CHAPTER XII. Commercial Statistics—Imports—Exports—Revenue— Government Policy— Fisheries—Education—Manufactures—Charlottetown—Census of 1798. if* JME shall now present a few facts respecting the com- \ mcrce and other prominent interests of the island. jj^ Through the courtesy of the efficient collector of customs,— Mr. Donald Currie ,—a gentleman whose polite attention and hospitality to strangers 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 18G2 was only 94-3,109 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 : TEAK. IMPORTS. EXPORTS. 1870...... 1871...... 1872...... 1873-4 ...... 1874-5 ...... §1,928,002 2,330.800 2.509.878 1.908.522 1,900,997 §2.154.003 1.025.035 1,894,173 1,908.401 1,940,901* * 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 exports, because all island products sent to Nova Scotia , New Brunswick , , and Canada , which were for¬ merly "exports," are not so reckoned now. In the value of exports is Included the price of the tonnage sold or transferred to other parts.