284 



DOMINION OF CANADA. 



the Harbor Commission for the work. The 

 condition on which the debt is assumed is, that 

 hereafter no tonnage-dues are to be levied 

 upon shipping at the port of Montreal. 



A similar act was passed making the grav- 

 ing-dock at L6vis, opposite Quebec, a public 

 work, and assuming the debt of the Quebec 

 Harbor Commission. 



Public Acts. The following public acts, which 

 are not referred to in detail, were passed : 



Authorizing a loan of $25,000,000, to pay the float- 

 ing debt and to carry on public works. 



Granting certain railway subsidies. 



Extending the time for the completion of the Chig- 

 ncoto Marine Transport Railway. 



Imposing regulations on the Auditor-General. 



Restricting the rate of interest payable in the Post- 

 Office and Government savings- bants to a maximum of 

 4 per cent., the actual rate to be prescribed from time 

 to time by the Governor-General in Council. 



Continuing the existing voters-lists until the com- 

 pletion of the revision in 1889 under the Electoral- 

 Franchise act. 



Providing for the holding of elections in the North- 

 west Territories on the same day as in other parts of 

 Canada. 



Providing rules for civil-service examinations, and 

 for inquiries as to irregularities at examinations. 



Providing for the employment of clerks in the office 

 of the High Commissioner. 



Making regulations for the Department of Public 

 Printing and Stationery. 



Authorizing the appointment of a Deputy Commis- 

 sioner of Patents. 



Providing for a Legislature for the Northwest Ter- 

 ritories. 



Amending the Territories Real Property act. 



Vesting certain powers in the crofters' colonization 

 commissioners to be appointed. 



Amending. the Indian act. 



To regulate the licensing of international and inter- 

 provincial ferries. 



Amending the adulteration act. 



Amending the weights-and-measures act as re- 

 gards the contents of packages of salt. Every barrel 

 of salt offered for sale to contain 280 pounds of salt, 

 and to have the gross and net weight permanently 

 marked on the barrel. 



Amending the steamboat-inspection act. 



Amending the banking act by providing that 

 whenever a person granting a warehouse receipt or 

 bill of lading, and carrying on certain businesses, is 

 also the owner of the goods mentioned in the receipt, 

 such receipt and the right and title of the bank to the 

 goods shall be as valicl as though the person making 

 the receipt and the owner of the goods vere differect 

 persons. 



Authorizing any insurance company incorporated 

 by the Legislature of the late Province of Canada, or 

 by any of the Provincial Legislatures, to avail itself of 

 the provisions of the Insurance act. 



Absenting to the Treaty of Washington, 1888. 



Ratifying the International Convention for the Pres- 

 ervation of Submarine Telegraph Cables. 



To remove doubts respecting the laws of England, 

 as they existed on July, 15, 1870, being in force in 

 Manitoba. 



Respecting defective letters patent. 



To amend the Supreme and Exchequer Courts 

 act. 



To authorize the appointment of a new puisne judge 

 at Montreal or Quebec. 



To extend the jurisdiction of the Maritime Court of 

 Ontario. 



Prohibiting the advertising of counterfeit money. 



Enacting that there shall be no appeal in criminal 

 cases to any court in the United Kingdom. 



Providing that publishers and editors shall only be 



tried for libel is the provinces in which they reside 

 or publish their papers. 



Amending the Summary Convictions act. 



Amending the act respecting Punishments, Par- 

 dons, and the Commutation of Sentences. 



Amending the Dominion Elections act. 



Imposing new customs regulations. 



Altering excise duties. 



The railway act. 



Ratifying an agreement between the Government 

 and the Canadian Pacific Railway Company, by which 

 the latter relinquishes its monopoly privileges in 

 Manitoba, and the Government guarantees the inter- 

 est on the company's bonds at 3i per cent, to the ex- 

 tent of fifteen million dollars. 



Two acts amending the Canada Temperance act. 



Imposing severe penalties for the use of fraudulent 

 marks on merchandise, imitation of trade-marks, etc. 



The St, Lawrence Canals, In 1816 a joint com- 

 mission of both Houses of Parliament of Upper 

 Canada reported on the subject of connecting 

 Lake Erie and Lake Ontario. In 1821 a com- 

 mission was appointed to consider the subject, 

 and two years later it reported in favor of con- 

 structing the Welland Canal of such dimensions 

 as would accommodate the class of vessels then 

 navigating the lakes. The result of this report 

 was the incorporation of the Welland Canal 

 Company, which proposed to establish the ne- 

 cessary communication by a canal and railway. 

 The work was begun in 1825 (the year in which 

 the Erie Canal was finished and opened), and 

 was completed in 1829. In that year two 

 schooners, one of eighty-five tons, ascended 

 the canal from Lake Ontario to the Welland 

 river. Subsequently the main line of the canal 

 was extended over the Welland river to Port 

 Colborne. In 1851 the Government approved 

 this project and granted a loan of $200,000; 

 and the work was completed in 1853. In 1873 

 a new enlargement was begun, making the 

 locks 270 feet long, 45 feet wide, and 12 feet 

 deep. From Allanburg to Port Dalhousie, 11 

 miles, a new canal was built; and since that 

 time the old canal, although kept in repair and 

 well maintained, has been chiefly used as a wa- 

 ter-power. But even with 12 feet of water 

 the canal was not deep enough. Grain-laden 

 vessels at Port Colborne had to lighter much 

 of their cargoes to the Welland Railroad, which 

 hauled the grain to Port Dalhousie, where it 

 was again loaded, and the cost of this lighter- 

 age was a great drain on the income of the 

 canal. It was decided to give the canal for 

 its entire length a draught of 14 feet, not by 

 dredging, but by building up the locks and 

 banks 30 inches higher. Up to the time this 

 work was begun the Welland Canal had cost 

 about $18,000,000. The total expenditures 

 npon this canal down to June 30, 1887 (when 

 the enlargement had been completed), were 

 $23,062,615. As soon as the latest improve- 

 ments had been made, it was apparent that the 

 va<t expenditure on the Welland Canal must re- 

 main of little direct benefit until the St. Law- 

 rence canals were made of corresponding cap- 

 acity. There has been no profit in carrying 

 grain to Kingston for transshipment to Montreal 

 by the barge lines. The cost of handling at 



