Columbia were united, and in 1871 British Columbia joined the Dominion of Canada. Vancouver's Island was discovered in 1762; it was leased to the Hudson Bay Company in 1843, and made a Crown Colony in 1849. It is administered by a Lieutenant-Governor and an Assembly of thirty-three members on the system of executive administration. The Assembly is elected for four years by every male who has resided there twelve months. Members receive $600 per session and travelling expenses.

There are 25,000 Indians and 7000 Chinese in the Island. Education is in the hands of an Executive Council. It is free and non-sectarian. Morality is taught, but no religious dogma or creed. School districts are formed wherever there are twenty children between the ages of six and sixteen.

PRINCE EDWARD ISLAND. Discovered by Sebastian Cabot in 1497. Was first settled by the French. Taken by Great Britain in 1758. Annexed to Nova Scotia in 1763. It was constituted a separate colony in 1770. In 1873 it was admitted into the confederation.

Constitution.-Representative Government was established in 1851. There is a Lieutenant-Governor appointed by the Governor-General, an Executive Council of nine members, and a Legislative Assembly of thirty elected members. It sends four members to the Dominion Senate, and five to the House of Commons.

NORTH-WEST TERRITORIES. Early in the seventeenth century Grosseliez explored the country round Hudson Bay, and failing to interest France in his undertaking laid his scheme before Prince Rupert. The prince and his friends founded the Hudson Bay Company, and a charter was obtained. Much desultory fighting took place between the French and English, but in 1713, at the Treaty of Utrecht, the British were confirmed in their possession of the country.

Towards the end of the century, the North-West Territories Company became a rival to the Hudson Bay Company, and the contest was carried on with much bitterness and loss of life, until a union of the two Companies was effected in 1820. The monopoly enjoyed by the Hudson Bay Company, which was exclusively a trading Company, expired in 1859. In 1811 Lord Selkirk obtained from them a grant of land on the Red River, and founded a Scotch colony there, but in 1835

the Company bought back the settlement. In 1868 the Canadian Government purchased for £300,000 the Company's rights in the North-West Territory, with the reservation of a twentieth part of all lands set up for settlement within fifty years.

In 1870 Prince Rupert's Land was admitted into the Dominion, and Manitoba was created out of this territory. The French half-breeds under Louis Riel rebelled, but order was soon restored.

The district of Keewatin, with a population of 5000 Indians and whites, was in 1876 placed under the Government of the Lieutenant-Governor of Manitoba. Intoxicants are absolutely prohibited in this district.

In 1876 the North-West Territories were created into a Government. These are governed by a Lieutenant-Governor subject to instructions given by order of Council at Ottawa, or by the Secretary of State for Canada.

In 1894 the Territories included Alberta, Assiniboia, and Saskatchewan, and were organised under a local ordinance; twenty-nine members form the Legislative Assembly, from whom four are chosen to aid and advise the Lieutenant-Governor. In 1897 an Executive has been authorised to assume office.

Education is provided by a Council of Public Instruction, consisting of four persons appointed by Lieutenant-Governor in Council. School districts can be organised in areas not exceeding twenty-five square miles. The Territories are now divided into the following districts: Keewatin, Assiniboia, Saskatchewan, Alberta, Athabasca, Ungava, Franklin, Yukon, and Mackenzie.

POPULATION OF CANADA IN 1891 was 4,833,239. Of this total the French Canadians number 1,415,000 (of whom 1,186,346 are in Quebec). The British-born Canadians, 476,456; the Indians, 121,638; the Chinese, 9129 (nearly all in British Columbia).

NEWFOUNDLAND was discovered by John Cabot in 1497. It was early visited by the Portuguese, Spanish, and the French for its fisheries. Sir Humphrey Gilbert and others made unsuccessful attempts to colonise it.

In 1662 the French established themselves at Placentia. At the Peace of Utrecht British sovereignty was acknow

ledged by France, but certain rights were granted to French fishermen. The extent of these rights has ever since been a subject of dispute between the nations, but has never been submitted to judicial consideration, while their existence has in great measure retarded the development of the island. The currency is that of Canada, but much trade is done by barter.

Newfoundland has had a Legislature since 1832, but it was the last of the North American Colonies to which responsible government was conceded, which was established in 1855. The government is administered by a governor aided by a responsible Executive Council over which the governor presides. There is a Legislative Council not exceeding fifteen, and House of Assembly of thirty-six members elected by ballot under manhood suffrage. There is a property qualification for members. Members of Council receive $120 per session, and the members of the Assembly $300, but $200 for those living at St. John's.

St. John's is governed by a Municipal Council consisting of seven members, two appointed by the general government and five elected by city ratepayers.

