CHAPTER XII.

Commercial Statisties—Imports—Exports——Revenlie—Government Policy— Fisheries—Edueation—hlanufactnres—Charlottetown—Census of 1798.

"E shall now present a few facts respecting the com- ,3‘ merce and other prominent interests of the island. %C),2 Through the courtesy of the cthcient collector of customs,—Mr. Donald Cuirie,—a gentleman whose polite attention and hospitality to strangeis Visiting the island deserve a permanent record,——we have been favored with important returns. As an illustration of the wonderful progress made in the development of the agricultural resources of the island, we may state that while the quantity of oats exported in 1862 was only 943,109 bushels, it amounted, in 1872, to 1,558,322 bushels!

The following is the value in dollars of the imports and exports of the island from 1870 to 1874, inclusive. The returns represent a rate of progress to which, perhaps, no parallel can be produced in the British Empire:

YEAR. IMPORTS. EXPORTS .

1870 . . . . . . $1,928,662 $3.134 003

1871 . . . . . . 3.336 800 32.3 (335 1872 . . . . . . 2.3133, rs iss31,173 1873—4 . . . . . . 1908.522 1.908.161

1874—5 . . . . . . 1,960,997 1,9—1-0,901*

* The island having entered the confederation with the Dominion on the first July, 1873, Canadian manufactured goods since then have not come under the head of “imports,” which explains the apparent decrease. The same remark applies to experts, because all island products sent to Nova. Scotia, New Brunswick, Magdalen Islands, and Canada, which were for- merly “exports,” are not so reckoned now. In the value of exports is included the price 01‘ the tonnage sold or transferred to other parts.