The Times of Tuesday gives the details of the Canadian
Census. The total for the whole Dominion is 4,823,344, an increase of about half-a-million, or 11.52 per cent. on the pre- vious enumeration. Naturally the Canadians are much dis- satisfied, and the Opposition have begun to ask with reason whether, in face of the figures, the present policy of commercial isolation should be adhered to. The natural increase in Canada is very large, the French settlers having gigantic families, and no less than 880,000 emigrants entered Canada during the decade; but the new Canadians have most of them fled to the United States. An analysis of the figures shows that the Maritime Provinces remained virtually stationary, and that Quebec and Ontario increased only by 9.59 per cent. Mani- toba, however, more than doubled its population, and so did Assineboia, Alberta, and Saskatchewan. British Columbia also showed an increase of nearly 90 per cent. These figures should make strongly for a policy of Free-trade. With Free. trade and the new commercial route to the East, the Dominion would become the emporium of the New World.
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