Sturgeon, rock fish and shad are other varieties of food fish. The mackerel is unknown on the Pacific coast. A native oyster, locally known as the " Olympian," is found in considerable quantities at many places along the coast of British Columbia and the state of Wash- ington and is edible. The eastern oyster has not been propagated, but young oysters are imported from eastern Canada and success- fully cultivated. So far it has not been found practicable to propa- gate lobsters. The rivers are abundantly stocked with fish, prin- cipally salmon or trout, and there are also whitefish and graylings in the northern waters. The whaling industry was established about 1906 by the Pacific Whaling Co. with headquarters near Nootka and has been most successful. The once important sealing industry is now extinct. Only native Indians are permitted to take seals in Pacific waters and as the seals are again increasing in numbers the catch is correspondingly great. Dog-fish are very numerous at various points along the coast and are rich in oil.
The salmon-canning industry is still considerable, but the Eraser river has been much depleted and steps were being taken in 1920 towards conservation. The fishing industry was greatly stimulated during the war and increased in respect of many of the smaller fishes by 100 per cent. Great Britain is the jargest market for British Columbia salmon. The values of the varieties caught in 1919 were: salmon, $17,537,164; halibut, $4,617,484; herring, $1,109,870; pil- chards, $371,871; cod, $368,838; flounders, etc., $130,940; black cod, $116,580; soles, $90,848. British C9lumbia contributed $25,- 301,607 in 1919, almost half of the entire fisheries production of Canada. There were then 74 salmon canneries and one other can- nery in operation. There were 9 whale and fifeh oil factories and 20 fish-curing establishments, representing a capital in all fisheries of $16,358,505. The principal canning operations are carried on in the Fraser river, Skeena river, Rivers Inlet, Naas river, on the coast of Vancouver I. and in a few outlying districts.
Mining. Mining in British Columbia originated with the placer deposits of the Fraser river and its far-off tributaries in the Cariboo district, from which it is estimated that some $55,000,000 or $60,000,- ooo of gold has. been extracted. The undeveloped coal-fields of Brit- ish Columbia have been estimated to cover 1,351 sq. m., of which 834 are in yancouver and Graham I. (Queen Charlotte Is.), and 517 on the mainland. Their resources are stated at 3,110 million tons on the islands and 37,115 million tons on the mainland, of which 61 million tons are anthracite, 39,674 million tons bituminous coal and 490 million tons lignite. There are large deposits, as yet unde- veloped, of magnetite and haematite iron. New interest attaches to the Queen Charlotte Is. on account of the extensive deposits of oil shale extending along the W. coast of Graham Island.
The mineral production in 1919 amounted to $33,296,313, made up of gold, $3437,145; silver, $3,592,673; lead, $1,526,855; copper, 57,939,896; zinc, $3,540,429; coal, $11,337,705; coke, $637,966; miscellaneous products, $1,283,644.
Manufactures. Lumber in all its forms is manufactured for home consumption and export in over 200 saw-mills. The Canadian Pa- cific railway owns and controls large smelting works at Anyox and at Trail. The coking of coal, manufacture of pulp and paper, salmon canning, sugar refining, and the manufacture of cement are other industries. There were in 1918 1,786 factories with $244,697,000 capital, giving employment to 48,779 persons who received $51,051,- ooo in wages and salaries. The value of materials used was $103,- 936,000 and of goods produced $207,678,000.
Shipbuilding was greatly stimulated by the World War. Owing to the shortage of shipping after its outbreak, a programme of build- ing wooden ships was undertaken under the auspices of the Provin- cial Government. The Foundation Co. constructed a number of vessels for the French Government, and steel vessels for the Domin- ion Government were constructed at Victoria and Vancouver.
Transport. The main line of the Canadian Pacific railway enters British Columbia through the Kicking Horse pass on its way to Vancouver. Another line of the same railway, entering the province by means of the Crow's Nest pass, serves the Kootenay country and joins the main line, by several water connexions, at Revelstoke. The Canadian National traverses the Yellowhead pass and proceeds through the northern part of the province to Prince Rupert, near the Alaskan boundary. The Canadian National railways also run through the Yellowhead pass, turning S. to Kamloops, parallel to the Canadian Pacific, on the opposite side of the Fraser river, to Vancouver. From Victoria, the Esquimalt and Nanaimo railways run as far N. as Comox, and there is also a Canadian National line on the island. The Pacific Great Eastern from N. Vancouver to Fort George, owned and to be operated by the Provincial Govern- ment, was under construction in 1921. Many portions of the prov- ince are tapped from the United States by "branches of the Great Northern railway. The total mileage of railways in 1917 was 3,885. The British Columbia Electric railway has radial lines extending from Vancouver to points in the Westminster district, and a subur- ban line from Victoria running through the Saanich district.
