No. 10.-Foreign Trade of the Dominion of Canada. [The Dominion of Canada consists of the six Provinces of Ontario, Quebec, New Brunswick, Nova Scotia, British Columbia and Manitoba. The British North American Provinces, outside of the Dominion, are Newfoundland and Prince Edward Island. The population of the four principal Provinces of the Dominion was 3,090,561 in 1861, and 3,485,761 in 1871.] TABLE I-VALUE OF GOODS ENTERED FOR CONSUMPTION. 1870-71. Great Britain.. $49,168,170 1871-72. 1872-78. $68,522,776 United States. 29,022,387 34.217.969 47,735,678 France.. 1,265,183 1,809,244 2,023,288 Germany. Spain 430,364 429,951 477,886 Holland. 173,210 193,658 216,628 Belgium. 171,584 British North American Provinces.. I,937,432 1,968,587 1,808,997 British West Indies. 839,523 1,128,236 964,005 2,018,930 1,276,739 1,143,241 French 16 Other 66 10,745 6,931 24,274 South America.. 79,207 81,176 416,199 China and Japan. 442,40r 386,612 1,663,390 Other countries.. 1,028,193 $127,514,594 It appears, from the foregoing statement, that 54 per cent. of the aggregate importations into the Dominion during the last fiscal year were from Great Britain, and 37 per cent. from the United States of America; the import trade with both these countries amounting together to upwards of 91 per cent. of the whole importations. Of the goods, not the produce of Canada, exported in 1872-3, $7,257,277 went to Great Britain, and $1,517,871 to the United States. THE TRANSPORTATION QUESTION. rying 200 to 225 tons of cargo. The Welland Canal is navigable for vessels 142% ft. long and 26 ft. wide, drawing 9% ft. of water, and carrying 350 to 400 tons of cargo. The enlarged Wel land Canal, which will probably be completed within three years, will accommodate vessels carrying from 1200 to 1500 tons of cargo. Statistics of the Business of the Canals and Trunk Railroads. From the Western Lake ports to the entrance | of the Erie Canal at Buffalo, and to that of the Canadian Welland Canal at Fort Colborne, the distances are about equal. Of the 500 miles of water navigation between Buffalo and N. York, 345 are by the Erie Canal. Of the 375 miles of navigation between Port Colborne and Montreal, but 71 miles are canal navigation. The It thus appears that the great struggle with Erie Canal locks are 110 ft. long, 18 ft. wide, and the Welland Canal for the carriage of grain 7 ft. deep. The present locks on the Welland from the West to the seaboard, for shipment to Canal are 150 ft. long, 26% ft. wide, and 10% ft. Europe, is yet to come off. Meanwhile, the raildeep. The locks of the enlarged Welland Canal roads, by their complete organization of through will be 270 ft. long, 45 ft. wide and 12 ft. deep. freight fines for the carriage of flour and grain, The Erie Canal is navigable for boats 102 ft. long without transhipment from the West to every and 17% ft. wide, drawing 7 ft. of water, and car-village and town in the East which can be reached by the locomotive, have rapidly in creased their grain carrying business, while that of the canal, though stimulated by low tolls and an unusual demand for export to foreign countries, appears to have attained its maximum. Unless, indeed, some means be found of increasing the capacity or efficiency of the canals, grain will be crowded off by the coal, lumber and other bulky freight, for the transportation of which railroad competition is not so keen. TABLE I.-Tons of Freight of all kinds moved on New York Canals and the New York Central, Erie and Pennsylvania Railroads. N. Y. miscellaneous are classed iron ore, stone, lime Year. Toll and Year. 1862.... Canal. 1863. 5,557,692 1,449,604 1,815,096 2,256,347 1864. 4,852,941 1,557,148 2,170,798 2,559,884 1847.. 74 101⁄2 60 28,219 799,816 1848... 1865 4,729,654 6,673,370 4,393,965 5,564,274 1873.. 