The times., 1899-07-18
PROSPERITY IN CANADA
The Condition of Trade in the Eng
Iish Colonies

The lean years have gone by and there
is every reason to hope that British COM
munities in different parts of the world
are entering upon a period of fat years.
This is the summary of the financial and
industrial position which reaches US from
the various groups of self governing col
onies.
First in the prosperous list stands Can
ada, where the fiscal year ends on June
30. and Mr.. Fielding the Dominion Minister
of Finance, was able. in making his budget
speech the other day. to estimate the sur
plus for 1s9S99 at S4.6OO.O 900. The revenue
for the year, assuming that the estimates
of receipts for the last three months are
well founded. viii be SAG, ,s32. .39S, and the
expenditure will amount to $40, ,0s6, ops. This
is substantial advance on the revenue of
last year. and the advance in expenditure.
though considerable is quadrupled by the
receipts. In addition to the expenditure
from income in the Dominion, there is
every year for purposes of railways, ca
nails. and other public works and services q
further expenditure from capital account
ih!s expenditure amounted last year to
SS.662, I9o. Allowing for the deduction OF
the surplus and the outlay for sinking fund
estimated in the regular expenditure, the
net increase to the public debt of Canada
Will this year be 81, 700, 900. 1t was last
year S2.417,S S62. In every particular the
year shows better result than last year:
Good harvests and the better prices
ruling in the markets of the world for the
staple produce of the colonies have OF
course much to do with the prosperity OF
Canada, as well as with that OF Australia
to which allusion will presently be made
But there is something to be attributed to
the increase Of local enterprise which has
resulted from or accompanied these condi-
lions. The development of wheat farming
and cattle breeding on the prairies and the
opening of new productive mineral dis
tricts have helped to swell the total of Can
adian foreign trade, as well as to increase
the demand made by one part OF the Do
minion upon the produce and industry OF
the others. In the years which have been
quoted the mineral production OF Canada
rose. IN round figures. from an annual
total OF $4,000, eco to S3S. 600, eco The
actual increase of animal and agricultural
products is more difficult to arrive at. but
it has very greatly increased, and the mum.
ber of farming homesteads taken UP Oh:
Government lands in Manitoba has grown
frcm 2i06 in 1897 to 4S4S in 1898 Along
the course of the railway lately construct
ed through the Crows Nest Pass of the
Rocky Mountains into the mineral districts
OF Southern British Columbia new towns
are described as having sprung up like
mushrooms in a warm shower" In the
Yukon district, where two and half years
ago there was a population of few hun
dred persons. there are now upward OF
10000, and the Atiin gold fields in the
northern territory of British Columbia bid
fair to rival the Klondike in their wealth.
The eastern and maritime provinces con-
tribute their share tc the general total.
The annual reports OF the boards OF trade
of Toronto Montreal, st. John, and Hall
fax give satisfactory accounts of the con-
dition of affairs in the provinces for which
they speak. The result of the general ac-
tiyity, though imperfectly summarized b.
export and import returns, is yet very
perceptible in the fact that in the years
for which the figures OF revenue and ex-
penditure have been given. the total OF
Canada foreign trade has risen from
s24O, 600. .O6O 10 1904, eco, 600. 1t is the first
time in her history that Canada has touch
ed or even approached total OF S50O,0oo,-
Geo; but Mr.. Fielding. in estimating the
prospects of the coming year, anticipated
results of a still more satisfactory chlrac-
ter.
IF we turn to Australia as it hovers on
the brink of federation, we find condi-
tion of affairs which. Notwithstanding the
heavy blows CT the past, promises scarcely
less well for the future. In Victoria, where
among the more important colonies the
financial position has given the greatest
cause for anxiety, the revenue returns are
such as to justify the anticipation OF
surplus for the var of s250,0OO tSl,216,-
525l, and there also treasury returns do
net stand alone in bearing witness to an
era OF reviving prosperity. In mineral de-
velopment gold and coal which are the
two principal products of Victorian mines,
show substantial increase, while in
agricultural and garden produce the total
value of the output has risen in five years
from G5. 600. 900 1924 .332 500 to $1,000, coo
1884 .500) in round figures. The value
Of pastoral and dairy produce remained
stationary in Victoria up to the end OF last
year, but the steady advance which has
been taking place in the price of wool and
meat is now making itself felt, and has
greatly benefited the pastoral iudustrv "A
Wales, and Queensland.
The tctal value Of pastoral property
in the seven colonies of Australasia was
estimated in 1897 at about ,G23S 0O0. $50
Isl 15S. .227 .O00), exclusive of the value OF
freehold land. and the annual return CT
produce was at the same time calculated
at c 30. .GOOGOO (S170, ,327 50O). 4 very small
increase in price is therefore sufficient
to give a large increase in val
lie and corresponding prosperity to
Australian pastoralists. The quotation
for Canterbury mutton has this
year reached figure IL per cent higher
than it did last year. Queensland beef
has moved up IS per cent The value of
nerino wool has advanced something like
80 per cent from the lowest point which
it touched in 1895. Victorian fruit. both
dried and fresh, is making a good name
for itself in the London market. The
dairying industry through all the colonies
is in a soundly prosperous condition, with
every prospect Of expansion as the taste
for good and cheap butter grows in the
manufacturing populations CT the whole
world.
The troubles in the sugar trade have
not prevented the sugar output OF the
northern part of Australia from increas-
ing nearly 80 per cent upon the output
Of last year. The area of cultivated land
in New South Wales has doubled Itself
within the last five years, with a very re
markable increase in the year 1898. New
land legislation has contributed to pro
mote movement in the same direction in
Queensland, and, as the average difference
in value of produce between an acre of pas
toral land and an acre OF cultivated land
is as the difference between Is ID (324
cents) and SO les tS1S.49l. it is not diff
ficult TO perceive the importance to the
Australian colonies OF such development,
In Queensland the prospects of mineral
development on a large scale are regarded
by mining authorities as most satisfae-
tory. 1t is a happy moment in which the
hope Of federation has assumed a practj-
cal form in Australia. and if any paraI
lei cen be drawn from the effect o. fed
Grafton upon Canada. it is probable that.
ii the greet chance is suceessfrlly carri ID