Marine and Fisheries.-The report of the marine section of this department up to Jan. 1, 1897, shows that the amount voted by Parliament for marine was $835,640, and the expenditure for the fiscal year was $43,326 less than the amount voted. The number of persons employed by the marine branch of the department in the outside service was 1,736. The number of lights in the Dominion is 766, against 625 ten years ago. The expenditure for maintenance and repairs of the Dominion steamers was $150,599. The total number of wrecks and casualties during the year of British and Canadian seagoing vessels reported to the department was 273, with a loss of $1,266,761. The number of lives reported lost was 43. The registered merchant shipping on Dec. 31, 1896, was 7,279 vessels, measuring 789,299 tons, being an increase of 17 vessels and a decrease of 36,537 tons compared with 1895. Assuming the average value to be $30 a ton, the value of the registered tonnage of Canada would be $23,678,000. During the year 227 new vessels were built and registered, of a value of $726,000, estimating the tonnage at $45 a ton.

The fisheries report was submitted on May 27, and was not satisfactory in many respects. While the salt-water inshore area of Canada, not including minor indentations, covers more than 1,500 square miles, the fresh-water area of that part of the Great Lakes belonging to the Dominion is computed at 72,700 square miles, not including the numerous lakes of Manitoba and the Territories, all stocked with excellent fish. For 1896 the value of the Canadian fisheries was computed at $20,199,338, being a decrease of over $500,000 compared with the previous year.

With the exception of British Columbia, which shows a surplus of nearly $500,000, and New Brunswick, which shows a slight increase, all the provinces have yielded less than last year. The figures above do not include the large quantity of fish consumed by the Indian population of British Columbia and the Northwest Territories, estimated at over $2,000,000.

For the first time in the history of Canadian fisheries salmon, an anadromous fish, has supplanted in the graduated table his deep-sea cousin, the cod. While the value of the latter has declined by over $500,000, the value of the former has increased by about the same amount, thus reversing the difference of $1,000,000 which existed in 1894 between the two species. Other most important fluctuations are the large increase in herring and sardines, and the falling off in mackerel and lobsters.

CANNING INDUSTRY. About $72,000,000 worth of canned goods are put up annually by the canneries of the United States, about one third of this value being in meats, and the remainder in fruits and vegetables. The annual output in cans of all sizes is about 700,000,000, and in car loads about 60,000. There are about 2,000 canned-goodspacking firms in the country, and a little more than 2.000 canneries. Maryland is the center of the industry, about 500 canneries being within that State. Maine, New York, and California, in the order named, are the States next most productive of canned goods, but there is hardly a State in the Union that has not some share in the industry. Ohio, Illinois, Virginia, and Indiana are largely represented. During the busy season employment is given to about 1,000,000 persons, directly and indirectly. The number regularly employed is fewer than 70,000.

The history of the industry begins about 1850, when the introduction of machinery began to supplant the hand labor that had been employed in a small way. Shortly after the civil war the Ferracute Machine Company, of Bridgeton, N. J., and

other concerns began the manufacture of presses, dies, and fruit-can tools, and since then a long line of labor-saving machinery has been developed. The organization of members of the trade for their own protection began in 1883, with the formation of the Canned Goods Exchange, in Baltimore. In 1885 the Western Canned Goods Packers' Association was formed in Chicago. As a result of this came the National Association of Canned-Goods Packers, organized in Indianapolis in 1889; the Peninsula Packers' Association was formed at Dover, Del., in 1894; and the Atlantic States Canned Goods Packers' Association at Baltimore in the same year. The list of edibles canned includes nearly every perishable food product, being headed by tomatoes, which is the staple in Maryland and the Middle States. Beef is canned mostly north and west of Ohio river. Sardines and lobsters are the principal features of the pack in Maine, while salmon is put up mostly in California, and oysters in New Jersey, Delaware, and New York. About 3,000 fishing vessels and 25,000 fishermen find employment in supplying the canneries, while 2,000 oyster boats and 20,000 men are engaged in raising oysters for the same purpose. Peas are packed largely in Maryland, New York, Ohio, Indiana, and Delaware. Massachusetts is the State where the most beans are packed, New York being a close second. Corn, milk, apples, pears, pineapples, small fruits generally, pumpkins, squashes, etc., are put up in large quantities wherever they are plentifully grown.

About $30,000,000 of capital is invested in the canning industry in the United States, and about $12,000,000 is paid out annually in wages. The raw material costs about $40,000,000. Almost all the goods packed are for domestic consumption, though the export trade is increasing, the cannedfruit export for 1896 being $1,346,281, against $871,465 the previous year. The canned-meat export is known to be larger than that of the fruit, but the exact figures are not obtainable, owing to the method of classification of the exports. Great Britain takes the greater part of the export. Canneries engaged in packing fruit and vegetables are obliged to do most of their work during a few months of the summer, being comparatively idle the remainder of the year. They generally engage all the floating cheap labor in the vicinity during their busy months, paying from $2.50 to $1 a day in wages, a great deal of the work being done by women and children, who are paid by the piece.

