by one chief engineer, two permanent assistants, accountant, and clerical staff. The work of this staff is usually consultative, with powers of final inspection at the end of the year, upon which the provincial grant is paid.

9. Municipal organization in Canada is very similar to that of the United States. Each township corresponding to a "town" has a municipal council of five members. Counties are composed of from 4 to 15 townships, with a county council composed of the reeves of the several townships and villages within a county. A Province corresponds to a State, and the Provinces are again united under a federal house of commons and senate. Each Province has its own legislature, equivalent to that of a State legislature.

10. Under the municipal act of the Province, a municipality is empowered to construct highways as a local improvement, assessing the cost on the adjoining land. This tax is collected with the ordinary municipal rates, and may be distributed over a term of years by issuing debentures. This provision of the act, however, has been seldom adopted in rural districts.

11. No tables are obtainable for Ontario which show cost per tonmile of highway transportation either before or after road improve

ment.

12. Original data as to the cost of haulage has not been compiled for the Province of Ontario. In a general way, the cost of hauling crushed stone for road purposes has been found to be from 25 cents to 30 cents per ton-mile.

13. No cases have come to the knowledge of the highways department in which common roads have been substituted for railway branch lines or feeders. Railroads do not contribute toward road construction.

14. The average haul in southern Ontario is estimated at from 7 to 8 miles for farm produce.

15. Townships and counties raise all their revenue by a direct tax on the local assessment. Provincial sources of revenue are indirect and arise from the sale of Crown lands, timber on Crown lands, succession duties, transfer of stock, liquor licenses, fees from companies incorporated by the Province, etc. Automobiles are charged an annual license fee of $5 for registration, but the income from this source is not especially devoted to highway expenditure. The chief source of Federal income is customs duties, but no Federal contribution is as yet made to highway construction.

16. Statements are transmitted by the county officials at the end of each year to the provincial highways office. The chief engineer is required to certify and approve of these statements. His work is forwarded to the provincial minister of public works, and is then placed before the executive council. An order in council is thereupon passed authorizing payment, and the full statement, together with the order, is thereupon transmitted to the treasury department and is paid subject to the scrutiny of the provincial audit office.

The engineer of highways has not furnished any table of salaries or administrative personnel.

Forms employed in making up statement of estimates are hereto attached.

17. There has been some effort to obtain concrete information concerning the increased value of abutting and contiguous property

by highways improvement, but it has been found difficult to obtain information of this character. It is stated by the engineer of highways that in a general way it has been found that where a bad road is converted into a good road, each adjoining 100-acre farm is increased in value from $500 to $1,500 or $2,000. This variation depends on many local conditions, and it would be difficult to represent by any definite percentage.

JOHN G. FOSTER,

Consul General of the United States at Ottawa, Canada.

OTTAWA, CANADA, January 23, 1913.

[The House of Commons of Canada. Bill 32, second session, twelfth Parliament, 3 George V., 1912–13.] AN ACT To encourage and assist the improvement of highways.

Whereas the highways of Canada constitute an important part of the facilities which are necessary for any efficient national scheme of transportation and intercommunication; and whereas with the increasing progress and development of the country it is desirable and expedient to improve and extend the existing highway facilities, and for that purpose to give assistance to the various Provinces of Canada: Therefore His Majesty, by and with the advice and consent of the Senate and House of Commons of Canada, enacts as follows:

1. This act may be cited as the Canada highways improvement act.

2. In this act the word "minister" means the minister of railways and canals. 3. The governor in council may, in any year, and upon such terms and subject to such conditions as are prescribed by order in council, grant to any Province in aid of the improvement of existing highways or bridges, or the construction of new highways or bridges, in such Province, or for all or any such purposes, a subsidy not exceeding such sum as may in such year be voted by Parliament for that purpose.

4. Any highway for which aid is granted to a Province shall be improved or constructed, as the case may be, according to descriptions, conditions, and specifications approved by the governor in council on the report of the minister, and specified in each case in an agreement between the minister and the government of the Province, which agreement the minister, with the approval of the governor in council, is hereby empowered to make.

