Page:The New International Encyclopædia 1st ed. v. 04.djvu/142

* CANADA. 114 CANADA. representatives in the Commons, and the other provinces a number bearing the same ratio to their population as 05 bears to the population of Quebec. On the basis of the census of I'JOl the representation in Parliaiupiit comprised U2 mem- bers for Ontario, 05 for Quebec, IS for Nova Scotia, 13 for New Brunswick, 10 for Jlanitoba, 9 for British Columbia, 4 for Prince Edward Island, and for the Territories. The e.veeutive power is vested in the King or liis representative (the Ciovernor-General) and a Privy Council composed of a premier, thirteen heads of departments, and two ministers not of the Cabinet. The governmental departments are those of State, Trade and Commerce, Justice, Marme and Fisheries, Railways and Canals, Mili- tia and Defense, Finance, Posts, Agriculture, Public Works, Interior, Customs and Internal Revenue. The princijjles regulating the rela- tions of the executive to the legislature, and of the two branches of the legislature to each other, are the same as those that underlie the parlia- mentary scheme of government in Great Britain. The Governor-General is practically guided by his ministers, who in turn are responsible to the House of Commons ; and though the executive maj' resere a law for the consideration of the home Ciovernment, or disallow it altogether, the latter right is in jjractice never exerted, and the former is emploj-ed only when a measure concerns the interests of the Empire at large and tends to ali'ect the relation of the Imperial (Government to foreign powers. Within Parliament the pre- dominant power is wielded by the popular cham- ber. Not only must money bills originate in the Commons, but the Senate may not even amend a bill from the Lower House ; its power of rejection is seldom employed, and though it possesses the riglit of initiative in many matters, its share in originating legislation is quite inconsiderable. Of the provincial governments and of the dif- ferentiation between their scope of authority and that of the State, it may be said that in general they are endowed with the full power of control over local affairs, subject only to the considera- tion of the general welfare of the Empire. A detailed description of provincial governments will be found under the names of the several provinces. The judicial branch of the Federal Government consists of a Supreme Court at Ottiiwa, with ap- pellate civil and criminal jurisdiction through- out the Dominion, and an Exchequer Court with powers of admiralty. There are no inferior Fed- eral courts, but the central government avails itself of the judicial machinery in each of the provinces, which comprises a su])erior court, county courts, police magistrates, and justices of the peace. To be precise, however, the superior and county courts are not exclusively State tri- bunals, in that their judges arc a|)i>ointed by the Governor-General of the Dominion. The peniten- tiaries, too, are under the care of the Federal Government. Army. — The King is the commander-in-chief of the naval and military forces, but the control of them is in the hands of the Dominion Parlia- ment. Except a garrison of 2000 British troops at Halifax there is no regular army in Canada; the defense of the Dominion is intrusted to the militia, which comprises all British subjects be- tween the ages of 18 and 00. and is divided into an active force serving for three vears and a reserve force, which includes all non-active citi- zens liable to service. The active militia is raised by voluntary enlistment or by draft, and is limited by law 'to 40,000 men. On June 30, 1901, the eirective force numbered 38,0'JO officers and men. The Dominiim lakes no share in the naval defense of the couMlry. which is left en- tirely to the Imperial Government. Finances. The central Government controls the collection of the customs revenue, and over half the receipts come from this source. Free trade exists between the provinces. The customs revenue increased from $23,000,000 in 1890 to $28,800,000 in 1900; the internal revenue during the same period increased from $7,000,000 to $9,800,000, and the revenue from other sources increased from $8,293,000 to $13,800,000. The l^rovinces surrendered to the central Govern- ment the power of collecting the customs revenue only on condition that the}' should receive in return annual subsidies. In 1890 the subsidies aggregated $4,100,000, in 1900 $4,250,000. Of the other principal items of expenditure, the charges on the public debt increased during the decade from $9,050,000 to $13,400,000; railways and canals remained about constant, viz. $5,311,- 000 and $5,400,000, while the public works charges decreased from $4,892,000 to $2,400,000. The total exjjenses for 1900 were $44,000,000. The per capita receipts were $9.50 : the per capita expenditure $8. The net debt of the Dominion is $205,000,000. Population. In 1703 the French population amounted to about 05,000, confined to the iuune- diate vicinity of the lower Saint Lawrence' and its tributaries; in 1791 Upper Canada had 50.000 inhabitants and Lower Canada 130,000. In ISOl the total population, exclusive of Indians, was 3.090.501; in 1S71, :i.035.024; in ISSl, 4,324,810; in 1891, 4,833,239; and in 1901, 5,371.315. In 1901 there were 3,005.709 persons of English origin, 1,049.352 of French, and 309,741 of (Jer- man. The following table shows the distribu- ti(m of the population by divisions in the vears 1891 and 1901: PEOVINCEB 1891 1901 98.000 1S2.000 321,IK)0 450,000 2.114.000 109.00(1 1,488,000 66,000 32,000 IT.SOdO 25r>,l«'0 450,000 2,1S'_',(III0 iii:i,(Kio 1,G4S,000 158,000 62,000 (Alberta 1 Saskatchewan J It will thus be seen that the Canadian popula- tion increases but slowly, the growth for the last decade being less than 10 per cent,, not so great as would result from the natural increase by birth, the birth-rate being high, as indicated by the average size (5.1 +) of families. The most marked growth has taken place in the Western region. Much of this is attributed to the in- creased interest in mining. According to the census of 1901, the foreign-bom were distributed as follows: British I.slands, 290.010: British possessions, 15,837: foreign countries, 278,804 (United States. 127.891) ; not given, 14,589, In the eastern jirovinces large numbers have crossed the international boundary into the States —