The Canadian Pacific railway operates a fleet of steamships which reach coastwise all points northward from Victoria and Vancouver to Prince Rupert and several ports in Alaska (including also ports on the coasts of Vancouver I. and the Queen Charlotte Is.) and S. to Seattle. There is also direct steamship connexion with San Fran- cisco. The Canadian National, with a terminus at Prince Rupert,
makes regular connexions by fine twin-screw steamers with Van- couver and Victoria. The coastwise trade, especially in the sum mer, is enormous. The Canadian Pacific has also a splendid fleet of steamships plying to and from Japan and China, on the outward trip touching at the Philippine Is., and traffic arrangements with lines of steamers to and from Australia and New Zealand. There are numerous lines of steamships on the Pacific which make Vic- toria and Vancouver ports of call. The opening of the Panama Canal has proved of great advantage to the province. Steamers also, ply on the navigable rivers and lakes in the interior of the country.
(W. L. G.*)
BRITISH EAST AFRICA. The East Africa Protectorate, or " British East Africa, " was in July 1920 annexed to the British Crown and renamed Kenya Colony (see KENYA).
BRITISH EMPIRE (see 4.606*). The white population of the British Empire in 1921 was (approximately) 60,693,000 (of
whom about three-fourths lived in Great Britain and Ireland).
Its brown or black population was (approximately) 360,670,000
(of whom British India, the Protected Indian Statas, Ceylon and
the other Eastern colonies and dependencies contributed ap-
proximately 323,375,000, West Africa 20,151,000, East Africa
6,315,000, South Africa 5,801,000, British Central Africa 2,600,-
700, and the West Indies 1,490,000). The population of Tan-
ganyika Territory (German East Africa) is estimated, in the
British sphere of influence, at 3,500,000. The native population
of German South-West Africa is small, owing mainly to the
system of repression in force under German rule; the white
inhabitants are between six and seven thousand. Forty-two-
per cent of the population of the German colonies in Africa were
assigned under the Peace of Versailles to Great Britain, against
33% assigned to France and 25% assigned to Belgium. The
total area of what was German New Guinea, along with the
Bismarck Archipelago and the other islands attached to it, is
about 90,000 sq. miles.
A remarkable development took place between 1910 and 1921, both in theory and in practice, in matters relating to the constitutional framework of the British Empire. It is true that at the Imperial Conference of 1911 a proposal, not thoroughly thought out, to set on foot an Imperial Council, of a somewhat nebulous character, received little support; and that, as long as Sir Wilfrid Laurier held the helm in Canada, closer cooperation among the members of the British Commonwealth of Nations was practically out of the question. But this same Conference witnessed a new departure which proved of singular good fortune for British interests. At a secret meeting of the Imperial Defence Committee Sir Edward Grey explained to the dominion prime ministers the hidden mysteries of European and world politics. Mr. Fisher was at the time the Labour Prime Minister of the Commonwealth of Australia, and the feelings of confidence and goodwill aroused by this spontaneous act on the part of the British Government bore abundant fruit when, after a brief interval, he returned to power in the autumn of 1914.
In other ways the proceedings of the 1911 Conference were of importance. Although the proposal of a permanent council or committee, to give continuity to the work of the Imperial Conferences, had come to nothing, mainly owing to the objections raised by Canada, still the establishment of a separate " Dominions Department " of the Colonial Office in London and the issue by it of annual reports were distinct steps in this direction. In any case, in going through the proceedings of the 1911 Conference, one notes a closer grip of existing facts than had been shown at previous conferences. Thus a satisfactory solution was arrived at of the problem of naturalization within the Empire, a solution which was afterwards embodied in imperial legislation. Each dominion must continue to retain the power of regulating its own system of naturalization; but five years' residence in any portion of the Empire qualifies an applicant for the grant of imperial nationality, the decision of the question resting with that portion of the self-governing Empire in which such applicant has resided during the twelve months immediately preceding his application. A discussion of the subject of emigration brought out the great increase which had taken place in the most recent years in the number of British emigrants to the dominions, compared with the number of such emigrants to the United States.
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