DOMINION OF CANADA. 



283 



world. Again, why is it in the hearts of the 

 people of the United States? It is because, in 

 their view of developing manufacturing indus- 

 tries, they look to this northern part of the 

 continent as being very soon or in the future, 

 or in the near future, to become one of the 

 accessories of the great republic, not by war, 

 not by coercion, but by the good policy they 

 have impressed upon the minds of their people 

 and which our Government are trying to im- 

 press on the minds of the people of this country. 

 Should we not pursue the same course, should 

 we not build up our own prosperity, our own 

 national spirit, and our own nation? We are 

 doing it." 



On April 6 the House divided on Mr. Jones's 

 amendment to the amendment, which was 

 negatived by yeas, 67; nays, 124. Hon. Mr. 

 Foster's amendment was carried on the same 

 division reversed. 



Partial Reciprocity. On March 28, the Hon. 

 Peter Mitchell, one of the opponents of the 

 Government, called attention to complaints 

 made in Washington of bad faith on the part 

 of the Dominion Government, in failing to 

 carry out the terms of what is known as the 

 ' standing-offer clause " of the customs act of 

 1S79, which reads as follows : 



Any or all of the following things, that is to say, 

 animals of all kinds, green fruit, hay, straw, bran, 

 seeds of all kinds, vegetables (including potatoes and 

 other roots i. plants, trees, and shrubs, coal and coke, 

 salt, hops, wheat, pease and beans, barley ; rye, oats, 

 Indian corn, buckwheat and all other gram, flour of 

 wheat and flour of rye, Indian meal and oatmeal and 

 flour and meal of anv other grain, butter, cheese, fish 

 (salted or smoked), lard, tallow, meats (fresh, salted, 

 or smoked^, and lumber, may be imported into 

 Canada free of duty, or at a less rate of duty than is 



Srovided by this act, upon the proclamation of the 

 overnor in Council, which may be issued whenever 

 it appears to his satisfaction that similar articles from 

 Canada may be imported into the United States free 

 of duty, or'at a rate of duty not exceeding that pay- 

 able on the same under such proclamation when im- 

 ported into Canada. 



Certain of these articles have been put upon 

 the free list by Congress, but the Canadian 

 Government has failed to reciprocate in ac- 

 cordance with the terms of the clause. Sir 

 John Macdonald insisted that the clause was 

 permissive and not obligatory, and that the 

 Canadian free list was much more liberal than 

 the American free list. The Premier also took 

 the ground that it was not in the interest of 

 certain classes of Canadians to put the clause 

 into operation. On April 4, the debate being 

 resumed, Sir Charles Tupper declared the 

 policy of the Government to be to obtain a free 

 interchange of the natural products of the two 

 countries, and said that all the articles to which 

 the attention of the Government had been 

 drawn by the United States Government as 

 having been placed on the American free list 

 would be put upon the Canadian free list. 



An act was passed repealing section 9 of 

 the customs act, and substituting the follow- 

 ing clause : 



Any or all of the following things, that is to say, 

 animals of all kinds, hay, straw, vegetabkfl (includ- 

 ing potatoes and other roots), salt, peane, beans, bar- 

 ley, malt, rye, oats, buckwheat, flour of rye, oatmeal, 

 buckwheat-rlour, huttt-r, cheese, fish of alfkinoX fish- 

 pil, products of tish and of all other creatures living 

 in the water, fresh meats, poultry, stone or marble in 

 its crude or unwrought stale, lime, crypsurn or plaster 

 of Paris (ground, unground, or calcined), hewed or 

 wrought or unwrought burr and grindstones, and 

 timber and lumber of all kinds unmanufactured in 

 in whole or in part, including shingles, clapboards, 

 and wood-pulp, may be imported into Canada free of 

 duty, or at a less rate of duty than is provided for by 

 any act at the time in force, "upon proclamation of the 

 Governor-General, which may be issued whenever it 

 appears to his satisfaction that similar articles from 

 Canada may be imported into the United States free 

 of duty, or* at a rate of duty not exceeding that pay- 

 able on the same under such proclamation when im- 

 ported into Canada. 



Bucket-Shop Gambling. One of the most in- 

 teresting acts passed at this session was that 

 introduced by the Hon. Senator Abbott, a 

 member of the Government and Mayor of 

 Montreal, respecting "Gaming in Stocks and 

 Merchandise." Great efforts were made in 

 behalf of certain " bucket-shops " to defeat 

 this measure, and it was claimed that the pro- 

 verbial coach-and-four could be driven through, 

 this, or indeed any act that could be framed 

 for the suppression of what is commonly called 

 " bucket-shop " gambling. But several con- 

 victions were secured under the act. The 

 penalty prescribed is imprisonment for any 

 term not exceeding five years, and a fine not 

 exceeding $500. 



Temperance. On motion to go into supply, 

 Hon. Mr. Mills (Liberal) moved an amend- 

 ment : 



That, in the opinion of this House, it is the duty of 

 the ministrv to submit to Parliament a measure em- 

 bracing such provisions as will remove all legal im- 

 pediments to the efficient working of the Canada 

 Temperance Act. 



Sir John Macdonald denied the existence of 

 any impediment to the workings of the act. 



The object of the motion was simply to force 

 the Government to adopt a policy on the tem- 

 perance question. This the Government, as a 

 Government, has always declined to do, mem- 

 bers of the Cabinet voting, according to their 

 individual inclinations, for or against temper- 

 ance legislation. The amendment was nega- 

 tived by 57 yeas to 109 nays. 



Ship-Channel. The progress of the port of 

 Montreal has been seriously hampered by the 

 heavy tonnage-dues levied on shipping by the 

 Harbor Commission to meet the interest on 

 the amount advanced by the Dominion Gov- 

 ernment for the widening and deepening of 

 the ship-channel in Lake St. Peter and the river 

 St. Lawrence between Montreal and Quebec. 

 This year the Government agreed to assume 

 the debt, and an act was passed releasing the 

 Harbor Commission from the obligation to pay 

 either interest or principal of the debt, and 

 authorizing the Government to expend in com- 

 pleting the channel any sums remaining unex- 

 pended of those authorized to be advanced to 



