Total value (in rupees) of the imports and exports of the colony of Mauritius, exclusive of duty-free goods to the dependencies other than Seychelles, from and to each country, in the year 1880.

CONTINENT OF AMERICA.

NORTH AMERICA.

BRITISH NORTH AMERICA.

DOMINION OF CANADA.

Report by Consul-General Stearns on the commerce of Montreal and the Dominion of Canada for the year 1883.

I have the honor to transmit herewith a tabulated statement showing the imports and exports at the port of Montreal for the year ending June 30, 1883.*

This statement has been made up under my supervision from the records of this office and of the custom-house and from other sources of information which I have reason to believe reliable. I regret the delay in transmitting it, but it has been impossible to obtain access to all the custom-house records so as to complete the statement at an earlier date. The tables are arranged to show the several articles of import and export separately, the quantity and value of each, the countries from which the former came and to which the latter were sent, and the amount of duties paid on the imports. In the import tables the free goods and the dutiable goods are put in separate classes.

The recapitulation shows the value of the imports and exports for the years ending June 30, 1882, and June 30, 1883, respectively, to and from each country with which any trade has been carried on through this port, and the comparative increase and decrease in the same; also the grand total of values of imports and exports for such years, and the amount of the increase this year in the imports, and the decrease in the exports, the amount of duties collected during these years, and the increase in the same this year, and the total value of free goods imported this year, and the increase over last year.

I also submit a statement showing the several kinds of goods entered for consumption in the Dominion of Canada (exclusive of British Columbia), the quantity and value thereof, and the amount of duties collected thereon during the year ending June 30, 1883, and another statement showing the goods exported from the Dominion of Canada (exclusive of British Columbia), and their value, arranged under the head of "Products of mines," "Products of fisheries," &c., with the aggregate value of the exports which were produced in the Dominion of Canada and in all other countries stated separately; also the values of coin and bullion exported.

I also submit a statement compiled from the records of the customhouse showing the number of vessels which arrived at and departed

*The statements as submitted by the consul-general were too voluminous for publication. The recapitulations, showing the imports and exports of Montreal, are given, and will be found at close of report.

from this port during the year, the flag, destination, kind, and tonnage of the same.

These statements have been made up with all possible care, and have involved a considerable amount of labor and research on the part of those who have had them to do. In their form and arrangement I have followed the plan adopted by my predecessors. They are, so far as they go, accurate, and will no doubt be useful for reference.

I do not, however, feel satisfied with them, particularly with those which relate to the imports and exports of the Dominion. These latter are compiled from the official monthly reports published in the Canada Gazette, but are too vague to be of much use. The classification in the statement of exports is so general as to render it practically useless for purposes of comparison. It simply gives the returns under a few large heads, e. g., " Products of mines," "Products of forests," &c., with no attempt at details.

The sources of more particular and definite information are not accessible until about the time of the opening of Parliament, which is not usually until February. This is of course too late to make them available for my report without unduly delaying it.

I hope, but without much confidence, to make some arrangement next year by which I can obtain them in advance of their publication, and so be able to furnish hereafter fuller and more satisfactory statistics in regard to the foreign trade of the Dominion.

The following matters of interest I have gathered from the tabular statements of this year and from a comparison of them with those of last year, and I submit them as a résumé of most important information. The total value of goods entered for consumption in the Dominion (exclusive of British Columbia) during the past year was $117,511,195, and the total amount of duties collected thereon was $22,076,812.90.

The total value of goods exported during the same year was $91,318,775, of which $9,712,192 was the product of other countries and $631,600 was bullion.

There was an increase over last year in the total value of goods imported of $8,362,985, and in the amount of duties collected of $1,109,174.17; of this increase in the value of goods imported nearly $4,000,000 was in free goods.

Going more into detail and mentioning the principal articles in which this increase has taken place, the following appears:

The increase in the value of agricultural implements was $104,000, or about 90 per cent.; of coal, $1,687,244, or about 35 per cent.; of cotton manufactures, about $1,000,000, or 10 per cent.; of fancy goods, $209,000, or about 12 per cent.; of dried and fresh fruit, $630,000, or nearly 40 per cent.; of manufactures of iron and steel, $1,190,950, or about 10 per cent.; manufactures of sugar and molasses, $482,177, or 8 per cent.; wood and manufactures of wood, $732,611, or about 50 per cent.; and of miscellaneous articles, $1,114,822, or about 13 per cent. There was a decrease this year, as compared with last, in the total value of goods exported of $3,611,571, and in the value of goods the product of Canada of $5,945,585.

This decrease was entirely in agricultural products, there having been $6,000,000 less, and of agricultural products of Canada, as distinguished from those of other countries, about $8,000,000 less exported this year than last. There was a small increase in products of the mines, an increase of about $1,000,000 or 15 per cent. in products of the fisheries, and of about $1,250,000 or 7 per cent. in the products of the forest.

In 1881-82, the importations exceeded the exportations by $14,217,864,

and in 1882-'83, this year, by $26,192,420, an increase in the excess of importations over exportations of about $12,000,000, or about 88 per cent.

The total value of goods entered for consumption at the port of Montreal in 1881-'82 was $40,769,492, and the amount of duties collected thereon was $8,093,414.81, and in 1882-'83, the year under review, the total value of goods entered for consumption was $40,526,622, and the amount of duties $8,178,268.46, being a decrease in the value of goods imported of $242,870 and an increase in the amount of duties of $84,853.62, and this notwithstanding that the value of free goods imported was $599,498 greater than last year.

