consecutive statement of the joint value of exports and imports for the years from 1868 to 1875 inclusive : Exports and Imports. 1867-68 131,027,532 1868-69 130,889,946 1869-70 148,387,829 1870-71 170,266,589 1871-72 194,070,190 1872-73 217,801,203 1873-74 217,565,510 1874-75 201,116,963 The relative wealth and progress of the different pro vinces of the Dominion will be illustrated by the following comparative table, showing the last year of nearly unchecked progress, and the first of reaction. It shows the value of the goods exported from, and entered for consumption in the Dominion, during the years ending the 30th June 1 874 and 1875 : Province Year 1S73-4. Year 1874-5. Exports. Value. Entered for Consumption, Exports. Value. Entered for Consumption. Value. Duty. Value. Duty. Nova Scotia $7,656,547 6,503,934 722,129 46,393,845 25,157,087 794,762 2,120,624 $10,875,140 10,321,492 1,913,696 51,981,127 48,375,522 1,853,659 2,048,336 1,409,094 1,399,93075 219,458-07 6,613,509-50 4,361,236-06 67,471-97 336,494-47 $6,968,139 6,542,329 1,307,590 39,801,041 20,016,101 588,958 2,824,712 10,688,213 9,855,533 1,984,278 50,618,588 42,781,076 1,227,890 2,487,293 1,490,543-77 1,370,611-42 316,976-49 6,772,303-90 4,808,074 171,430-86 413,991-50 New .Brunswick Prince Edward Island Quebec Ontario Manitoba British Columbia Total $89,351,928 127,368,972 14,407,194-82 14,564.90 78,048,870 $119,622,871 $15,343,931-94 7,231-86 Export Duty 14,421,759-72 15,351,163-80 Administration of Justice.- So long as Canada consisted of the two provinces of Upper and Lower Canada, even when united for legislative purposes they retained their diverse laws and distinct judicial systems, while the Privy Council of Great Britain constituted the final court of appeal for both. In the province of Quebec the old French law, which was introduced under Louis XIV., is still the basis of the law of property. There the tenure of property re mained strictly feudal, until the settlement of the claims of the seigniories by the Act of 1854 brought the old system to an end. But before that was effected new town ships had been surveyed, and land disposed of to settlers to be held in free and common soccage. The commercial law is regulated partly by the old French code, but modified by the English customs, and by later Canadian legislation. The criminal laws of England, and the right of trial by jury, were introduced by 14th Geo. Ill c. 83. Since then all additions to the criminal law, or modifications of the statutes, have depended on the Acts of the colonial legislature. The religion, laws, language, and customs of the French popu lation were all guaranteed to them at the time of the cession of Canada to England ; and the rights and privileges per taining to the Roman Catholic Church, among a population regarding its creed as their national religion, help to per petuate essential differences, by maintaining what is still practically an established if not a state church. By the constitution of the Dominion, as embodied in the British North American Act of 1867, the criminal law, with the establishment, maintenance, and management of penitentiaries ; all laws relating to bankruptcy and solvency, marriage and divorce, naturalization, aliens, Indians, and Indian reserves ; and generally, all subjects not expressly assigned to the provincial legislatures, pertain to the Dominion parliament. The judges in all the provinces are appointed by the general Government ; and the pardoning power is vested in the governor-general per se, whilst his authority in all other respects is exercised under the advice of his privy council, or ministers for the time being. The powers entrusted to the local legislatures include generally all strictly local legislation not affecting in any way the rights of other provinces. The judges by whom the laws are administered must in the case of Quebec be selected from the bar of that province ; and the judges of the superior courts in all the provinces hold office during good behaviour, and are removable by the governor-general on address of both houses of Parliament. The rights and privileges of each province being thus secured by its own parliament and courts of law, the pro visions of the Act of Confederation have been completed by the establishment of a Supreme Court and Court of Ex chequer at Ottawa, consisting of a chief justice and five other judges, two of whom, including the chief justice, have been selected from the bench of Ontario, two from the bench and bar of Quebec, and one each from the bench or bar of Nova Scotia and New Brunswick. The court thus constituted is the supreme and final court of appeal, from all the courts of law in the various provinces, with this excep tion that, while no appeal lies from the Supreme Court at Ottawa to the Privy Council, litigants have still the right of choice between the two as their final court of appeal. Education. Almost from the first organization of Upper Canada as a separate province, steps were taken for pro viding means for the establishment of efficient schools and colleges. So early as 1797 a grant of 500,000 acres of the unoccupied lands of the province was set apart for the purpose of establishing and endowing a university and four royal foundation grammar schools. Of this one half was appropriated as a university endowment, and one-fourth