Page:The American Cyclopædia (1879) Volume XII.djvu/537

NOVA. SCOTIA 523 implements, and in the vicinity of Halifax to- bacco, paper, machinery, nails, gunpowder, car- riages, pianos, &c. Ship building is extensively carried on. (For industrial statistics, see AP- PENDIX to this volume.) The fisheries of Nova Scotia are of great value, and constitute one of the chief industries of the province. The num- ber of men employed during the year ending June 30, 1874, was 21,031 ; number of vessels, 529, with an aggregate tonnage of 20,163 ; num- ber of boats, 8,923; value of vessels and boats, $1,024,905 ; value of nets and weirs, $568,426; value of catch, $6,652,301 59. The chief varie- ties taken were cod, mackerel, lobsters, her- ring, salmon, and hake. The value of fish oil preserved (included in the above total) was $188,878 30. The province has an important foreign commerce. The value of goods entered for consumption during the year ending June 30, 1874, was $10,907,380; value of exports, $7,656,547, viz. : products of the mine, $1,050,- 186 ; of the fisheries, $3,791,152; of the forest, $1,356,752 ; animals and their produce, $334,- 449; agricultural products, $225,340; manu- factures, $418,808; miscellaneous articles, in- cluding goods not the produce of Canada, $479,860. The principal countries to which the exports are taken are the West Indies, United States, and Great Britain. The chief articles of import are cottons, silks, woollens, hardware, and other manufactured goods, mo- lasses, sugar, and spirits. The number of en- trances was 4,424, with an aggregate tonnage of 959,114, of which 1,850, of 406,988 tons, were in ballast; clearances, 3,752, aggregate tonnage 881,263, of which 729, of 205,678 tons, were in ballast; built during the year, 181 vessels, of 74,769 tons. The number of vessels belonging in the province at the close of 1873 was 2,803, with an aggregate tonnage of 449,701. There are 306 m. of railway, viz. : Intercolonial, from Halifax to St. John, N. B., 276 m., of which 138 m. are in Nova Scotia; branch of the Intercolonial, from Truro to Pictou, 52 m. ; and Windsor and Annapolis, from Windsor Junction on the Intercolonial to Annapolis, 116 m. About 100 m. more are in course of construction, viz. : Western Counties, from Annapolis to Yarmouth, and Springhill and Parrsborough. The Shubenacadie canal (30 m. long), in connection with a chain of lakes and the Shubenacadie river, forms an in- land water communication from the harbor of Halifax to Cobequid bay at the head of Mines basin. A canal less than half a mile long con- nects the Bras d'Or with the Atlantic coast of Cape Breton opposite Madame island. There are ten banks, with an aggregate capital of about $3,000,000, besides branches of banks of other provinces. The deposits in the govern- ment savings banks, exclusive of post-office savings banks, on May 31, 1874, amounted to $1,462,318 04. The executive government is administered by a lieutenant governor appoint- ed by the governor general of the Dominion in council, assisted by an executive council of nine members (treasurer, attorney general, provincial secretary, commissioner of public works and mines, commissioner of crown lands, and four without office), appointed by himself and responsible to the assembly. The legislative power is vested in a legislative coun- cil of 21 members appointed by the lieutenant governor for life, and a house of assembly of 38 members elected by the qualified voters of the counties for four years. Voting is by bal- lot, and a small property qualification is re- quired. The supreme court, having law and equity jurisdiction throughout the province, consists of a chief justice, a judge in equity, and five associates, appointed by the gover- nor general in council for life ; and there are a court of error, consisting of the lieutenant governor and council ; a court of divorce and matrimonial causes, held by a justice of the supreme court; a vice-admiralty court, held by the chief justice ; a probate court for each county; and a county court for each county. Nova Scotia is entitled to 12 sena- tors and 21 members of the house of com- mons in the Dominion parliament. The bal- ance in the provincial treasury on Jan. 1, 1873, was $38,916 41 ; receipts during the year, $672,551 97, including $481,106 30 subsidy from the Dominion government; total, $711,- 468 38. The expenditures amounted to $681,- 275 23 ; balance in treasury on Jan. 1 1874, $30,193 15. The following were the princi- pal items of expenditure : road service, $215,- 416 27 ; education, $180,000 ; local works, $64,000; legislative expenses, $44,102 45; lunatic asylum (construction), $34,000 ; sala- ries of officers of government, $21,497 90; poors' asylum, $18,676 88 ; steamboats, pack- ets, and ferries, $11,776; navigation securi- ties, $11,468 98; mines, $10,500; immigra- tion, $7,772 24; public printing, $4,818 25 ; provincial and city hospital, $4,000 ; transient poor, $2,587 50; blind asylum, $1,250. The provincial debt in 1875 amounted to $9,186,756. The Nova Scotia hospital for the insane, at Halifax, was opened in 1859. The number of patients under treatment in 1872 was 329 (166 males and 163 females) ; remaining at the close of the year, 259 (130 males and 129 females). The institution is supported partly by the coun- ties, partly by the province, and partly by pay patients. The institution for the deaf and dumb and the blind asylum are also at Hali- fax. The former in 1873 had 40 pupils (part- ly from other provinces), and the latter 15. They receive aid from the provincial gov- ernment, which also contributes to the sup- port of the poors' asylum and the city hospi- tal in Halifax. The number of convicts in the penitentiary at Halifax at the close of 1873 was 27. Nova Scotia has a system of free pub- lic schools, organized in 1864. The schools are under the general supervision of the pro- vincial superintendent of education with in- spectors for the several counties, and are im- mediately managed by boards of commission-