NUMBER AND TONNAGE OF WRECKED CANADIAN VESSELS-Concluded. According to the returns published by the Department of Marine, there were entered in the Shipping Registry of the Dominion, from 1st January, 1884, to 31st December, 1895, 3,414 vessels with a tonnage of 429,038 tons. According to the special return, name by name, of the vessels on the registry, there were 7,374 vessels with 1,267,394 tons, on 31st December, 1883. This gives a total of 10,788 vessels of 1,696,432 tons. Deducting from this total the vessels sold as per trade returns (455 vessels of 229,033 tons), and the vessels wrecked (1,518 vessels of 456,788 tons), and there remain 8,815 vessels of 1,010,611 tons. The number given on the registry of 1895 is 7,262 vessels of 825,837 tons, showing a difference of 1,553 vessels and 184,774 tons. If the returns of the Customs Department be correct then these 1,553 vessels have been transferred from Canadian registry to British registry, ownership continuing to be vested in Canadians. 1121. There are four graving docks in Canada, three belonging to the Federal Government and one owned by a company. The following statement shows the dimensions of these graving docks : * At ordinary spring tide. + Height of water in Lake Ontario varies 3 feet. The Esquimalt dock in British Columbia is the first built on the Pacific Coast. It was finished in June, 1886. The Lévis dock was finished in 1887, and was the first in the St. Lawrence River. The graving dock at Kingston was finished in November, 1891, and serves the shipping in Lake Ontario and the River St. Lawrence. These three belong to the Government of Canada. The Halifax graving dock was opened September 20th, 1889, and is the largest on this continent. It can be adapted to vessels 601 feet long. The "Teutonic" is 582 feet, and the "Campania" and "Lucania" are each 620 feet in length. For 20 years from the completion the company owning it have subsidies from the Imperial and the Canadian Governments and from the city of Halifax, amounting in all to about $30,000 (£6,180). The three Government docks cost for construction as under : Esquimalt : $ 1,171,634* 910,000 The number of vessels which used the docks from their opening to June, 1893, was Esquimalt, 102; Kingston, 74; Lévis, 33. During the year ended 30th June, 1895, 11 vessels used the Esquimalt dock, 24 the Kingston dock, and 8 the Lévis dock. During 1895 the expenditure on repairs for the Esquimalt dock amounted to nil and the receipts to $6,320; for the Kingston dock, the expenditure was nil and receipts $2,878; for the Lévis dock, expenditure nil, receipts $13,995. The expenditure for staff and maintenance was: for Lévis dock, $8,322; for Kingston dock, $5,940, and for the Esquimalt dock, $420. 1122. In the United States the largest docks have 26 feet of water on the sill. In England the naval dock-yards at Chatham contain 7 docks with from 31 to 33 feet of water on the sills. At Portsmouth there are nine dry-docks having from 331 to 41 feet of water; at Devonport there are 3 docks with 27 to 35 feet of water; at Queenstown the e are two docks with 32 feet. The two private docks at Tilbury have respectively 30 and 35 feet of water. Russia has three large docks at Cronstadt capable of holding the largest vessels. France has on the north coast, at Havre, two dry-docks, each with 28 feet of water on the sills; at Cherbourg there are three docks with 30 feet and one with 37 feet of water. On the south coast, at Toulon, thre are two docks with 30 feet of water each, and two with 323 feet of water each. Spain has a Government dock at Ferrol with 32 feet of water on the sill. Italy has two docks at Genoa with 28 and 31 feet respectively, and 2 at Spezzia with 33 each and two with 30 feet; one at Taranto with 323 feet, and one at Venice with 28 feet of water. Austria has two docks at Pola with 273 feet and 32 feet. Turkey has a dock at Constantinople with 30 feet, and England has in Malta two docks with 33 and 35 feet of water. * Including $243,333 (£50,000 stg.) contributed by the Imperial Government. CHAPTER XVI. Postal System before Confederation.-Dominion System.-The Postal Union and Conferences.-Post Offices in the Dominion.--Postal Revenue and Expenditure.— Growth of Postal Operations.—Government Telegraph Lines.—Telegraph Mileage.— Submarine Cables.-Telephones. 1123. By an Act of the Imperial Parliament, 12-13 Vic. (1851), Chap. 66, the management of the postal systems in the colonies of British North America was transferred to the various provincial authorities, and up to the time of Confederation each province controlled its own system, under its own laws and regulations. 1124. After Confederation these various laws were allowed to remain in force until the 1st April, 1868, when the Post Office Act, 31 Vic. (1868), Chap. 10, came into effect, establishing uniform rates and regulations for the Dominion. 1125. These latter, which since that date have been changed from time to time, are now as follow: General letter rate, 3 cents per ounce or under; letters for local delivery, where there is a free delivery, 2 cents per ounce or under; letters for local delivery, where not delivered free, 1 cent per ounce or under. Registration fee, 5 cents. Letter cards, 3 cents. Post cards, 1 cent. Newspapers, books, &c., generally, 1 cent per 4 ounces. Parcels, 6 cents per 4 ounces. Fifth class matter (parcels open to inspection), 1 cent per ounce. 1126. In 1875 an agreement was made with the United States by which a common rate of postage between the two countries was adopted, each country retaining all money collected, and no accounts being kept between the two post offices in regard to international correspondence. An agreement which came into effect on 1st March, 1888, and specially provided for the establishment of an exchange of general articles of merchandise, open to inspection, between the two countries, subject to certain regulations, for the protection of customs, with respect to articles liable to duty, superseded the agreement of 1875, but all the principal provisions were retained. The internal postage rates of each country generally govern, and official correspondence entitled to pass free in one country is delivered free in the other. 