5. Each highway to be constructed or improved shall be defined and described in such agreement, and provision may be made therein for the future maintenance of such highway in good condition according to a specified standard and to the satisfaction of the governor in council.

6. The minister, with the approval of the governor in council and upon such terms and conditions as are prescribed by order in council, may undertake the construction of any new highway or the improvement of any existing highway in any Province, and may expend in such improvement or construction the whole or any part of the sums voted by Parliament for such subsidy to that Province: Provided, however, That the minister shall first obtain the necessary authority from the legislature of such Province and the consent of the lieutenant governor in council.

PROVINCE OF NEW BRUNSWICK.

It is impossible to ascertain the number of miles of roads in this Province or district. Some of the roads are not recorded, and since the passage of the highway act of 1908 the roads are now in the hands of 144 highway boards, instead of the board of public works, as formerly. Hence it would be necessary to consult the records of these several boards, county or parish, before the number of miles of roadways could be given. However, the official yearbook for 1910 has the following in regard to roads:

For the first 20 years of the existence of the Province not much was done in the way of road making, as in 1803 it was reported that there was not 10 miles of road in the Province fit for a wheel carriage, except in the county of Sunbury. Road making commenced soon after, and has continued ever since.

At the present time (1910) there is 14,000 miles of highways under the care of the provincial board of works, in addition to over 4,000 bridges which have a total length of nearly 100 miles.

The annual expenditure for roads and bridges by the Provincial Government averages nearly $200,000 a year, and the municipal contributions in cash and statute labor are about one-half of this sum.

IMPROVED ROADS.

There are but 3 or 4 miles of improved roads within this consular district, and if I am correctly informed, there are none in the Province. The roads are ordinary earth or gravel roads, according to the nature of the soil through which they run.

The roads, such as they are, are maintained and kept in repair by a poll tax, to be paid either in cash or in labor, and by an assessment of 20 cents on each $100 assessed valuation of the real and personal property of the Province.

The Province, under the assessment, appropriates between $90,000 and $100,000 annually for road purposes.

There is but little system in making or repairing the roads of this Province, and I can get no information, either from the laws or from Government or county officials, as to how improved roads are made. I am led to believe that when made they are constructed under the general statutes referred to above as the highway act of 1908. Respectfully submitted.

HARRY S. CULVER,

American Consul.

ST. JOHN, NEW BRUNSWICK, November 21, 1912.

PROVINCE OF QUEBEC.

In answer to your questions I beg to give you herewith the following information:

1. Forty-five thousand miles.

2,3. We have no official classification of roads but practically up to the present, the roads of the Province are classified as follows: (a) Macadamized trunk roads built by the Government with a contribution of $1,000 per mile by the municipalities interested; (b) macadamized trunk roads built by the municipalities themselves with a subsidy equal to 75 per cent of the cost; (c) roads of local interest built by the municipalities with subsidies equal to 50 per cent (limited to $1,000 a year) or amounting to more than 50 per cent in certain cases. 4. The cost of construction of water macadam per mile varies very much according to the cost of stone and labor. The cost averages between 30 cents and $1.25 per square yard when there are no important excavations or embankments to be made. With stone at 60 cents per cubic yard, a road 16 feet wide would cost $5,000 per mile, about 53 cents per square yard. With stone at 75 cents per cubic ́yard, a road of the same width would cost $6,000 per mile, about 64 cents per square yard. With stone at $1 per cubic yard, the cost for a road of the same width would be $8,000 per mile, about 85 cents per square yard.

5. The cost of maintenance varies according to the importance of the traffic and the nature of said traffic. In villages where traffic is not considerable and where automobiles do not pass the cost of maintenance may be reduced to $50 per mile per year. When the traffic is considerable, the maintenance may amount to $100 and more.

6. The annual expenditure for roads, 1910-11, is to be found in the preface of the report of the department of agriculture for 1911. The annual expenditure for 1911-12 is $494,277.66.

