Report for the Canadian Commission.

Ontario and Quebec, and it was desirable to show that the country was now a Dominion from the Atlantic to the Pacific, aud that it embraced an area about as large as that of the United States.This could best be accomplished by a map drawn upon a scale corresponding to the magnitude of the country.A scale often miles to the inch, the scale of published Provincial maps, was therefore adopted as the least which would exhibit the narrow peninsula between the great lakes.By omitting all small sub- divisions, advantage was taken of the field of the map to illustrate, directly and without references, tho natural productions of the country in situ.The railways and canals, with the principal cities and towns, show the occupied areas, and, added to these, was shown the site of all the leading products of the mine, tho forest, the fisheries and agriculture, so far as at present known, in plain letters.Exhibition visitors have little time or inclination to refer to catalogues for information when in presence of the object in which they take an interest, and it is, therefore, desirable that every exhibit should as far as possible speak for itself. PUBLIC WOKKS.An exhibition of the public works of a country so celebrated for them as Canada is, was considered essential, because, in addition to the material benefit to be derived from advertising the most direct and capacious route between Europe and Chicago, we could not fail to raise our position in the estimation of the world by such a display as we could make.The great map showed the position and extent of our railway system and of our canals; but, to demonstrate the character of both models, plans and photographs were needed.It was decided to show the St.Lawrence, from Lake Ontario to Quebec, upon a scale of about a mile to the inch, exhibiting, in addition to the magnitude and directness of tho route, the great work of deepening the bed of the river below Montreal, as well as the position and dimen- sions of the canals above that city.Plans showing the great masonry works of the Welland and Lachine Canals, and models of one of the new locks and lock-gates completed the exhibit, which might have been much extended, but for the cost and time required, so as to embrace railways,.such as the Intercolonial, and also those distinctively Canadian works-the slides and river improvements for the descent of timber, &c,-which would have formed a desirable Government exhibit in con- nection with our canals.A complete set of photographs of the Public Buildings of the Dominion, not only those at Ottawa, but also custom houses and post offices in other cities, together with a large colored view of the interior of tho Parliamentary Library at Ottawa, were also prepared, which excited some surprise as well as admiration at Paris. The Kail way Commissioners at Quebec and the great public companies-theGrand Trunk, Great Western and Canada Southern -were appealed to, and cheerfully responded-so that our railway system w r as very fairly illustrated.Plans of the Niagara Suspension Eoad Bridge, the widest span in use in any part of the world, with a beautiful water color of the falls, by Mr. Wise, C.E., were sent by the Can- adian engineer, Mr. S. Keefer, and to this exhibit a gold medal was awarded.Municipalities take a prominent place in international exhibitions in Europe, the large cities exhibiting their drainage works, water supply and street improvements.As one of the objects was to show Canada as she is, the state of progress of her cities, &c, the corporations of the chief towns were appliod to, to make an exhibition at Paris.By nearly all the proposition was well received at first, but none acted upon the suggestion, chiefly because they had no plans ready for exhibition, and because the preparation of these would have been attended with some expenditure of time and money.Had they exhibited all would have received the highest awards and have added so much to the country's total.It is to be hoped that the various corporations will, at their leisure, adopt a system of placing plana of their public works on record, in such a way as will make them available for future exhibitions, as is done by all the European cities.The plans would be always worth to the city the cost of preparation.The same considerations are worthy of the attention of our railway companies, and of the Departments of Public Works, as these albums of plans and photographs, with letter-press descriptions, always form an important feature in European inter- national exhibitions.STATISTICS.Other important deficiencies may here .bereferred to.While the Statistics of Exports and Imports, Eailway and Canal traffic, Navigation and Fisheries, Postal system, Banking, Insurance, &c, &c, can be procured annually, there is no machinery in Canada for obtaining the important Statistics of Agriculture, Manufactures and Mines other than the Decennial Census.The returns of 1871 were obsolete for the Paris Exhibition of 1878.It would seem that the assessment system might be utilized to secure some record of progress in manufactures and agricultural productions.PHOTOGEAPHS.Messrs. Notman and Sandham, who had photographed the faces and physique of Canadians on snow shoes and upon skates, were solicited to send them to Paris.They completed the series of winter sports by a new and beautiful picture of curling on the ice of the St. Lawrence, with the city and mountain of Montreal in the back- ground.This firm prepared the views of the Victoria and International Bridges, exhibited by the Grand Trunk Eailway (which were not merely photographs but veritable works of art), and also interior and exterior views of the Windsor Hotel, Montreal, which the proprietor, James Worthington, Esq., cheerfully consented to contribute.No part of the Canadian section excited greater interests than these beautiful exhibits. FISHERIES.To bring our Fisheries more prominently into notice, Professor Hind was engaged to prepare Fish Maps, which excited much interest and received the gold medal. EEGULATIONS.To reduce the cost of transportation, it was 'desirable that our exhibits should go by water carriage, and by the St. Lawrence route, and therefore in the regulations it was provided that exhibits would be shipped, free of charge, up to 1st November, 187V, and after that date, at the expense of exhibitors.The short space of time which this allowed for preparation, only five month* (or less than half the time allowed for Philadelphia), no doubt deterred some of our manufacturers from entering for Paris.A more serious change in the conditions as compared with Philadelphia, was the The following statement shows the Paris Exhibition of 1878 as compared with all tho previous great international ones : -Place.

Récupéré en direct depuis OpenAlex et désinversé. Les résumés ne sont pas conservés dans cette base de données : les index inversés représentent 8,6 Go des 9,3 Go de texte de la base, et le serveur dispose de 13 Go libres.