The value of goods imported from the United States and entered at this port was this year $11,167,036, or $483,961 less than last year.

The principal articles were wheat and wheat-flour, anthracite coal, cotton and manufactures of cotton, and manufactures of iron and steel. The total value of goods exported from this port in 1881-'82 was $24,819.163, and in 1882-'83 was $28,065,458, being an increase of $3,246,295.

The value of goods exported to the United States was this year $3,464,252, $213,216 more than last year. Although it appears that the value of goods exported from this port to the United States was somewhat greater than last year the number of separate shipments as indicated by the number of certificates issued from this office, was very much less.

The principal articles were horses, coin and bullion, hops, pig-iron, lumber, oil, and settlers' effects. The shipments to the United States from this port are of a very miscellaneous character, and embrace during a year a large variety of articles.

The unusually high price of horses in this market, and in all parts of Lower Canada, has caused a notable decrease in the number of horses exported to the United States, although not in their aggregate value. In 1881-82, 5,738 horses, valued at $672,400.75, were sent to the United States, and in 1882-'83, 2,811 horses, valued at $640,316.

Whether it is the beginning of a new industry or not I do not know, but 1,000 barrels of sauerkraut were made in this city and exported to the United States since my last report.

The value of goods exported from this port to Great Britain (and it must be borne in mind that the great bulk of the goods sent from the Dominion to foreign nations, other than the United States, is loaded and cleared at the port of Montreal) during the past year was $22,529,259, or about one-quarter of the total exports of the Dominion.

The principal articles sent to Great Britain were cheese, of the value of $5,458,167; butter, $1,029,273; wheat, $7,644,786; flour, $588,240; horned cattle, $2,871,130; sheep, $564,000; pease, $1,361,688. Wheat still maintains its place at the head of the list; cheese comes next, and cattle next.

The shipment of cattle to Great Britain has become, as the above figures indicate—and they are, I think, much too low, the manner of keeping export statistics not being very systematic-an important feature in the export trade of this port. During the past year extensive cattleyards have been established here, and every facility is afforded for the safe and easy shipment of cattle.

It may not be amiss to call particular attention to the amount of cheese sent from Canada to Great Britain, 49,324,376 pounds being shipped last year. The quantity is quite startling when we reflect that England has long been, and is now considered, the great cheese-pro

ducing country. How much of this Canadian article finds its way back to this continent in an English dress and with English names and marks it would be hard to ascertain, but unquestionably not an inconsiderable part.

Since writing the above I have been informed that a considerable part of this cheese came from the United States in bond, and is not therefore Canadian cheese.

Two hundred and thirty-two certificates were issued from this office during the year for settlers' effects, valued at $67,245. The emigrants were, some of them, Americans who were returning to the United States after a more or less lengthy residence in Canada; some of them Canadians going to seek employment in the cities, or to settle in the newer agricultural portions of the United States, and a few old-country people who, after spending a few years here, * had come to the conclusion that the United States offers more advantages to them than Canada, and were intending to take up their permanent residence there. The great majority of all those classes were well-to-do people of family, who add to the wealth and population of the localities to which they go.

*

The following miscellaneous statistics may properly be given in this connection, and may be found of interest:

In 1881-82 the revenue of the Dominion from all sources was $33,300000, the expenditures $27,000,000, and the surplus $6,300,000, which was, as I understand it, used on public works and charged to capital account. The cost of collecting this revenue was. $5,878,565, or, roughly, 18 per cent. The cost of collecting the customs during the same year is stated to be 3.32 per cent.

The receipts of the post-office department were $2,022,996, and the expenses on a mileage of 18,091,996 miles $2,458,356, or 133 cents per mile. The rate of letter postage remains as it has been, 3 cents for each half ounce, except for local delivery, which is 1 cent.

The Government grants for improvement of rivers and harbors from confederation to 30th June, 1882, a period of fifteen years, amounted to $4,251,210. This does not include canals, many of which have been constructed to overcome obstacles to navigation in the Saint Lawrence and other rivers. In perfecting the canal system of Canada $12,671,125 have been spent during the same period.

The total debt of the Dominion on June 30, 1882, was $153,661,652, and the total population, as nearly as can be estimated, 4,400,000, making a per capita Dominion debt of about $35. This is of course distinct from the debts of the several provinces, which, especially in Quebec, have increased very largely within a few years.

The Dominion debt at confederation was $75,728,841, caused by the assumption of the debts of the several provinces which formed the confederation. There has, therefore, been an increase in the fifteen years during which the Dominion has been in existence of $77,932,811, or about 105 per cent., a considerable part of which has been caused by the assumption of the debt of the new provinces which have entered the confederation and by large expenditures on the Intercolonial and Canada Pacific Railways. As exemplifying the intelligent efforts which are being put forth to secure to the Dominion and to its chief commercial city, Montreal, as much as possible of the foreign carrying trade of the continent, I may mention that, besides what has been spent by the Dominion, provincial, and municipal authorities in improving the harbor accommodations and deepening the channel of the Saint Lawrence, more than $1,200,000 have been appropriated since confederation for light-houses, buoys, fog-whistles, and similar aids to navigation.