Page:The American Cyclopædia (1879) Volume VIII.djvu/409

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HALIFAX 395 schools, are the other most prominent struc- tures. Halifax is the military headquarters of 'the Dominion of Canada; the troops occupy extensive and handsome barracks at the N. end overlooking the harbor. It is also the chief naval station for British North America, including the West Indies, and has a govern- ment dockyard covering 14 acres, situated in the 1ST. portion of the town, which is thor- oughly equipped and said to be inferior to few except those of England. By means of the Intercolonial and the Windsor and Annapolis railways, it has communication with Annapo- lis, Pictou, and St. John, N. B. The harbor of Halifax is one of the best in the world. It extends about 16m. inland, is accessible at all times, and opposite the city, where vessels usually anchor, is about 1 m. wide. Further up it contracts to J m., and finally expands into a beautiful sheet of water called Bedford sin, comprising an area of about 10 sq. m. A small arm, branching off from the harbor a short distance below the city, extends in- land to within % m - f this basin, forming a peninsula on which the city is built. The harbor contains McNab's and three or four smaller islands, has two lighthouses, and is de- fended by several fortifications of considerable strength. There are two passages into the harbor, one on each side of McNab's island. The western is commanded by Fort George and several batteries ; the eastern, which has sufficient depth of water only for small vessels, lies under the guns of a formidable stone fort called Fort Clarence. Halifax is largely inter- ested in the fisheries, and has an extensive for- eign and coasting trade. For the year ending June 30, 1872, the entrances were 1,387, with an aggregate tonnage of 363,847; clearances, 1,024, of 290,527 tons. The value of imports was $10,055,579, and of exports $4,678,684; being about five sixths of the total imports and more than one half of the exports of the prov- ince. Of the exports, $2,426,980 represent the product of the fisheries. There were 55 vessels built, with an aggregate tonnage of 13,- 157. The Cunard line of steamers from Liver- pool to Boston touches here, and steamers run to various ports of Canada, Newfoundland, the West Indies, and the United States. The manufactures are of considerable importance, embracing iron castings, machinery, agricul- tural implements, nails, gunpowder, cordage, boots and shoes, soap and candles, leather, to- bacco, paper, cotton and woollen goods, wooden ware, &c. There are also several breweries and distilleries, a sugar refinery, six banks, two branch banks, a savings institution, and several gold-mining and other joint stock com- panies. The streets are lighted with gas, and water is distributed through, the city. The assessed value of property in 1870 was $16,- 753,872. Halifax is the seat of an asylum for the blind, a deaf and dumb institution, and a hospital for the insane, and also contains a dis- pensary, house of ref- uge, home for the aged, two orphan asylums, the provincial and city hos- pital, a naval and a mili- tary hospital, the pro- vincial poor asylum, St. Paul's almshouse of in- dustry for girls, and two industrial schools. The educational institutions are numerous, embra- cing, besides 12 schools, Dalhousie college and university, with 7 pro- fessors in the classical and 12 in the medical department ; St. Mary's college (Roman Catho- lic), with 8 professors; and the theological department of the college of the Presbyterian church of the lower prov- inces of British North America. There are two public libraries, a museum, 4 daily, 5 tri- weekly, and 9 weekly newspapers, 2 bi-weekly and 4 monthly periodicals, a convent, and a young men's Christian association. Halifax is the seat of an Episcopal bishop and a Roman Catholic archbishop, and contains 24 churches. The city was founded in 1749 under the aus- pices of the earl of Halifax. In 1859 it was visited by a destructive conflagration. HALIFAX, a town and parliamentary borough of England, in the West riding of Yorkshire, on the Hebble near its junction with the Cal- der, which is navigable to this point, 36 m. S. W. of York ; pop. of the town in 1871, 37,208 ; of the borough, 65,510. The town is well built, and contains ten churches of the English establishment, all fine structures, All Souls' church, completed in 1861, being among tae