Education.-The schools are denominational and fees are charged; the central authority is vested in three superintendents, one belonging to each of the Roman Catholic, Anglican, and Methodist bodies. There is a grant-in-aid for technical and higher education.

Labrador from Cape Chidley to Blanc Sablon, including the basin of the Hamilton, is included in the Colony of Newfoundland. The remainder of Labrador forms part of Quebec and North-West Territories. Labrador was early visited by the Norsemen, and rediscovered by Cabot in 1497. The Basques and Breton fishermen paid frequent visits. In 1763 the Atlantic coast was annexed to Newfoundland, but from 1773 to 1809 it was temporarily reannexed to Quebec. It had a judicial court in 1824 and 1863. A collector of customs, who is a J.P., now visits Labrador every summer.

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WEST INDIES

In 1492 the West Indies were discovered by Columbus, who so named them from his conviction that he had discovered the east side of the extremity of Asia; the land first touched was San Salvador (Watling Island), one of the Bahamas. Columbus sent home specimens of gold and other metals, and about 500 West Indian prisoners, whom he suggested might be sold as slaves at Seville. This was the beginning of the West Indian slave-trade. In about fifty years the original inhabitants being nearly exterminated, negroes from Africa were introduced, and that commenced the negro slave-trade. Nearly all the European nations joined in the scramble for the West Indian Islands: the Spaniards came in 1492, the French in 1610, the English in 1620, the Dutch in 1632, and the Danes in 1671.

BAHAMAS. San Salvador was visited by Columbus, and was the first land discovered by him on his voyage in 1492. Α few years later all the Carib inhabitants were transported to Cuba to work in the mines there, and the islands were abandoned. In 1578 Queen Elizabeth included the Bahamas in a charter she gave to Sir Humphrey Gilbert, but he did not visit them. In 1612 they were nominally attached to Virginia. Settlers came from the Bermudas to Eleuthera in 1646 and 1666. In 1670 Charles II. granted the islands to a proprietary body, and in 1671 Captain Johnson Wentworth was appointed the first governor. New Providence, then a nest of pirates, in 1680 and 1682 was laid waste by the Spaniards. In 1703 the French and Spaniards combined to annihilate the settleAfter this it was simply a rendezvous for pirates, who were finally extirpated by the English in 1718. New colonists were introduced, including a number of German families from the Palatinate, and a small council instituted. In 1781 the Bahamas were surrendered to the Spaniards, but they were shortly afterwards reannexed by Great Britain, which was confirmed in their possession by the treaty of Versailles in 1783. During the American war a number of loyalist families emigrated there from Georgia and Carolina, who appear to have introduced cotton cultivation, which has continued a staple industry of the colony.

ment.

Constitution. The Executive Government is conducted by the Governor, aided by an Executive Council of nine members. The legislative authority resides in the Governor and a Legislative Council of nine members, nominated by the Crown, and a representative Assembly of twenty-nine members.

Education.-There is a Government system of elementary education. The central control is in a Board of Education nominated by the Governor. Local committees partly elected exercise local supervision. There are forty-two unsectarian Government schools, thirty-one Church of England schools, and thirty-two private schools.

BARBADOS. Said to have been discovered by the Portuguese, who, finding it uninhabited and rude in appearance, named it the isle Los Barbados from the number of bearded figtrees found there. It was taken possession of by the English in 1605. In 1625 Sir William Courteen, a London merchant, under the protection of the Earl of Marlborough, who held a grant of the island, landed with thirty persons, built James's (or Hole) Town, and appointed Captain William Deane their governor. In 1627 the Earl of Carlisle obtained from Charles I. a grant of all the Caribbee Islands. This grant was opposed by Lord Marlborough, and the Earl of Carlisle agreed to settle an annuity of £300 on the Earl of Marlborough as compensation. Wolferstone, a native of Bermuda, was appointed governor in 1628. Sixty-four more settlers arrived at Carlisle Bay and built Bridgetown. Many of the Royalists after the downfall of Charles found shelter at Barbados, Lord Carlisle conveyed the island to Lord Willoughby, who became its governor, but he was banished by the Commonwealth. In 1662 Lord Willoughby renewed his claims, and to satisfy which, a duty of 4 per cent. on all exports was imposed. This his heirs received until 1838, when it was abolished by Act of Parliament. A peculiar feature in the history of the island was the way in which it was utilised as a place of banishment and temporary bondage for those disaffected to the existing Government during the Stuart troubles, and for prisoners taken in arms. A large number of Irish were deported there by Cromwell. This system had its baser side in an accompanying illicit traffic in kidnapping, of which Bristol was one of the centres. Barbados has always remained in the possession of Great Britain.

Constitution-The colony possesses representative institu