PREFATORY NOTE.

The following table presents by quantities and values the statistics of metallic production in Ontario for nine months ending September 30, 1899, and for twelve months ending December 31 in the years 1896 and 1893 respectively:

The mines were closed down in 1892

No silver was produced in the Province in 1893 or 1896. and were not re-opened until 1898. The first production of pig iron after an interval of more than thirty years was in 1896, and the first production of gold after almost as 'long an interval was in 1892. The total value of metallic products in 1893 was $602,862, and in 1896 $963,288. For the nine months of the present year it has been $1,637,100, and if the same rate of production be maintained to the end of the year it will reach $2,200,000. The total value of the metals produced in the Province for the twelve months of last year was $1,655,968, made up of $290,919 gold, $51,960 silver, $514,220 nickel, $268,080 copper, and $530,789 pig iron.

A.B.

[ix]

2* M.