C INTRODUCTION. The Year-book for 1893 has been remodelled and many new catures added. It is divided into two parts, Ist, the "Record," and 2nd, the "Abstract." The "Record" contains historical matter: the constitution and government of the country; results of the census of 1891; statements of the managers of our banking institutions; short presentations of important events of the year, such as the Behring Sea Settlement, the French Treaty, and other subjects respecting which public men require occasionally to refresh their memories; and concise biographical notices of prominent public men of Canada who have died during the year. It also contains a chapter on the forests of Canada, the first of a proposed series of monographs on subjects of importance to Canadians; and an account of Newfoundland-the first of a series on "Countries with which Canada does business." The chapter on our constitution and government has been expanded in deference to many requests for a fuller statement, coming largely from the teachers in our schools. The "Abstract" is, as its name implies, a digest of the Bluebooks issued by the several departments, with such explanations as seemed necessary to meet a very general demand for something more than strings of statistical tables. The analysis of our imports in the chapter on Trade and Commerce has been made on a different basis from that adopted in former Year-books, the object being to supply material for comparisons of our trade and customs taxation with those of Great Britain and the United States. I desire to record my indebtedness to Messrs. J. Wilkins and J. Skead, who in the present issue, as in former ones, have performed the work of compiling the tables in the "Abstract." GEORGE JOHNSON, F.S.S. (hon.), Department of Agriculture, Statistics Division, Ottawa, June, 1894. 163223 Statistician. |