NORTHWEST TERRITORIES OF CANADA. 



NOVA SCOTIA. 



401 



of Manitoba. T. A. Burrows, in the course of 

 his speech, referred to the smallness of .Manitoba 

 and the great area of Ontario, Quebec, and Brit- 

 ish Columbia. He said that the boundaries de- 

 nned in 1871 were provisional and tentative, and 

 reviewed the litigation by which Manitoba lost 

 to Ontario about 100,000 square miles. It would 

 now be only fair for the Dominion to help the 

 province by giving it a portion of the territories. 

 To the north was the great district of Keewatin, 

 with important resources and 450,000 square miles 

 of territory, and between it and Hudson Bay, 

 which they were so anxious to connect by rail, 

 was a wedge of the district of Saskatchewan. 

 A rearrangement could be made so as to extend 

 Manitoba in these directions. He concluded by 

 moving the following resolution, which was ap- 

 proved by the Hon. Mr. Greenway and carried 

 unanimously : 



" Whereas, The territorial area of the province 

 of Manitoba is small in comparison with the 

 areas of most of the other provinces of the Do- 

 minion of Canada, while the machinery of gov- 

 ernment is as full and complete as would be 

 necessary to govern and administer the affairs of 

 a much larger territory; and 



" Whereas, There are districts adjacent to the 

 province of Manitoba that should be comprised 

 within the limits thereof, for the purpose of pro- 

 vincial autonomy, their agricultural, commercial, 

 and educational interests being in a great meas- 

 ure common, and a union thereof would tend to 

 develop and strengthen same; and 



" Whereas, In the formation of the said adja- 

 cent territory into provinces it is advisable in the 

 public interests to include in the province of Mani- 

 toba as much of the area as possible consistent 

 with economical administration; therefore let 

 it be 



" Resolved, That a memorial be presented to the 

 Parliament of Canada praying that the bound- 

 aries of the province of Manitoba be extended so 

 as to include as much of the said adjacent terri- 

 tory, for the reasons aforesaid, as may be con- 

 sistent with economical and efficient government 

 and for the welfare and development of the peo- 

 ple and territory therein comprised, having in 

 view as one of the objects to be attained the 

 extension of the boundaries of Manitoba north- 

 ward to Hudson Bay." 



In the House of Assembly, at Regina, on May 

 20, D. H. McDonald, leader of the Opposition, 

 moved a resolution upon this subject, without re- 

 mark or comment : 



" That, in the opinion of this house, no terms 

 should be accepted for the erection of the terri- 

 tories into a province or provinces entailing the 

 annexation of any portion thereof to the province 

 of Manitoba." 



The Premier followed and criticized the mover 

 for having nothing to say. He pointed out that 

 the Assembly had no power to accept or reject 

 terms in regard to the boundaries of Manitoba. 

 They could only discuss financial arrangements 

 under the existing constitutional status, and even 

 then they could only propose and recommend. 

 He therefore moved in amendment, seconded by 

 Mr. Bulyea, that 



" This house is strongly opposed to any fur- 

 ther expansion of the province of Manitoba west- 

 ward, and is of the opinion that any such ex- 

 pansion would be opposed to the wishes and det- 

 rimental to the interests, not only of any portion 

 of the territories affected thereby, but of the ter- 

 ritories as a whole." 



Prohibition. In the Legislature, on June 12, 

 Dr. Elliot moved, seconded by A. S. Smith, a 

 VOL. XLL 26 A 



resolution declaring Unit the f\i tin.' n-t rid ions 

 upon intemperance were in.siillici.-ui thui. l.iie en- 

 actment and enforcement of total )>ro!ni>ii inn <,f 

 the liquor trallic was the only c|] 

 dealing with the evil; that public -cut iii:ri;'i r , 

 the territories, as evidenced by i !,i \<. <;,;, j) () . 

 minion plebiscite on prohibition, \vus ;\\ 

 in favor of such a policy; that the electo 

 have an opportunity of expressing Uiei,, 

 upon the subject; and that at the next teiii:.on;il 

 election the question should be submitted to 

 them; that should such a plebiscite show three- 

 fifths of those voting to be in its favor, an act 

 should be passed putting the principle in force 

 within two years from the date of the -plebiscite. 

 A. B. Gillis opposed the motion and did not think 

 it possible to enforce such a law. Dr. Patrick 

 was in favor of a state monopoly and control of 

 the liquor traffic. Mr. A. S. de Rosenroll moved 

 as an amendment to the resolution that: " In the 

 opinion of this Assembly the interests of temper- 

 ance would be promoted by a system of state 

 monopoly of the liquor traffic. Therefore, be it 

 resolved that the Government make inquiries into 

 the working of this system in other countries 

 where it has been adopted, with the object of the 

 introduction of such system into the territories." 

 Mr. Haultain approved of the amendment and 

 declared that he had never believed in the practi- 

 cal application of prohibition. Certainly the ter- 

 ritories had not arrived at a stage when it could 

 be effectively enforced. Mr. R. B. Bennett op- 

 posed the amendment, though there was also 

 much in the resolution with which he could not 

 agree. A prohibition law, in the present state of 

 public opinion, would be laughed at and be worse 

 than useless. Education and temperance instruc- 

 tion in the schools was the best way of dealing 

 with the evil. The amendment was carried by a 

 vote of 16 to 9. 



NOVA SCOTIA, a maritime province of the 

 Dominion of Canada; area, 20,907 square miles; 

 population in 1901, 459,116. Capital, Halifax. 



Government and Legislation. The Govern- 

 ment that controlled the province at the begin- 

 ning and throughout the year was a continuation 

 of the Liberal ministry of W. S. Fielding, which 

 had held office from July 28, 1884, until July 17, 

 1896, when the Premier resigned in order to accept 

 a portfolio at Ottawa. He was succeeded by the 

 Hon. George Henry Murray, K. C., who had been 

 a member of the Government several years. At 

 the opening of the year the Cabinet stood as 

 follows: Premier and Provincial Secretary, G. H. 

 Murray; Attorney-General, J. W. Longley; Com- 

 missioner of Works and Mines, C. E. Church; 

 members without portfolios, Thomas Johnson, 

 A. H. Comeau, A. McGillivray, T. R. Black, W. T. 

 Pipes, D. McPherson. At the end of August, 

 C. E. Church, who had held his portfolio seven- 

 teen years, retired and was succeeded by Arthur 

 Drysdale, of Halifax, who had sat in the house 

 since 1891. The Hon. F. A. Laurence was Speak- 

 er of the Assembly, as he had been since 1894, 

 and the Hon. Robert Boak was president of the 

 Legislative Council. Messrs. N. J. Gillis, D. D. 

 McKenzie, M. J. Keefe, C. E. Tanner, and A. M. 

 Stoneman were introduced as newly elected mem- 

 bers of the Assembly, and the Hon. W. B. Law 

 and Hon. William Chisholm as newly appointed 

 members of the Council. The Legislature was for- 

 mally opened Feb. 14, with a speech from the 

 throne, of which the following are the significant 

 portions: 



" The year which recently closed was on the 

 whole one of very great prosperity in Nova Scotia. 

 In most of the departments of industry in which 



