CO882-(1-2) — Page 390

PUBLIC RECORD OFFICE

Reference :-

C.O. 882

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ALLY WITHOUT PERMISSION OF THE BE REPRODUCED PHOTOGRAPHIC- COPYRIGHT PHOTOGRAPH-NOT TO

PUBLIC RECORD OFFICE, LONDON

lated according to which the affairs of the whole empire are conducted. Indeed, it may be asserted that the laws passed by the Canadian Parliament since the establishment of responsible government have, with scarcely an exception, been sanctioned by the Crown.

At the earnest wish of the Province, a change

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in of considerable magnitude was made last the constitution of the upper branch of the Legis- lature, by rendering it elective. The introduction into Canada of this principle, already established in some other parts of the British Colonial Possessions, was accomplished by an Act of the Imperial Parlia- ment, under the authority of which the first elèc- tions took place last November.

The late settle-

ment of the long-vexed question of the Seigniorial tenure, by Colonial enactment, has been attended with the happiest effects, and the Seignieurs are now equitably and completely compensated for those privileges to which the law had for so many years given them a right.

In order to show the prosperity of the Province, which is only yet in its infancy, as the great lines of railroad are not finally completed, and the effect of reciprocal free trade with the United States is too recent to admit of demonstration, I subjoin the fol- lowing table, showing its population, ita revenue Table A.

and expenditure, and its imports and exports, drawn from the latest Returns (1855) in the Colonial Office.

I subjoin further the value of imports and exports in each year, from 1847 to 1854, both Table B. inclusive, the revenue and expenditure in each of

the same years, and the revenue from canal tolls. Table C.

1 also annex a statement of the quantity and value Table D. of public land sold in Canada in each year from Table E.

With respect to rail- 1847 to 1853, both inclusive. ways it is by no means an unimportant feature, as demonstrating the energy of the Province, to know what has been accomplished, and as the funds for their construction have been largely drawn from this country, proving thereby the confidence which

is entertained by capitalists here in Canadian secu- rities, the statement in Table F will be found inte- Table F. resting.

Simultaneously with the industrial progress above described, another change of a scarcely less im-

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portant character, indicative of the tranquillity reigning in the province, should be mentioned: I refer to the military force. On the 1st January, 1847, the force stationed in Canada, and maintained wholly at the charge of the British Treasury, consisted of 7,149 soldiers, besides three troops of provincial Cavalry, and one provincial coloured company, both of which were reduced in 1850. On the 1st October, 1854, the force was reduced to 1,882 soldiers, at which amount it would probably have been continued but for considerations of foreign policy, which induced Her Majesty's Government to send a Lieutenant-General, and place five regiments under his command in the three principal garrison

towns.

Sir E. Head has taken great pains to get a legislative enactment passed on the subject of the Militia, and a satisfactory commencement has been made towards the establishment of an effective force. The statement in Table G exhibits its present strength. With the view of encouraging this force, and of meeting the strongly expressed wishes of the Province, Her Majesty's Government have sur- rendered the mass of the Ordnance Lands to the Legislature, and placed the proceeds at its disposal to meet the Militia expenses.

With the exception of California and Australia, there is perhaps no part of the world known to modern history where a greater increase has taken place than in the population of Canada. In the Lower Province, the increase has not been so rapid, owing to the tide of emigration flowing westward, but nevertheless, the increase there in the last twenty-five years has been 90 per cent.: the popula tion in 1829 having been 500,000, and in 1854 1,048,000. In Upper Canada the population, which in 1811 was 77,000, reached 952,000 in 1851 : exhibiting an increase in forty years of 1,100 per

cent.

The population of the United Province is now 2,250,000. During the season of 1856, 22,430 emigrants landed at Quebec. Of these, 4,537 were Germans, and 2,806 Norwegians. The rest were from Great Britain and Ireland. The settlement of the country is advancing rapidly.

Table H exhibits the program of the Post-Office since 1851 inclusive. It is an interesting proof of the increase of businame and education in the

country.

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