1197. The figures for Nova Scotia are not those of the ordinary revenue and expenditure, several items not coming under that head, having been entered as such for convenience, and the actual revenue of the province available for ordinary purposes is less than is shown in the table. In 1888 a considerable sum, in addition to the subsidy, was received from the Dominion Government on account of a claim of the province for piers, breakwaters, &c. In Prince Edward Island the financial year, previous to 1873, began on the 1st February and ended on the 31st of the following January, but in that year it was changed to correspond with the calendar year.

1198. The next table gives the revenue and expenditure in the United Kingdom and British possessions*, principally in the year 1894, with the proportion of each per head of population :

The revenue exceeded the expenditure in 18 out of the 36 countries and colonies named in the list, the total revenue having been but little less than the expenditure. In proportion to population, both revenues and expenditures of the Australasian colonies are very high, the chief explanation of which is that "a considerable revenue is derived from the usufruct of the unsold lands, which is not generally the case elsewhere; the revenues also are swelled by the large sums which are received annually from the alienation of Crown lands, and from the working of the State railways.* The practice of treating money derived from the sale of Crown lands as revenue obtains in all the Australian colonies, and the money so raised forms one of the largest items of their annual income." In a few years Canada should be deriving a large income from the sale of Dominion lands if the practice of treating such moneys as revenue be in force, but all her principal railways are in the hands of private companies. Both in India and Cape Colony, as well as in Australasia, the railways are principally owned by the Government, producing a corresponding difference in the amount of revenue.

1199. The ordinary revenues and expenditures in some of the principal foreign countries are given in the following table ::

REVENUES AND EXPENDITURES IN FOREIGN COUNTRIES.

* Victorian Year-Book, 1884-85, page 131.

+Wealth and Progress of New South Wales, 1887, page 383. Budget estimate. § Total revenue and expenditure.

1200. The sources from which the ordinary revenue of Canada is derived may be divided, as previously explained (see paragraph 1174), into two classes, viz.:-1. Taxation; 2. Other Sources. The following figures give the amount raised in each class in 1891 to 1895:

There was a decrease in receipts from taxation in 1895, as compared with 1894. of $2,396,564; in 1894, as compared with 1893, of $1,742,164; but an increase in 1893, as compared with 1892, of $875,210. The receipts from other sources in 1895 decreased by $263,560. The proportion of the total revenue derived from taxation in 1895 was 74.89 per cent; in 1894, it was 75.82 per cent, as compared with 76.82 per cent in 1893, with 77-04 per cent in 1892 and with 78-57 per cent in 1891, and was a smaller proportion than in any previous year since Confederation.

During 28 years the yearly average amount of taxation per head is $5.24 The taxation of 1895 is 23 cents per head less than the average of the 28 years. Since Confederation there have been 16 years in which the per head taxation was higher and 11 years in which it was lower than in 1895. The highest years was in 1893 and 1890, when the taxation was $6.60 per head. The lowest year was in 1869, when the taxation was $3.26 per head. The development of other sources of revenue outside of the revenue by customs and excise duties has been considerable, as the following table shows:

The trend during the whole period has been in the direction of other sources than taxation supplying a larger proportion of the revenue. The average for the 28 years is: taxation 80-4 per cent, other sources 19.6 per cent. The average of the last five years is: revenue from taxation 76.6 per cent, revenue from other sources 23-4 per cent.

1201. The following table gives the amount raised by taxation in each year since 1st July, 1867; also the average amount of such taxation paid per head of population, and the proportion of total revenue :—

TAXATION

REVENUE FROM TAXATION SHOWING INCREASE OR DECREASE; ALSO
AMOUNT PER HEAD AND THE PROPORTION WHICH
BEARS TO THE TOTAL REVENUE FROM 1868 TO 1895.

Comparing the first with the last year of the above period of twenty-eight years, it will be found that while the total receipts have increased 117 per cent, the amount paid per head of population has only increased 44 per cent, while the proportion to total revenue has decreased 12.4 per cent.

1202. The following tables give the amount raised by Customs and Excise duties during the last twenty-eight years, together with the proportion of each to population*:

TAXATION BY CUSTOMS AND EXCISE DUTIES AND PROPORTION TO POPULATION IN CANADA-1868-95.

* The amounts of Customs duties being taken from the Public Accounts represent the amounts actually paid in, and will not quite correspond with the figures in the Trade and Navigation Returns, these latter being for amounts accrued.

It will be seen that considerably the larger part of the whole amount of taxation is derived from Customs duties, the average proportion for the twenty-eight years having been 73.7 per cent, later years showing a tendency to decrease it. The proportion in the United Kingdom in 1895 was 26 per cent; in the United States in 1895 it was 51 per cent, and in the Australasian colonies in 1894 it averaged 73 per cent.

The amount of Customs duties paid per head in the United Kingdom in 1895 was $2.50 and in the United States $2.18, in both cases being a