6,361,782 6,312,702 1,275,299 2,234,350 2,555,705 1849.. 1,184,337 36,918 1,266,724 1850... 38,444 1,554,675 5,427,400 1854.. 7,844,778 1855. 1856. 5,522,724 9,211,231 1857.. 100 1858.. 1859.. 143 1860.. 1861.. 157 1862... 167 1863... 177 1864. 1861 2,144,373 586,583 1862 2,491,036 721,149 1863 2,236,075 558,489 Central Erie Pennsyl. Railroad. Railroad. Railroad. 441,562 243,959 220,000 469,885 261,824 1866.. 170 1867. 156 1868... 148 225,045 1870.. 181 28,654 2,226,112 32,107 2,378,572 24,625 405,380 228,632 280,229 1871.. 29,725 2,648,877 338,646 1872... 2,670,405 349,103 212,677 344,827 1873... 213 II 353, 194 1864 1,572,836 *144,561 461,511 215,986 1865 1,696,091 350,608 Half year only. The years 1861-3 for the 28,035 462 24,960 2,585,355 TABLE III.-Tons of Lumber, Coal, Manufactures, Merchandise and Miscellaneous Articles, moved on the New York Canals. 1849. May I.. .December 5 1850. April 22... December 11 1851. April 15. ..December 5 1852.. .April 20. December 16 Year. Lumber. Coal. factures. chandise laneous. Manu- Mer- Miscel 1853. .April 20.. December 20 1854. .April 1.. December 3 1855. April 1.. December 10 1856. .April December 4 1863. 1,628,688 732,657 319,432 172,278 468,562 1857. .April 6. ..December 15 855,063 282,354 143,984 519,783 720,683 281,832 144,968 408,765 1866. 1,769,994 1,136,613 302,241 179,878 600,434 1867. 1,282,594 320,844 219,880 682,238 1,744,252 1868. 1,958,309 1,611,689 373,262 324,064 732,754 1869. 1,885,930 1,324,408 345,239 268,970 753,462 1870. 1,916,511 1,458,185 342,497 271,856 875,567 1864. 1871. 1.941,297 1,194,037 336,288 288,428 813,970 1872. 1,950,798 1,462,590 325,564 298,758 951,698 1873. 1,582,072 1,625,859 267,820 172,990 965,623 1867. NOTE.-The principal article embraced under the head of manufactures is the Syracuse salt, of which 244,222 tons were carried in 1872, and 212,730 tons in 1873. Under the head of merchandise is included railroad iron, of which 161,667 tons were carried in 1872, and 53,363 tons in 1873. Under 1874. 1858.. .April 28. November 30 1859. April 15.. December 12 1860.. April 25. December 13 1861.. May 1. December 10 1862. May I.. December 10 1863. 1865. May 10... I... 1866. May I.. 1868. .April 23.. December 12 December 12 December 8 1869. May 6... December to 1870. May 10... December 8 1871. .April 24. .November 29 1872. May 13... December 4 1873. May 15. .November 20 I.... December 5 III. We next present a table of average monthly prices of British wheat. We have reduced them to dollars and cents, counting the English shilling as equal to 24 cents in our coin. The English averages are obtained by computation from all the home grown wheat sold in 290 market towns down to 1864, and since then in 150 towns. They are therefore a trustworthy measure, not only of the value of wheat in England, but of the changes in its value in the principal countries by which the English market is supplied, since when the price of wheat rises or falls in England it rises and falls in New York and Odessa. Table III should be carefully compared with Tables I, II, IV and V. The relations of cause and effect which will be exhibited by such à comparison are very instructive and of the highest importance. Care, however, must be taken not to mistake the cause for the effect, or the effect for the cause. Some of the more important results of these relations of cause and effect are as follows: (1.) The wide range of the fluctuations, the price in seasons of short supply being sometimes double that in seasons cf great abundance. For example, in November, 1855, the average was $2 42 per bushel; in March, 1859, $1 21; in May, 1868, $2 21; and in February and March, 1870, $1 24. (2.) By a singular coincidence the highest and lowest yearly averages occur quite regularly once in six years. The years of highest prices are 1855-6, 1861-2, 