88 



BRITISH COLUMBIA, PROVINCE OF. 



the Chinese immigration act: the desirability of 

 settling the conflicting fisheries jurisdiction; the 

 readjustment of the lumber tariff: the granting of 

 cooperative subsidies to railways within the 

 province; the adjustment of financial relations. 

 The latter was a particularly sore point. From 

 1872, when British Columbia joined the confed- 

 eration, to July. 1901. the revenue contributed by 

 the province to the Dominion had been more than 

 $42,000,000. If. Mr. Dunsmuir said, the contribu- 

 tion had been on the same basis per head as in 

 the other provinces it would have been only $15,- 

 957.000. The total amount expended by the Do- 

 minion in the province during this period was $25,- 

 91.~i.000. He therefore argued strongly that on 

 this account, and because of the immense dis- 

 tances, the natural obstacles to travel and trans- 

 port, the great mineral resources available for ex- 

 ploitation and the sparse population, it was the 

 duty of the Federal authorities to help the pro- 

 vincial Government in building certain necessary 

 railways. In the same way the fishery question 

 demanded settlement. By the decision of the 

 Imperial Privy Council in 1898, the fish of the 

 lakes and seacoast had been declared provincial 

 property, while the right of regulation and control 

 had been largely vested in the Federal authorities. 

 There was. however, much room for dispute and 

 further litigation in the matter of licenses, and 

 Mr. Dunsmuir proposed to Sir Wilfrid Laurier 

 that they should compromise the question by a 

 ten years' Dominion grant of $100,000 annually 

 for encouraging ship-building in the province. He 

 pointed out that in this as well as other matters 

 British Columbia believed itself unfairly treated. 

 For 1809 the fisheries revenue of all Canada was 

 $70.447, of which the province contributed $45,801, 

 while receiving only $12,195 out of a total Do- 

 minion expenditure upon fisheries of $408,754. 

 Other matters were discussed in a voluminous cor- 

 respondence between Sir Wilfrid Laurier and Mr. 

 Dunsmuir, but without practical result. 



This whole question was brought before the 

 House of Commons at Ottawa by the Hon. E. G. 

 Prior, of Victoria, British Columbia, on April 30. 

 He began with the assumption that his province 

 was suffering considerable disabilities because of 

 the neglect of the Dominion Government to place 

 sufficient sums in the national estimates for the 

 protection of its interests. He referred to the dis- 

 tance of the province from Ottawa, and to the 

 difficulty of sending special delegations to the 

 capital. He spoke of the mission of the Hon. 

 James Dunsmuir and the Hon. D. M. Eberts to 

 Ottawa, and to the able document which these 

 representatives of the British Columbia Govern- 

 ment had prepared upon the matters at issue. 

 After referring at some length to the Chinese and 

 Japanese question and to that of railway develop- 

 ment, he quoted Mr. Dunsmuir's financial state- 

 ments in the document mentioned above, and de- 

 clared that while every one of the other provinces 

 of the Dominion had received more from the Fed- 

 eral Treasury than they had paid into it, the 

 Government of British Columbia had, since con- 

 federation, paid to the authorities at Ottawa $13,- 

 607,258 more than they had received. Not one 

 cent of the increased national debt of $223,800 000 

 had been expended in the Pacific province, as he 

 considered the Canadian Pacific a national under- 

 taking from which all the provinces benefited 

 He compared the revenues paid by British Colum- 

 bia and Nova Scotia respectively into the Domin- 

 ion exchequer in the year ending June 30, 1900 

 the former $3,220,688, the latter $2.503,590 The 

 Pacific province was therefore 28 per cent, in 

 amount ahead of the Atlantic province, while the 



percentage according to population was still 

 greater $17.70 to $5.45. 



Similarly, in customs and excise, and in exports 

 and imports, his province was ahead of those on 

 the Atlantic coast. He quoted, with pride, the 

 seagoing tonnage of Montreal and Victoria. The 

 former great commercial center had a total of 

 2,068.313 tons; the latter, a small town in popu- 

 lation, had 1,796,331 tons. "And yet," he ex- 

 claimed, " the Minister of Public Works can not 

 or will not see fit to give the paltry sum of $15,- 

 000 a year for the purpose of dredging and put- 

 ting the harbor of Victoria into better shape." 

 The port of Quebec, which had only 1,088,630 tons 

 of shipping, owed the Dominion Government $4,- 

 000,000 for advances. The unfairness in connec- 

 tion with the fisheries of the province was equally 

 great. Out of a total Dominion revenue of $79,- 

 788 from fisheries, British Columbia contributed 

 $53,195, while out of a total Dominion expendi- 

 ture upon fisheries of $251,469, British Columbia 

 received only $13,662. For fisheries protection his 

 province was not given one cent, while Nova 

 Scotia received $97,370. He urged the Govern- 

 ment to do something for the salmon-canning in- 

 dustry of the province. He also spoke at length 

 upon the ship-building question and the matter of 

 the mint and assay offices. A reference was made 

 to the possibilities of trade with Siberia, and Mr. 

 Prior concluded by saying that if the Government 

 would do justice to his province they would soon 

 develop a vast market for the products of eastern 

 Canada. 



Finances. On April 29 the Hon. J. H. Turner 

 delivered his thirteenth financial statement to the 

 Assembly, and announced his coming retirement 

 from the ministry. The principal receipts for the 

 fiscal year 1900-'01, and the estimates for the 

 coming year 1901-'02, were as follow: 



The expenditures for 1900-'01 and the estimated 

 expenditure for 1901-'02 were, respectively, $372,- 

 790 and $411,440 upon the provincial debt; $221,- 

 895 and $253,980 upon civil government or sal- 

 aries; $219,470 and $231,132 upon administration 

 of justice; $967,350 and $41,325 upon legislation; 

 $118,700 and $124,380 upon the maintenance of 

 public institutions; $70,650 and $87,300 upon hos- 

 pitals and charities; $326,470 and $369,037 upon 

 education ; $665,323 and $804,641 upon public 

 works; $145,820 and $152,100 upon miscellane- 

 ous items. The total for the current year was 

 $2,218,468, leaving a deficit of $461,229. The total 

 estimated expenditure for 1901-'02 was $2,475,335, 

 showing a deficit of $334,584. The supplementary 

 estimates which have to be added to this amount 

 were $167,484. 



The Fisheries. The principal fish of this re- 

 gion are the halibut of the lakes and rivers, her- 