A large portion of the tin plate produced in the country is used in making cans, and many of the tin-plate concerns are also manufacturers of cans. The cans are mostly round, though square and oblong cans are common. All the work is done with automatic machinery, the tin being stamped out with presses and dies, and put together with seamers and headers. For many years it was necessary to use hand labor for sealing or closing up the cans after filling, but a practical mechanical capper was introduced about 1883, and there are now several capping machines in the market. An efficient capper will solder 40,000 cans in a day.

The machinery of a canning factory devoted to fruit and vegetables includes usually a steam boiler for heating a water bath, this being connected by pipes with various tanks and kettles used in scalding and blanching. Scalding assists the skinning operation, and tomatoes or the like, held in wire baskets, are dipped in the kettles just before skinning. Cookers are made in a great variety of forms, according to the nature of the goods and the capacity required. They usually have a siruper as an attachment, for supplying a definite amount of sirup to each can, and frequently an automatic can-filling attachment constitutes a part of the

mechanism. A double-filler cooker, with siruper, should have a capacity of about 5,000 cans an hour. Process kettles or tanks are used in "processing or cooling the fruit. Exhaust tanks and kettles are employed to exhaust cold air from the cans just before the final closure. Crates, formed of strap iron and arranged to be hung from cranes, are used for handling the cans in the operations of processing, exhausting, etc. For special work there are such machines as green-corn cutters, which will handle 4,000 ears an hour; corn mixers; corn-silking machines, for removing silk and refuse from the corn after its separation from the cob; peahulling machines, some of which will hull 100 bushels in an hour; rotary pea separators, grading the peas into half a dozen sizes, at the rate of 60 bushels an hour; pea sieves, for grading peas in small quantities; ; pea blanchers; pumpkin fillers; pumpkin grates; pumpkin peelers; besides various wipers, parers, corers, graters, seeders, etc.

CAPE COLONY AND SOUTH AFRICA. The Cape of Good Hope was settled by the Dutch in the seventeenth century. In 1806 the colony was annexed by Great Britain. It then extended eastward as far as the Great Fish river. Many of the descendants of the original Dutch and Huguenot settlers, dissatisfied with British rule, founded a new colony in Natal, on the east coast, in 1835. Other discontented Boers migrated northward across the Orange river in 1836 and succeeding years and established the settlements that were declared independent and organized into the Orange Free State in 1854. The Natal settlements were annexed by Great Britain, and the Boer colonists abandoned their farms and traveled far into the interior, where they established, in 1849, on the farther side of the Vaal river, a new commonwealth called the Transvaal Republic, whose independence was recognized by Great Britain in 1852. Natal was separated from Cape Colony and erected into a colony in 1856. British Kaffraria was incorporated in Cape Colony in 1865, and Tembuland, East Griqualand, the Transkei territories, and the harbor of Walfisch Bay, on the southwest coast, were annexed subsequently. Griqualand West was originally a part of the Orange Free State, but after the discovery of the diamond mines it was annexed by Great Britain, and now forms an integral part of Cape Colony. Basutoland was annexed to Cape Colony in 1871, but was detached in consequence of difficulties with the natives, and was placed under direct British imperial administration in 1884. In 1884 Germany declared a protectorate on the southwest coast of Africa over Damaraland from Cape Frio, the southernmost point of Portuguese West Africa, to Walfisch Bay and over Namaqualand from Walfisch Bay to the Orange river. British Bechuanaland was annexed by Great Britain in 1884 after the suppression of the Government established in Stellaland at Vryburg by Transvaal Boers, and in 1885 a British protectorate was proclaimed over independent Bechuanaland, the country still ruled by Chief Khana. Zululand was divided after the Zulu war, a section next to the Natal border being set apart as a reserve for loyal Zulus who aided the British in the war. The rest was restored to Cetewayo in 1883. In 1887 about two thirds of this territory, together with the Zulu reserve, were formally declared British territory and were placed under the administration of the Governor of Natal. The Transvaal Republic was annexed by Great Britain in 1877, and a British administrator was appointed, but in 1880 the Boers took up arms after expelling the British officials, and after successfully resisting the British troops that were sent to conquer them obtained by the treaty of 1881 the restoration of self-government in