1127. The Universal Postal Union was formed at a conference held at Berne in 1874, and the first treaty was signed on 9th October in that year, the countries represented being the several countries of Europe, the United States and Egypt. This treaty came into force on 1st July, 1875. The object of the Union was to form all the countries of the world into one single postal territory, and to establish, as far as possible, uniform reduced rates of postage, and also to further the interchange of correspondence by arranging that every country should be bound to convey the mails of other countries by its land or sea services at the lowest possible rates. The The next postal congress was held in Paris in May, 1878, when the Dominion of Canada was admitted a member from the following 1st July, and letters, newspapers and other printed matter, samples and patterns, became subject to uniform postage rates and regulations for all places in Europe, and for all other countries that were members of the Union. existing postal arrangements with the United States were allowed to remain undisturbed, being of a more liberal and advantageous character than the ordinary regulations of the treaty. At this meeting the regulations of the Treaty of 1874 were revised and embodied in a convention which came into force on 1st April, 1879. The third congress was held in Lisbon, in February, 1885, and Canada was represented by the delegates of the British post office. No material change was made in the convention of 1879. The fourth congress was held in Vienna in May, 1891, and Canada was represented by the High Commissioner at London, Hon. Sir Charles Tupper, Bart., G.C.M.G. At this meeting the admission of the Australasian colonies was agreed upon, and those countries joined the Union on 1st October, 1891. A number of measures, all tending towards facilitating the transmission of correspondence, was agreed upon. The next meeting will be held at Washington, D.C., United States, in 1897. The Union now includes almost every civilized country in the world, being composed of the following: The whole of Europe; the whole of America; in Asia-Russia in Asia, Turkey in Asia, Persia, British India (Hindustan), Burmah, Ceylon and the postal establishments at Aden, Mascat and Guadar, Japan, Siam, the British, French, Dutch, Spanish and Portuguese colonies and the British, French, German and Japanese postal establishments in China and Corea. In Africa--Egypt, Algeria, Tripoli, Tunis, Liberia, Congo Free State, the Azores, Madeira, the postal establishments of India and France at Zanzibar, the French, Italian, Portugese and Spanish colonies, the British colonies, the Orange Free State, the Transvaal or South African Republic, all the territories under the protectorate of Germany and the French postal establishment at Tamatave (Madagascar). In Australasia and Oceanica— the British colonies on the continent, Tasmania, New Zealand, Fiji, British and German New Guinea, Hawaii, the Marshall Islands and the French, Dutch and Spanish colonies. A central office, under the name of the "Bureau International de l'Union Postale," has been established at Berne, at the cost of the various countries composing the Union. At the time that the Treaty of Berne came into force, 1st July, 1875, the jurisdiction of the Union extended over an area of about 14,293,750 square miles, with upwards of 350 millions of inhabitants, whereas it now extends over an area of 39,372,000 square miles and 1,035,000,000 inhabitants. The number of pieces of postal matter distributed over the whole area of the Union during 1893 was computed at 8,201 millions of letters; 1,898 millions of postal cards; 5,899 millions of papers, printed matter and official documents; 143 millions of samples; 44 millions of registered letters, with a declared value of $8,028,400,000; 307 millions of money orders and postal credits, with a value of $3,061,752,000, making a total of 17,778 millions of pieces of mail matter. The prevailing rates among Postal Union countries are 5 cents per ounce and under for letters, 2 cents for postal cards, and 1 cent per 2 ounces for newspapers, books, &c. The registration fee is 5 cents.* 1128. The development of the country has required, and will require, for some years continued development of postal facilities. From Cape Breton Island across the widest part of the continent to Vancouver Island is a long distance, and from York Factory, on Hudson Bay, to Pelee Island, in Lake Erie, is 10 degrees of north latitude. Yet over distances so enormous, for the most part sparsely peopled, the postal department has to transport letters for three cents an ounce. If transportation were as easy, or letters as frequent, over great stretches of prairie or mountain as they are in the western peninsula of Ontario, the postal revenues would no doubt closely approximate to the expenditures. The postal administrators in the United States find similar obstacles confronting them. In only ten of the States are the postal revenues in excess of the expenditure. In all the Pacific States, all the Southern States and all but two of the Western States the receipts are behind the cost of carrying the mails. In the year ended 30th June, 1895, it cost $800,857 more to do the work than the department received for doing it. The total expenditure by cheque last year was $3,593,647 and the total net revenue was $2,792,790, although the actual revenue, before percentage to postmasters, discounts for stamps and other deductions were made, was $3,815,456. The following sums were expended for carrying mails : By Rail.. 1894. 1895. 844,118 79,356 The development of the business in the last ten years is as follows: 1129. By provinces, the (1) miles of annual travel on the post routes, the (2) number of transient newspapers and periodicals, books, circulars, samples, *Almanach de Gotha, 1895. |