7. Each local municipality builds its own roads with the aid of the Government as aforesaid. The good-roads act of 1912 enables the municipalities to secure loans through the Government on which they have only to pay 2 per cent a year during 41 years, the balance of the interest and the sinking fund are paid by the Government.

8. A municipality that builds macadamized or graveled roads, with the aid of the Government, has to pass a by-law ordering the work. The by-law includes specifications. The specifications are submitted or prepared by the Government. No subsidy is paid for such work unless inspection has been made by the Government. The Government instructors are in charge of the machinery and have the supervision of the work. The machinery is lent to the municipalities for macadamizing purposes; the Government of the Province owns at present 57 complete outfits. The detail of all this organization will be found in the minister's report of 1912.

10. The work done by the municipalities is paid by means of direct taxation on the whole corporation or, in some cases, on the rate payers bound to the maintenance of the road improved.

11. The Government of the Province requires no special tax for road improvement, except the motor-vehicle tax which is applied to it. 12. We are not aware that any highway has been substituted for railway branch lines. Railways, in general, do not contribute toward road improvement, but this is sometimes done when such improvement would benefit the railway companies.

15. Road improvement in the Province, up to date, has been paid out of the ordinary revenue.

16. Here are some of the approximate salaries of the personnel of the roads branch of the Province of Quebec:

17. We have no statistics, but I know of a particular case in the county of Terrebonne where a property valued at $3,000 to $6,000 is now estimated at from $9,000 to $12,000 by the proprietor as a result of macadamized roads being built in the municipality. The place is not far from Montreal, and I suppose the neighborhood is largely instrumental in raising the value of the property.

I have the honor to be, your obedient servant,

B. MICHAUD, Deputy Minister.

PROVINCE OF NOVA SCOTIA.

On all new roads built by the Government in Nova Scotia the upkeep of same was looked after by the statute labor years ago, assisted by the Government in unsettled districts, but to-day the

statute-labor work is poorly performed and does not give more than two-thirds the value that it did years ago.

The counties of the Province are incorporated and the highway labor is under their control, which is partly the cause of it being so badly worked out.

Until the year 1908 the Government grant was in the hands of the municipalities, and during that time the roads and bridges did not show the improvement that they should. In the year 1908 the Government placed the road and bridge grant under the control of a road commissioner and his assistant, whose first duty is to pay off the municipal debts and after that to carry on the upkeep of the roads and smaller bridges, which they are doing to-day.

There are no great post roads to-day, as the railroads have in many cases followed along the old mail routes and most of the present post roads are carried out from the various railway stations, except in the eastern portions of Richmond and Guysboro Counties and in the county of Victoria. All these new roads leading from railway stations back into the country have been built by the Government.

1. About 18,000 miles of road in the country outside of incorporated cities and towns.

2. Greater part are of clay and gravel.

3. Second-class roads.

4. Broken-stone roads per mile cost $3,000 and upward, clay from $500 to $1,500, and of gravel $1,500 to $2,000.

5. Can not be ascertained.

6. The Government expends annually on roads amounting to $225,000.

7. Money for roads is raised from royalty on coal mines.

8. The construction and direction of the maintenance of good roads are governed by the road commissioner and his assistant, who employ road inspectors to examine all roads and bridges, and send in their reports in May of each year, and from their reports the road commissioner allots a certain amount to each county and sends out authority to the inspectors to spend the amount allotted for roads and bridges.

9. Can not answer.

10. No taxes.

11. Unable to answer.

12. Thirteen to fifteen cents per mile.

13. None.

14. Twenty miles.

15. Royalty on coal.

16. Accounts come in from the contractors and inspectors under affidavit; they are then examined by the road commissioner, who passes them over to the auditor, who then approves them for payment, and then are paid by the treasurer of the Province of Nova Scotia.

From $200 to $6,000.

17. Can not answer.

JAMES W. RAGSDALE,

Consul General.

HALIFAX, NOVA SCOTIA, November 22, 1912.