internal affairs, the control of external affairs being reserved to the British Government under the title of suzerain. A subsequent convention, signed at London in 1884, recognized the new style of South African Republic adopted by the Transvaal and abandoned the assertion of suzerainty, but reserved to Great Britain the right to review and reject any treaty made by the Government of the republic with foreign powers or with independent native chiefs to the north or east of the Transvaal. The new republic, founded by Boers in Zululand, was subsequently incorporated as the district of Vrijheid in the South African Republic with the assent of Great Britain. By the convention of 1890 a part of Swaziland also was added to the republic. All the territories north of the Transvaal, including Matabeleland, ruled by King Lobengula, with the neighboring countries of the Mashonas, Makalakas, and other tribes paying tribute to him, and comprising all the region north of 22° of south latitude, east of 20° of east longitude, and west of the Portuguese province of Sofala, were declared to be within the British sphere of influence. In 1889 a royal charter was granted to the British South Africa Company, which was authorized to organize an administration for these territories. The company was empowered to take under its administration, subject to the approval of the Imperial Government, the regions north of the Bechuanaland protectorate, and west of it to the German boundary. Portugal claimed the banks of the Zambesi and a continuous zone of territory across the continent from its colony of Mozambique, on the east coast, to Angola, on the west coast, but, yielding under threat of war to superior force, agreed in 1891 to recognize as a British protectorate the countries south of the Zambesi, including the Manica plateau, and also the Barotse kingdom and all the regions north of the Zambesi up to the border of the Congo State, including the Lake Nyassa region, where British missionaries were active. In 1891 the British Government extended the field of operations of the British South Africa Company so as to include all the territories north of the Zambesi, known as Northern Zambesia or British Central Africa, with the exception of the Nyassaland districts, which had been declared in 1889 to be within the British sphere, and were now proclaimed a British protectorate. Pondoland was annexed to the Cape in 1894, and in 1895 the Crown colony of Bechuanaland was incorporated in Cape Colony.

Cape of Good Hope.-Cape Colony has possessed responsible government since 1872. The legislative power is vested in a Legislative Council, elected for seven years and containing 23 members, and a Legislative Assembly of 79 members, elected for five years. The colony is divided into 7 districts, each electing 3 members to the Council, while Griqualand West and British Bechuanaland are each represented by 1 member. Members of the Assembly are elected by single country districts and towns. The members of both houses are elected by voters able to register their names, occupations, and addresses and qualified by the occupation of house property worth £75 or the receipt of a salary of £50. The law of 1892 provided that elections should be held by ballot after July 1, 1894. The number of registered electors in 1895 was 91,875.

The Governor is Lord Rosmead, formerly Sir Hercules Robinson, who was Governor before from 1881 till 1889, and was reappointed in 1895. The ministry in the beginning of 1897 was composed as follows: Prime Minister and Treasurer, Sir J. Gordon Sprigg: Colonial Secretary, Dr. T. N. G. Te Water; Attorney-General, Sir Thomas Upington; Commissioner of Public Works, Sir James Sivewright; Secretary for Agriculture, P. H. Faure.

Area and Population.-The area of Cape Colony, with Griqualand West and British Bechuanaland, is 248,187 square miles, and the population in 1891 was 1,112,596, of whom 371,819 were whites. The area of the dependencies of the colony is about 16,000 square miles, and the population 690,000, of whom 10,379 are whites. The population of Cape Town, the capital, was 83,718 in 1891, including suburbs. There were 7,356 marriages in 1895. The net immigration in 1892 was 4,788; in 1893, 7,695; in 1894, 7,845; in 1895, 15,410. The Government granted £181,371 in aid of education in 1895. Of 99.280 European children returned in the census, 22,080 were taught in Government-aided schools, 17,697 in private schools, and 20,223 at home or in Sunday schools only; of 316,152 native children, 34,133 were taught in Government-aided schools, 4,561 in private schools, and 5,021 at home or in Sunday schools. There were 2,200 aided schools and colleges in 1895, with 106,683 pupils enrolled, and 78,621 in average attendance. Only 28 per cent. of the European population could read

and write in 1891.

Finances. The revenue of the colony for the year ending June 30, 1895, was £5,416,612, of which £1,902,860 came from taxation, £3,069,567 from services, £337.272 from the colonial estate, £80,472 from fines, stores, etc., and £26,441 from loans. The total expenditure was £5,388,157, of which £1,244.749 went to pay interest and sinking fund of the debt, £1,552,445 for railroads, £158,584 for defense, £317,913 for police and jails, £140,448 for the civil establishment, and £236,423 under loan acts. The budget of expenditures for 1897 is £5,827,662.

