PROGRESS OF CANADA.
Prizes were offered by the Paris Exhibition Committee of Canada for the two best essays on Canada. A score of competitors entered the lists' the first prize was awarded to Mr. J. Sheridan Hogan, the second to Mr. Alex- ander Morris. The successful essays have been published. They present a good account of Canada-its topography, soil, climate, productions, trade, population, &c. ; and exhibit, what was known to many, the surprising progressthat the country has made of late years. The writers are anxious to show that Canada is more rapid in its growth than any part of the United States, and their statistics appear to support their view. We pro- pose to throw together a few of the figures to be found in the essays, more especially those illustrating the progress of Canada. .Population.-In 1811, the population of Upper Canada, now "Canada West, was 77,000 ; in 1829, 196,000 ; in 1864, it was estimated at 1,237,600. The population of Lower Canada was 500,000 in 1829; in 1854 it was estimated at 1,048,000. The total of both Provinces at the cen- sus of 1851 was 1,842,266. Wealth.-Real and personal property in Upper Canada was valued at 2,500,0001. in 1829; at 50,000,000/. in 1854. [Apparently, all the money figures denote pounds " currency " : 1/. Sterling is equal to 1/. 5s. currency.'] Growth of Towne.-Toronto has increased hi population faster than any city in the United States. In 1801, the population was 336; in 184o, 19,706; in 1861, 30,775. Hamilton rose from 6832 'inhabitants in 1846 to 14,112 In 1861. Not very many years ago the site of the city of Ottawa was sold for 80!.: Ottawa has now 10,00einhabitants. These are in Western Canada; but even the old cities in the Eastern Province have made great progress: in 1816 Quebec had 14,880 inhabitants; in 1851, 42,052 : in 1816 the population of Montreal was 16,000; it is now computed at 70,000.
of
Productions the Soil.-In 1851, it was computed that the total pro- duction of wheat was 15,162,662 bushels, principally grown in the Western Province: in Canada East, the production was about 10 bushels per acre; in Canada West,_ 181 bushels. The value of all the vegetable productions
ad of Cana in 18o1 was estimated at 9,200,000/. In 1838 Canada exported
296, in shipbnilding at Q020 bushels of wheat; in 1852, 5,496,718 bushels. The value of the
timber exported, used uebec, and for various purposes
throughout Canada, was computed in 1853 at 4,500,0001. Trade.-In 1834, the imports of Canada amounted to 1,063,6451.; the ex- ports to 1,018,922/.... in 1853, the imports had increased to 7,995,359/., tho exports to 6,950,32L/. In the exports were-products of mines, 27,3391.; of the sea, 86,000/. ,• of the forest, 2,355,255/. ; animals and their produce, 342,631/. vegetable food, 1,995,094!.; among the remaining items was " manuactures, ' 35,106/. Religion.-Notwithstanding the great immigration of Irish, the Pro- testants, Episcopalians and Dissenters, far outnumber the Roman Catholics in the Western Province; of course in the Eastern, where so many of the people arc of French origin, the proportions are reversed. In 1851, when the total population of Canada was 1,842,265, the chief religious sects pre- sented the following enumeration.
Church of England 268,592 New Connexion Methodists .. 12,108 Church of Scotland 75,587 All other Methodists 52,449 Church of Rome 914,561 Baptists 49,846 Free Presbyterians 93.385 Lutherans 12,107 Other Presbyterians 82,733 Congregationalists 11,674 Wesleyan Methodists 114,839 Quakers 7.623
Episcopal Methodists 49,443 " Protestants" 12,208 Of 71,034 the creeds arc uncertain. Among the smaller bodies may be mentioned-Jews, 4.51; Unitarians, 1183; Mormons, 259. Education.-In 1853, Canada deveted 101,3361. from her revenue for the purposes of education; nearly an eighth of her total expenditure. Besides this, the various localitiea rinsed no less than 167,235/. for, the purposes of national education. The number of students and pupils in the Vitriol's classes of colleges and schools was 303,020: in Great Britain 1 person in 81 • is at school; in Canada, 1 in 6 4-5.
Finances.-In 1843, the revenue was 445,5781. currency, the expenditure in
836,754/. In 1853, the total gross come, including a balance of 383,699/. from the preceding year, amounted to 1,704,360!.; the expenditure in- cluding cost of collecting the revenue, was 869,871/. • leaving a balance of 834,668/. The chief item of revenue was customs, 1:029,782/. ; in the ex- penditure, the interest on public debt amounted to 227,383/. ; civil govern- ment, 36,1031. ; legislature, 66,2371.; education, 101,3351.; sinking-fund, 73,000/. Per head of the population, taxation is much lighter in Canada than in the United States. Public _Debt.-The direct liabilities of the Province of Canada are 5,371,315/. Collateral liabilities--guarantees lent to railways-2,166 ,640/. " The total debt-including the direct debt, the collateral debt, and debts, as the Municipal Loan Fund, to which the Province is only by implication responsible, as being payable out of a special fund-is estimated, by a Coin- intof the House of Usembly, at 65016061•a the total interest on wtioh is 644,1341." Navigation, Canals, and Railways-By the St. Lawrence canals, and the chain of Lakes Canada possesses an • I d navigation extending 111 one line to 2000 miles.' The importance of the traffic on four canals may be judged from the amount of the gross revenue in 1853-nearly 95,000/. Im- portant lines of railway have been already opened, with great success;
in others are course of construction. It is believed that at the close of the present year there will be 2000 miles of railway in operation.
A perusal of these essays, and more especially a collation of the statistical facts which they contain, must forcibly impress the reader with the convic- tion that if Adam Smith's dicta be correct-" it is not the actual greatness of national wealth, but its general increase, which occasions a rise in the wages of labour-it is not in the richest countries, but in the most thriving, or in those which are growing rich the fastest, that the wages of labour are highest "-then Canada, and especially the Western Province, must be a land of promise to the mere labouring man, such as he will seek in vain in almost every other direction.
Previous page
