NOVA SCOTIA. 



403 



tion, $15,000 on Crown lands, $50,000 on Legisla- 

 ture expenses, $17,450 on public works, $25,000 

 on mines, $132,100 on charities, $15,000 on print- 

 ing, $50,247 on steamboats, packets, and ferries, 

 $20,000 on salaries, $210,405 on road grants, $148,- 

 171 for the payment of debenture interest, $10,- 

 966 for the sinking-fund, $9,000 for the Miners' 

 Relief fund, and $11,000 for the refund of suc- 

 cession duties on certain charitable, religious, and 

 educational bequests. Upon bridges, $220,000 was 

 to be spent out of the capital account. 



Eastern Extension Railway Award. In 

 1876 the Government of Mr. P. C. Hill, in Nova 

 Scotia, entered into a contract with the Halifax 

 and Cape Breton Railway and Coal Company for 

 the construction of a piece of railway extending 

 from New Glasgow to the Strait of Canso, and 

 undertook to pay, and did pay, a subsidy of 

 $671,836 for the work done. It was also arranged 

 in the contract that the provincial Government 

 could acquire the road at any time on payment 

 to the company of the amount they had paid out 

 over and above the subsidy received from the 

 Government. In the succeeding year the Domin- 

 ion Parliament authorized the transfer of the 

 Truro and Pictou branch of the Intercolonial 

 Railway to the person or company constructing 

 a line of railway from New Glasgow to the Strait 

 of Canso. This was duly done, and on April 4, 

 1880, an agreement was made between the pro- 

 vincial Government and the company by which 

 the former should be at liberty within two years 

 from Nov. 4, 1880, to take over all the railways 

 and property of the company, including the Pic- 

 tou branch, on paying the actual outlay of the 

 company, exclusive of federal and provincial sub- 

 sidies. Finally, possession was taken of what 

 was known as the Eastern Extension Railway, 

 the sum of $1,200,000 was paid over, and a divi- 

 dend presented to the Federal Government for the 

 transfer of the Pictou branch upon which the 

 profitable operation of the entire road depended. 

 By a federal order in Council of Oct. 20, 1883, 

 two conditions were imposed upon this transfer 

 one the maintenance of existing through rates, 

 and the other an expenditure of $800,000 by the 

 province upon rolling-stock. These conditions, 

 the provincial Government declared, were too 

 onerous, the transfer was not accepted, the en- 

 tire road was ceded to the Dominion authorities, 

 and repayment of the original subsidy of $671,000 

 demanded. By correspondence and joint resolu- 

 tion of the two houses at Halifax the claim was 

 pressed, but without success until Sir Wilfrid 

 Laurier's Government took up the matter and 

 appointed a board of arbitration. The decision 

 was: 



" 1. That the Dominion Government was legally 

 bound to hand over to the province of Nova 

 Scotia the Pictou branch immediately upon the 

 completion of the purchase by the province from 

 the company. 



" 2. That the conditions imposed by the Do- 

 minion Government were illegal and unreason- 

 able, as the Dominion had no right, under the 

 agreement which existed between the two govern- 

 ments and the company, to exact any such con- 

 dition as to rolling-stock or the tariff; that the 

 quantity of rolling-stock demanded was unneces- 

 sary and- unreasonable for the efficient working 

 of the road, and that the tariff sought to be im- 

 posed was one under which the road could not 

 be operated except at a loss. 



" 3. That the object of the Dominion Govern- 

 ment in imposing said conditions was to make 

 it impossible f6r the province to take over the 

 road, as the Dominion had decided that it would 



not give up the Pictou Limx!, .,. OIl 



stated by Sir Charles Tupp--, , , ;I . MI 



Parliament." 



Road Grants and the MumcJ:. 

 was a widely discussed subjc<-'i 

 Assembly, on Feb. 15, the Premier look i 

 ent ground that the grunts were no 

 of the municipal councils. " The Govei n 

 gone on believing that the municipal < 

 the representatives of the people, were the 

 channel through which the money could be -, 

 pended." Mr. C. E. Tanner took issue with Mr. 

 Murray upon this point. " Instead of that, they 

 were carrying out a system which resulted in a 

 division of authority and the frittering away of 

 public moneys. The municipal councils were 

 spending a little money on a road, and a road 

 commissioner was spending a little more money 

 on the same road under a communication issued 

 probably a few days before an election." 



The Halifax and Yarmouth Railway. The 

 members of the Halifax Board of Trade, the 

 mayor and city council of Halifax, and a num- 

 ber of prominent citizens waited on the Premier 

 and his Government, on March 15, to urge the 

 construction of a railway from Halifax to Yar- 

 mouth. The Premier replied that the Government 

 had decided to take vigorous action in the mat- 

 ter, and intimated that the wish of the deputa- 

 tion would probably be granted. A few days 

 later a measure was introduced into the Assem- 

 bly. This bill became law, and on Sept. 1 it was. 

 announced that a contract had been signed with 

 Messrs. Mackenzie & Mann, of Toronto, for 

 the construction of the railway from Halifax to 

 Barrington, with a branch from New Germany to 

 Caledonia Corner, a total distance of about 200 

 miles. Including the provincial arrangement as 

 already outlined, and the Dominion subsidy of 

 $3,200 a mile, and twice that sum under certain 

 conditions which would no doubt be met, they 

 were to receive $19,900 a mile, or about $3,980,000 

 of a total subsidy. The name announced by the 

 contractors was the Halifax and Southwestern 

 Railway Company. The railway is to be com- 

 pleted by Dec. 31, 1903, and at the end of forty 

 years the amount lent by the Government is to 

 be repaid in full. 



Proposed Abolition of the Legislative 

 Council. The abolition of the Legislative Coun- 

 cil has long been a debated question, and many 

 of the existing members were pledged upon ap- 

 pointment to vote for this policy. At the open- 

 ing of the Legislature, on Feb. 15, Mr. C. S. Wil- 

 cox declared that the Government was bound to- 

 carry out its oft-stated policy in this connection 

 and demand from the Liberal members of the 

 upper house the redemption of their promises. 

 There were now 19 members in the Council, of 

 whom 16 were pledged to the Government to vote 

 for abolition. This reform had been dangled be- 

 fore the people for twenty years, and yet $14,000 

 a year was still being spent to maintain the up- 

 per house. Ontario, Manitoba, and New Bruns- 

 wick were able to conduct their business without 

 this second chamber, and he wished to know why 

 Nova Scotia could not do so, and why this delay 

 was permitted. The Premier replied that the Gov- 

 ernment policy was the same as ten years ago. 

 " They were in favor of abolition." The reasons, 

 however, had always been financial, and with the 

 existing surplus and prosperous condition they 

 did not operate with the same force. " As a mem- 

 ber of the Government, he was not quite clear 

 as to whether the abolition of the Council would 

 be a good thing for the province. He did not 

 think it was doing any harm, but assisted in 