The debt of the colony on Jan. 1, 1896, amounted to £27,533,978. The debts of the divisional councils amounted to £43,949, and those of municipalities to £1,411,143. The municipal revenues were £457,629 in 1895, and the expenditures £596,048. Commerce and Production.-The product of wheat in the year ending May 31, 1896, was 2,187,648 bushels; of oats, 1,654,503 bushels; of barley, 668.490 bushels; of mealies, 1,728,231 bushels; of Kaffir corn, 1,009,503 bushels; of rye, 607,536 bushels; of tobacco, 4,579,759 pounds; of wine, 5,687,232 gallons; of brandy, 1,264,512 gallons; of raisins, 1,636,566 pounds; of wool, 45,521,508 pounds; of mohair, 7,210,915 pounds; of ostrich feathers, 294.479 pounds.; of butter, 3,204,440 pounds. There were 387,590 horses, 94,570 mules and asses, 2,303,582 cattle, 14,409,434 sheep, 4,939,258 goats, and 224,953 ostriches in the colony in 1896.

The total value of the imports in 1895 was £19,094.880. The merchandise imports amounted to £13,285,005. The total exports were £16,904,756 in value; the exports of colonial produce, £16,798,137. The imports of textiles and apparel were £4,080,865; of food and drink, £2.449,788. The exports of gold were £7,975,637, not including specie; of diamonds, £4,775,016; of wool, £1,695,920; of Angora hair, £710,867; of ostrich feathers, £527,742; of hides and skins, £475,398; of copper ore, £246,597; of wine, £20,289; of grain and meal, £6,565. Of the total imports, £10,427.201 came from Great Britain, £736,584 from British possessions, and £2.448.620 from foreign countries; of the exports, £16,316,001 went to Great Britain, £68,011 to British possessions, and £414,125 to foreign countries. Navigation.-During 1895 there were 851 vessels, of 1,974,576 tons, entered in the ocean trade, of which 641, of 1,777,417 tons, were British; and there were cleared 810, of 1,905,500 tons, of which 617, of 1,725,027 tons, were British. In the coasting trade 1,167, of 3,141,932 tons were entered, and 1,170, of 3.153,895 tons, cleared.

The merchant marine of the colony in 1896 con

sisted of 8 sailing vessels, of 598 tons, and 22 steamers, of 2,322 tons.

Communications.-The Government owns all the railroads except 205 miles. The Government railroads have been built since 1873, when there were only 63 miles. In 1883 they had a length of 1,089 miles, and on Jan. 1, 1896, the total length was 2,253 miles. The system extends into the South African Republic through the Orange Free State and from Kimberley northward to Mafeking, where the line is being continued for the British South Africa Company. The section from Vryburg to Mafeking, 96 miles, was also built for this company, and is operated for it by the Cape Government. The capital expended in the Government railroads to Jan. 1, 1896, was £20,487,072. The gross receipts for 1895 were £3,390,093, and the expenses $1,596,013. There were transported during the year 6,703,098 passengers and 1,158,614 tons of freight.

The number of letters passing through the post office in 1895 was 16,609,576; of newspapers, 7,562,400; of postal cards, 518,560; of books and samples, 1,533,720; of parcels, 360,020; receipts, £331,637; expenditures of postal and telegraph service, £341,703. The receipts from telegrams were £97,453, not including Government messages worth £90,705 to dispatch at regular rates; expenses, £90,603. The telegraph lines have a length of 6,316 miles. The Government acquired from the telegraph company 781 miles in 1873, and has built the rest of the system. The number of dispatches in 1895 was 1,798,061.

Politics and Legislation.-Cape Colony has enjoyed great prosperity through the development of gold mining in the Transvaal and the influx of capital into South Africa and of a new population to consume its products. The depression of the gold-mining industry reacted on the commercial and agricultural interests of the Cape, and in 1897 the expansion received a sudden check. The imports at the South African ports in 1896 amounted to £36,000,000, and the exports to only £19,000,000. As capital ceased to flow in the balance could only be settled by shipments of specie, which began in the spring and continued at the rate of $4,000,000 a year. The rinderpest, in spite of quarantine regulations, at last invaded the colony. The railroads still paid 8 per cent. in 1896, and the Government felt justified in extending the system. By an agreement with Mr. Rhodes, the Cape Government obtained the exclusive right to work all railroads in Rhodesia, with the exception of the Beira road, for three years, with the option of four years more. A railroad convention was concluded whereby the Orange Free State took over the lines built within its borders of the Cape Government.

In the Parliament, which began its session on April 2, bills were introduced to amend the mining laws, to encourage the development of the resources of the country, to promote public health, to amend the lunacy law, and to give greater responsibility to communities for the support of education and grant more liberal aid toward the maintenance of certain public schools. The customs union act was ratified. The scab act was extended to the Transkei, and opposition to the measure was diminishing throughout the colony.

On April 15 Mr. Du Toit, President of the Afrikander Bond, moved a resolution deprecating war between European peoples, expressing the convietion that peace can best be attained by the faithful and reciprocal observance of all obligations under treaties and conventions, and suggesting that means should be devised to obtain a settlement of any differences arising as to the interpretation of those obligations, so that by the adoption of a policy of