Army. – The law from January 1, 1923, united under the Department of National Defense, the commands, troops and services of the army, navy and air force. Canada does not admit to the army other than three-year volunteers.
According to Watchtutorials, the Canadian active army includes: a) the standing army (about 400 officers with 3600 troops); b) the militia, called to arms annually only during the maneuvers and theoretically comprising about 10,000 officers and 112,000 troops. The active Canadian army would form, upon mobilization, 8 infantry divisions organized like those of the English army: 26 infantry brigades; 9 cavalry brigades; 20 campaign artillery groups with 62 batteries; 3 heavy artillery groups with 16 batteries; 3 fortress groups (9 batteries in total); 3 anti-aircraft batteries; 22 field departments of the genius and 2 of the fortress; 7 battalions of transmission or link troops and 27 various departments; 21 train companies; 1 group of 5 squadrons of reconnaissance aircraft.
In addition to the active army, Canada provides for the constitution, upon mobilization, of a reserve army with all citizens capable of arms, aged 18 to 60, not employed in the active army.
For militia recruitment, training and command, Canada is divided into 11 military districts.
Navy of war. – Canada has a small navy founded in 1910, consisting of 2 destroyers of 1075 tons and 36 knots, 6 minelayers of 350 tons and 10 knots and a certain number of notices.
Military aviation. – It was duly constituted with the aforementioned law of 1 January 1923 and consists of a regular permanent air force and a reserve. It is organized not in war squadrons, but in 5 squadrons for operations, the strength of which varies according to the services to be disengaged. Military aviation can be used for forestry and land surveying services. The aircraft are all of the civilian type, and mostly seaplanes. The main base is located in Camp Borden (Ontario). The permanent air force is about 176 officers and 640 troopers. Out of 90 aircraft, 30 make up the reserve. The 1929-30 budget for the Air Force amounts to $ 5,935,000.
Civil service. – It also depends on the Department of National Defense, which controls its activity. The development of civil aviation continues slowly but surely, disengaging, in addition to regular communications, special services such as those relating to the protection of forests and the preparation of forest inventories by means of photographs and aerial tracks. The airlines that handle the transport of passengers and goods are the following: London Air Transport, Canadian Transcontinental Airways, Interprovincial Airways, Western Canada Airways, Canadian Colonial Airways, Commercial Airways, Compagnie Aérienne Franco-Canadienne, Canadian Airways, Treadwell Yukon Co. The overhead network, consisting of 18 lines, has a total length of km. 10.233. The lines are divided into winter, summer and regular (see map). In 1929 the kilometers traveled were 789,437 and the goods transported amounted to kg. 195.506. The most important air bases in Canada are beyond that of Camp Borden, the airports of High River, Hamilton, Seaside, Lethbridge, Virden, and the airfields of Vancouver (flying school), Ottawa, Chicontimi, Montreal, Sault, Three Rivers and Fredericton.
The Canadian aviation industry, already highly developed, will be able to progress further in a remarkable way, given the excellent raw materials at its disposal. The main companies are: Canadian Vickers, based in Montreal, founded in 1923, which builds seaplanes; Curtiss-Reid, based in Montreal, founded in 1928, which builds light land aircraft; Toronto-based De Havilland, which serves as the parent company’s agency.
Marine merchant. – It is made up of 726 mechanically propelled vessels, per ton. gross 1,239,769 and 197 sailing ships for 94,899 gross tons. A large part of this vessel (gross tons 313,497) is used for navigation on the Great Lakes. The aforementioned ship includes 97 motor ships for a total of tons. 107,978; 16 tankers per ton. 107,016. Ships over 10,000 tonnes they are: 6 between 10,000 and 15,000; 2 between 15,000 and 20,000; a few others exceed 20,000 – such as Canadian Pacific Steamships Ltd.’s four Duchess and three Empress types. The fleet can be considered young, with roughly half of it being under 10 years old.
The largest Canadian shipping company is the Canadian Pacific Steamships Ltd. or Canadian Pacific Line, established in 1887, which maintains transatlantic passenger services between Canada and some British and mainland European ports and between Canada and the Far East. In addition to being the largest in Canada, it is also the most progressive: from 38 steamers per t. 343,000, average tonnage 9000 and average speed 13 knots, which it owned in 1914, passed in 1929 to only 25 steamers, but with a real increase in global and unitary tonnage: t. 389,000, average tonnage 15,900, average speed 17 knots. To this fleet we must add a large ocean liner, the Empress of Britain launched in June 1930 in Glasgow. The ship has a tonnage of 40,000 tons. gross; operating speed: 24 knots, so that the Europe-United States voyage via Canada can be made at the same time as via New York. Before the war, the Dominion granted postal subsidies to twenty-one lines: subsidies in part retained. In 1919 Canada began the establishment of a state fleet under the Canadian Government Merchant Marine name, establishing regular transoceanic services. Management is in deficit. The company fleet was constituted as of December 31, 1920 by 31 steamers (all with the adjective Canadian) per ton 243.710. In 1929 seven steamships were transferred to a new state shipping company: Canadian National (West Indies) Steamships Ltd., which today owns 12 steamships for t. 60,592, and it is also in deficit, although the traffic results are satisfactory.
As for shipbuilding, it should be noted that of the 30 shipyards existing in Canada at the end of the war, eight closed due to lack of work. Ships worth £ 19,000,000 were imported into Canada in the seven years between 1923 and 1930, of which 179 were built in England. No duty is imposed on ships introduced from England, and only 25% on those built in foreign countries, so that Canadian shipyards are asking for the establishment of a customs duty which, according to the Levis District Chamber of Commerce, should rise to 50. % of the value. The ship repair industry is also asking for protection. The 22 existing yards (18 of which represent a financial investment of 40 million dollars) employ 17,000 workers. L’
Finance. – In the years of the World War the Canadian state budget figures had grown enormously; in recent years, however, they show a tendency to decrease. Before the war, the budget was mainly based on customs; during and after the war, however, direct taxes increased in importance. The largest revenues are currently given by customs, war taxes – which include taxes on income, profits, banks, trusts, insurance companies, sales, checks, transport, etc. – from manufacturing taxes and the postal service; the main expenses are those for the service of the public debt, for pensions, for the postal service, for public works and for national defense.
Canadian budgets are constantly in surplus:
And here is the data on ordinary income and expenses of the individual provinces of Canada, data which are however still subject to revision:
The amount of net public debt as of August 31, 1929 was $ 2,149 million, mostly consolidated internal debt. Greece’s debt to Canada still existing at the same date was $ 7 million; the Romanian debt has been consolidated and with interest amounts to 24 million dollars; Italy, France and Belgium have now paid off their debts to Canada. At the end of 1928 the amount of Canadian investments abroad was 1579 million dollars, and that of foreign investments in Canada 5742. The circulation of bank and government notes reached, as of June 30, 1930, 176 million. dollars; and reserves amounted at the same time to $ 145 million in gold and $ 71 million in foreign exchange.
