tory habits of this fish will account for the difference. 230,979 gallons of fish-oil have been manufactured in the province in 1860. 43,965 nets and seines are reported in the census of 1861. The value of the vessels, boats, and nets used in the fisheries of the province is estimated at $1,780,450. The value of the fish and oil reported in 1861 is estimated at $2,376,721. Halifax ranks first in this department of industry, Guysborough second, Richmond third, Lunenburg fourth, Shelburne fifth, Yarmouth sixth, Digby seventh, Cape Breton (county) eighth, Inverness ninth, Queens tenth, Victoria eleventh, Annapolis twelfth, Sydney thirteenth, Kings fourteenth, Pictou fifteenth, Colchester sixteenth, Cumberland seventeenth, Hants eighteenth.

The set-line or "trawl" fishing is pursued to a large extent by foreign fishermen, to the serious injury of our fishing interests. It is maintained by good authorities on the subject, that if this method is long persisted in the banks will be rendered entirely unproductive. Lines having hooks suspended to them, about three feet apart, are made to descend nearly to the bottom of the sea, where the mother fish repose to deposit their spawn. These baited hooks are seized by these fish, generally the largest, before they have accomplished the important office of reproduction. The consequence will inevitably be, the extermination of that invaluable kind of fish in that most productive of all regions. Destroy the mother with her brood, her offspring, and the result is one and inevitable in all nature. It is the interest of all governments to put an instant and peremptory stop to this suicidal practice.

CHAPTER VI.

COMMERCIAL INDUSTRY.

The geographical position of Nova Scotia is highly favorable to commercial pursuits,-and as her natural resources become more fully developed, there is no doubt her commerce will increase indefinitely. It was only in the year 1818 that Halifax and St. John were appointed free ports: Pictou and Sydney, C. B., in 1828. Now there are sixty free ports in the province.

The largest portion of the exports of Nova Scotia is drawn from the fishing and agricultural interests. In 1860 the total value of fish exported, after supplying home consumption, was $3,094,499; in 1854 it was $2,093,415. The total value of live stock and agricultural products exported in 1860 was $786,526; of lumber, $767,136; products of mines and quarries, $658,257; furs, $72,218; manufactures, $69,978; vessels, $168,270; miscellaneous, $151,132; imported from other countries and re-exported, $1,019,788: making the total exports for 1860, $6,787,804.

The chief exports to Great Britain consist of ships built in the province, and squared and sawed timbers. The West Indies is the principal market for our fish. The United States is also an important market for some kinds of our fish, also for potatoes, coal, gypsum, and freestone. The trade of Nova Scotia with Canada is rapidly increasing.

Nova Scotia imports the greater part of what she needs of textile manufactures; also, hardware, cutlery, pottery, chinaware, ship-chandlery, chemicals, glassware, &c., from Great Britain.

Breadstuffs, tea, sugar, tobacco, woodware, &c., are largely imported from the United States. The value of

imports from the United States to the port of Halifax alone, in 1861, was $1,736,879, and of those from Great Britain to the same port in that year, was $2,222,266; from the British North American provinces, $760,800; the West Indies, $107,443; from all other countries, $678,571. Every one of the outports import largely from the United States; Yarmouth imported goods to the value of $224,967 in 1861 from the United States, while the value of all her imports was but $323,597. The "Reciprocity Treaty" has given a very favorable impetus to our commerce with the United States. All unmanufactured articles, the growth and produce of Nova Scotia, may, by virtue of that treaty, be exported free of duty to the United States.

The following statement will exhibit the value of the imports and exports of Nova Scotia from 1852 to 1861:

The value of ships exported is not included in the above. In 1860 that article amounted to 8,842 tons, valued at $295,054.

VESSELS ENTERED INWARD AT THE PORTS OF NOVA SCOTIA IN 1861.

VESSELS CLEARED OUTWARD AT THE PORTS OF NOVA SCOTIA IN 1861.

In shipping Nova Scotia takes a high rank, in proportion to her extent and population. It was shown, in an official report from the governor of the province to the colonial secretary, in 1853, that Nova Scotia then owned one-third as much tonnage as France-that she surpassed the Austrian empire by 2,400 vessels, and by 69,000 tons; that she owned 116,000 tons of shipping more than Belgium-38,449 tons more than the Kingdom of the Two Sicilies-90,783 more than Prussia. Holland, which once contested the supremacy of the sea with Great Britain, owned at that date (1853) but 72,640 tons of shipping more than Nova Scotia; Sweden, with a population of three millions, surpasses Nova Scotia in shipping by only 36,927 tons. At the same date, only six of the United States of America exceeded Nova Scotia in tonnage, viz.: Maine, Massachusetts, New York, Pennsylvania, Maryland, and Louisiana.

In 1846, the tonnage of all the British North American colonies was 252,832 tons. That of Nova Scotia alone was 141,093 tons-something considerably over the half. In 1853, the tonnage of Nova Scotia had increased to 189,083 tons. It is now (1861) 248,061 tons. The number of vessels is 3,258; estimated value, $6,487,490.

SHIP-BUILDING.-Great facilities for ship-building exist in Nova Scotia, and it has attracted the capital and industry of many of the inhabitants, from the earliest settlement of the country. Correct statistics, showing the extent to which this branch of industry was carried on in earlier years, are not attainable. The greater number of vessels built in the province are comparatively small, and

adapted to the coasting trade, and trade with the United States. Many are built, however, at Pugwash, New Glasgow, Pictou, Sydney, C. B., Shelburne, Windsor, and other places, of a superior description, and ranging from 300 to 1,200 tons; and they command a ready market in England and elsewhere abroad.

The following statement will exhibit the extent to which ship-building has been prosecuted, from 1853 to 1861:

LUMBERING. This department of industry is not prosecuted to the same extent that it had been some years ago, in Nova Scotia; still, however, the products of the forest form an important part of our exports. Deals, boards, scantlings, spars, knees, and other ship-timber; hoops, staves, laths, shingles, and cord-wood, are all comprised under this head.

There are in Nova Scotia 1,401 saw-mills; 130 shingle mills; 6 lath mills. In 1860, the saw-mills turned out 25,072 M. feet deals; 46,607 M. feet pine boards; 36,422 M. feet spruce and hemlock boards. The return of staves for the same year is 7,659 M. Timber, 22,592 tons.

The county of Queens takes the lead in this branch of industry. It saws more than one-half the pine boards that are sawed in the province. Lunenburg comes next, and then Digby. Pictou ranks fourth; it exceeds all the other counties in hewed timber. Halifax exceeds the others in staves; and Cumberland in the quantity of deals.

In the census of 1861, only 507 give themselves as lumberers. Many others, no doubt, devote part of their time