1867-8, and 1873-4. The years of lowest prices are 1858-9, 1864-5, and 1869-70. (3.) Of the four years of highest prices, two (1862 and 1874) are years of very heavy exports from the United Sta es, and two (1855-6 and 1867-8) of only moderately heavy exports. In the two latter the year's average price rose to $2 22 and $2 05 per bushel respectively; while in the two formeritrose only to $1 74 and $1 84. (4.) The paramount influence of the English home-grown wheat over prices appears from a comparison of Tables IV and V with Table III. Take the first ten years, during which the sales of British wheat were returned from 290 markets. Of this series 1858-9 and 1863-4 are the years of lowest prices.; and the three years, 1857-8, '58-9 and '59-60, form a series of low-priced years. It will be noticed that the supply of home-grown English wheat is very great in cach of those years, and in strong contrast to that of the years 1860-1, 61-2 and '62-3 which intervene. (See Table IV.) But Table II shows that the imports in the same years are only of moderate amounts; while, on the other hand, in the years 1861, 2 and 3 they were very great, and greatest of all in 1861-2, the year of highest price and smallest home supply. This shows: (a), that a full harvest in England depresses TABLE III.—Average Gazette Prices of British prices and discourages imports, creating a com. (6.) It is a well-known fact that a small quantity of wheat in excess of the average supply depresses prices in a much greater proportion than the ratio of the excess to the average crop. The reverse is the case when there is a deficiency. This fact is amply illustrated by our tables. (7.) The effect of the expansion or contraction of the currency on the price of wheat in the United States is exactly measured by its effect on the price of gold. The present low price of wheat is not in the least the result of any operation on the currency. The gold premium was as low four years ago, in November and December, 1870, as it is now, as may be seen by consulting the table of the monthly prices of gold on another page of this ALMANAC. On the other hand, it would not be possible to increase the price of wheat by expanding the currency a d putting up the price of gold without putting up the prices of other articles in the same proportion, with the superadded disadvantage of fluctua tions, which no farmer could foresee, and which would be more frequent and violent as the cur rency became less valuable. Wheat per Imperial Bushel in each Month from September, 1854, to September, 1874. MONTH. $c. $c. $ 25 1 32 I 1869-70. $ c.. 88 1 64 52 I 75 1873-4. 92 18 c. September. 1 70 2 272 041 71 1 33 1 28 1 811 65 1 671 33 October.... 1 742 311 96 1 66 1 28 1 28 1 80 1 70 1 48 1 221 161 26 571 99 1 611 42 1 411 691 761 83 November.. 2 15 2 42 1 92 1 54 1 25 1 30 1 751 1 46 1 20 1 16 1 37 1 70 2 081 551 39 1 50 1 68 1 70 1 82 December.. 2 14 2 401 811 46 1 22 1 32 1 59 1 83 1 39 1 221 141 40 1 81 2 021 511 311 57 1 68 1 70 1 85 January.... 2 17 2 30 1 761 44 1 23 1 32 I 70 1 841 42 1 221 16 1 37 1 84 2 11 1 55 1 31 1 58 1 661 671 88 February..2 112 17 68 1 36 1 22 1 31 1 53 1 801 41 1 221 151 37 1 82 2 19 1 511 241 601 671 691 89 136 1 211 36 1 631 771 36 1 20 1 15 1 36 1 792 19 1 44 1 24 1 621 65 1 661 83 611 31 1 241 48 1 691 741 37 1 191 18 1 34 1 852 20 1 39 1 28 1 73 1 631 651 80 2 22 2 04 701 34 1 541 57 1 65 1 721 39 1 181 23 1 391 94 2 21 1 341 841 771 691 68 1 86 March.. May June July.. 2 03 2 07 I 2 31 2 091 80 1 32 1 521 67 1 601 631 40 I 19 1 24 1 45 1 962 04 1 38 1 42 1 791 771 76 1 83 2 29 2 281 90 1 34 1 36 1 71 1 521 711 39 1 27 1 28 1 62 1 951 96 1 501 521 76 1 751 781 82 2 29 2 181 781 33 I 32 78 1 531 731 38 1 301 301 51 2 031 73 1 58 1 62 1 741 791 821 73 The Year..2 10 2 221 801 43 1 311 45 1 661 