29 



— and then the merest sag of a post will let the ends drop out. It is then almost impos- 

 sible to get them replaced again, because your posts are supposed to be fast at both ends. 

 Now, if you are ascending a lofty hill or going down a decline the posts are not perpen- 

 dicular. If they are they have not got a hold, and the moment one begins to sag, out 

 comes your rail. There are hundreds and hundreds of rods of it in East Whitby that is 

 not going to last half the time that the ordinary straight fence fastened with wire is, and 

 just from that very fact. I have never seen a rod of it that was according to the Legis- 

 lative enactment. The law says in reference to fences that a lawful fence shall be four 

 feet and a half high, composed of substantial rails or boards — that the lower half of the 

 cracks shall not be more than four inches wide. Now, you cannot build a fence of the 

 kind first described and get the cracks that way. Supposing you have every rail 

 exactly alike, when you come to cut off the shoulder to make the tenon there you have a 

 large crack up against the post. Our law is such in Ontario that any municipal council 

 may pass a by-law compelling the owners of cattle, horses, sheep, turkeys and geese to 

 confine them on their own land, and if found running on the highway they are pound- 

 able ; any person can take them up and pound them. We have had that law in East 

 Whitby for years, and I am happy to say we are not half as particular now in making 

 our outside fences as we used to be. I know a man who has 150 or 200 acres of land, 

 and there is not a fence along the road that will keep cattle out. I was pleased last 

 fall when I was in York State to see no fences as I passed along. There were the most 

 beautiful lawns and flowers without a fence or a rail to protect them. I am in favour of 

 that, although I have criticized the report as I have. We have a law now enabling us to 

 iiave that here too. 



Mr. Beadle. — Once on a time I ran fnr Eeeve of the Municipality of Grantham. 

 At that time I was living in that municipality. I had not been absorbed into the, city 

 ■of St. Catharines then. I should state that I had been Reeve the year before, and I had 

 advocated very strongly the passage of a by-law such as our friend has just now spoken 

 of — that every man should take care of his own pigs, and sheep, and cattle, and geese, and 

 so on. My opponent in the election of the next year raised the cry that I was opposed to the 

 poor man. There was a certain j)oor man always around somewhere who had a cow, or 

 a sheep, or a small flock of geese or ducks, or a dozen turkeys, and I was not willing that 

 that poor man should have anything for his pigs, or sheep, or cows, or turkeys to eat ; 

 and the result of the election was that I was beaten. 



Col. McGill. — That same cry was used in the township I live in for years ; and the 

 gentleman who had the by-law passed had his cows out the next year. 



Mr. H. O. Smith. — I have a fence on my place that has stood there for forty years, 

 and it is a good fence yet and has never been repaired. It is a rail fence, composed of 

 pine and ash rails. I have no doubt it will stand for fifty years, 



Mr. Dempsey. — I have seen rails that were over ninety years old in my own section 

 of the country. They had been split from butternut. They were undoubtedly very 

 large rails when they were first made ; but they are gradually growing less every year 

 through the rain wearing them away. Then I have seen butternut cut not more than 

 ten years that have failed since, 



FRUIT PACKAGES. 



Mr. Dempsey, on a report being called for from the Committee of Fruit Packages, 

 said that the Committee had not prepared any report. He proceeded : The Committee 

 met several times ; but one or two of the members thought it better to allow every man 

 to swindle all he pleased. The result of every effort to arrive at any conclusion has con- 

 sequently been a failure. We took the trouble to examine into the law to see what there 

 was regulating the size of the apple barrel ; and there is no such thing that we could 

 find. I believe there is a law in Canada fixing the size of a barrel at 31^ gallons, 

 imperial measure ; but custom has often disobeyed this law. With respect to packages 

 for small fruits and peaches we could not come to any conclusion. Two of us, however, 

 were of opinion that three half-pints would be sufficient for a strawberry basket — as 



