Page:Statesman's Year-Book 1913.djvu/385

 FINANCE, PRODUCTION, ETC. — COMMUNICATIONS, ETC. 26.*^

Finance- — Ttevenue and expenditure and debt for three years were as follows : —

Revenue Expenditure Debt (Net)

Dollars Dollars Dollars

1910 . 8,874,741 6,649,994 801,644

1911 . 10,492,892 8,414,825 1,497,694 19121 . 10,326,000 17,000,000

1 Estimates.

Production and Industry.— British Columbia produced in 1911 minerals to the value of 23,211,816 dollars ; lumber to the value of 28,000,000 dollars; fish to the value of 11,000,000 dollars; agriculture valued at 20,837,893 dollars ; and manufactures of the value of 45,000,000 dollars; making a total of 128,049,709 dollars. The acreage and production of certain crops in 1911 were: wheat, 14.470 acres, 425,000 bushels; oats, 38,561 acres, 1,950,000 bushels; barley. 2,180 acres, 81,000 bushels; potatoes, 1],609 acres. 72,021 tons. Number of live stock in 1911 : cattle, 52,840; sheep, 17,940 ; pigs, 14,400; horses, 35,840.

British Columbia's coal measures are estimated to contain 40 billion tons of ]»ituminous coal and 61 billion tons of anthracite coal ; it possesses the greatest compact area of merchantable timber in North America ; the importance of the fishei-ies, apart Irom salmon fishing, is only beginning to be realised ; there are immeiise deposits of magnetite and hematite iron of the finest qualit}^ which still remain undeveloped ; the area of agricultural and fruit lands is estimated at 60,000,000 acres, and le.es than one tenth of the available land is settled upon, much less cultivated : the Province has millions of acres of pulpwood as yet unexploited ; petroleum deposits, but recently discovered, are among the most extensive in the world, and most of the territory is unexplored and its potential value unknown.

British Columbia is the second Province of the Dominion in the value of its mineral production, producing all of the Dominion's lead and zinc, an increasing proportion of the copper, most of the gold, a thir^l of the coal and coke, and over a fifth of the total mineral ])roduction.

Recent investigators place the area of P)ritisli Columbia's merchantable forests at 50,000,000 to 100,000,000 acres, but according to the report of the British Columbia forestry commission, the Province exclusive of the Dominion Railway belt has only about 15,000,000 a-res, representing 192,050,000,000 feet board measure. It is estimated that there are about 50,000.000,000 feet board measure under the control of the Dominion in the railway belt.

Commerce. — The trade of the Province is developing rapidly : in 1911-12 imports amounted to 49,345,161 dollars, and the exports 23,016,655 dollars. Exports consist of minerals (chiefly gold, silver, copper and coal), sea products, (chiefly salmon, halibut, herrings, whale products and oil), lumber, furs, skins, etc. A large inter-provincial trade is rapidly developing, the fruit grown in British Columbia being largely shipped to the Pi-airie Provinces, where it finds a good market.

Communications and Shipping^. — The Canadian Pacific is at present the principal railway in the Province. It has two main lines, the Canadian Pacific RailM'ay and the Crow's Nest Pass Railway, and several branches connecting with United i^tates railway systems, also steamboat connections on the inland lakes, besides its large fleet of ocean-going and coasting steamers. The railway mileage of the Province is about 2,000 miles, with an additional 1,000 miles in course of construction.

The Grand Trunk Pacific Railway is building its main line eastward from Prince Rupert, near the mouth of the Skeena River, and the Canadian Northern Pacific is under contract to build six hundred miles of railway