741 43 1 231 20 1 40 1 812 05 1 501 381 621 701 721 84 IV. It will be found very instructive to compare the preceding tables with those on page 14, showing the carrying trade of the New York canals. The effect of lowering the toils on the agricultural productions carried has been greatly overrated. The increased movement of wheat over the Erie canal in the years 1871, 1872, and 1873 was more the effect of the increased wants of Great Britain, and the consequent advance of 30 or 40 cents a bushel over the average price of the years 1863-6 and 1868-70, than of the reduction of three cents a bushel in the canal tolis from Buffalo to Troy. The high prices of 1867 and 1868 did not bring a great increase of business for the canal, for the excellent reason that the Western farmers did not have the wheat to send. If the wheat had been in existence, $2 30 to $2 80 for a bushel of No. 2 Milwaukee at New York would have brought it forward. V. The exports of wheat and wheat flour from the United Kingdom are of insignificant amou t, compared with the imports. The following TABLE V.-Quantities of British Wheat sold in 290 Market Towns of England in each Month and Harvest Year from September, 1854, to Septen ber, 1864. September. 1854-5. 1855-6. 1856-7. 1857-8. 1858-9. 1859-60. 1860-1. 1861-2. 1862-3. 1863-4. MONTHS. (290 (290 (290 (290 (290 (290 (290 (290 (290 (200 Towns) Towns) Towns) Towns) Towns) Towns) Towns) Towns) Towns) Towns) Qrs. Qrs. Qrs. Qrs. Qrs. Qrs. Qrs. Qrs. Qrs. Qrs. 385,545 519,395 400,910 486,884 489,729 425,209 314,519 513,625 297,760 422,109 598,793 594,943 530,695 577,824 571,744 632.216 311,656 551,794 353,101 532,926 510, 352 506,516 528,603 353,143 426,126 518,109 314,207 540,248 432,348 448,635 565,026 550,055 408,424 382,354 437,808 632,728 333,148 374,670 326,143 492,601 332,483 390,703 494,790 492,412 530,321 435,498 308,673 276,532 391,824 514,727 365,589 347,042 410,050 376,020 436.910 458,990 262,187 319,822 315,836 398,771 445,925 460,223 426,785 426,422 379,046 590,348 333,793 367,782 277,993 373,694 385.962 399,196 362,343 330,735 546,502 402,220 261,405 228,211 320,386 464,945 407,069 560,576 572,902 531,520 391,368 418,331 289,207 317,515 433,309 439,252 404,597 466,120 546,166 316,812 493,834 296,698 217,945 319,434 378,556 323,517 314,410 418,117 335,876 250,844 218,036 218,127 331,129 292,250 396,335 357,19 353,105 299,662 339,329 232,799 321, 288 December.. January. February. March. April... May June... July. August... The Year... 217,130 370,154 373,309 433,804 305.773 5,145,681 5,349,013 5,312,367 5,278,746 5,215,347 5,557,989 3,582,858 4,159,070 4,006,552 5,131,448 $1 31 $145 $1 66 1 $174 $143 $ 23 Av. Price ... $2 10 $2 22 $1 80 $1 43 VI. following tables is in no case one-half of the annual growth of the United Kingdom. For the period from 1854 to 1864, when the quantities sold were returned from 290 towns, we may reckon them at one-third the entire produce of the United Kingdom, and from 1864 to 1874, when they are returned from 150 towns, at from onefourth to one-fifth the total harvest. The quantity of wheat grown in the United Kingdom is estimated at 14 million quarters, or 112 million bushels, in average years. The average quantity imported may be reckoned at 8 million quarters, or 64 million bushels in the shape of grain, and 1 million quarters, or 12 million bushels, in the shape of flour. It is, therefore, apparent that the wheat included in the TABLE VI.—Quantities of British Wheat so'd in 150 Market Towns of England in each Month and Harvest Year from September, 1864, to September, 1874. 1864-5. 1865-6. 1866-7. 1867-8. 1868-9. 1869-70. 1870-1. 1971-2. 1872-3. 1873-4. Qrs. Qrs. Qrs. Qrs. Qrs. Qrs. Qrs. Qrs. Qrs. Qrs. 3,440,510 3,181,883 2,831,174 2,616,894 3,092,856 2,914,733 3,370,394 2,936,057 2,421,906 2,300,833 |