404: 



NOVA SCOTIA. 



passing good legislation." If those who had 

 pledged themselves in the matter had changed 

 their views, they should resign. In the Legisla- 

 tive Council, on March 29, the Hon. W. T. Pipes 

 introduced a bill for the abolition of the Council. 

 His reasons could only be given on the second 

 reading, in accordance with the custom of the 

 house. The president, the Hon. Mr. Boak, re- 

 ceived the bill and at once ruled it out of order 

 as opposed to the privileges and rules of the Coun- 

 cil. Under decisions of the house adopted on Jan. 

 29, 1894, and continued on Feb. 23, 1897, the 

 measure could not be proceeded with. The presi- 

 dent pointed out that in January, 1894, the opin- 

 ion of three eminent legal gentlemen Messrs. 

 K. L. Borden, Benjamin Russell, and C. W. Wei- 

 don had been asked as to the status of the 

 pledges given by members of the Council. The 

 answer presented to the house was: "We are 

 clearly of opinion that the giving and the taking 

 of a pledge by which a member of the Legislative 

 Council becomes bound to the political leader for 

 the time being to vote for or against a particular 

 measure is a wholly unconstitutional measure." 

 The committee to which this opinion was sub- 

 mitted reported to the Council on Jan. 26 that 

 they " consider it impossible, so long as such 

 pledges exist or are relied upon by the Govern- 

 ment, to obtain the independent judgment of this 

 house upon the question." Mr. Pipes opposed the 

 ruling of the chairman, and moved that it be 

 not sustained. The vote sustained the chairman, 

 15. to 2, and the measure failed. 



Fisheries. Early in the session the Premier 

 moved a committee of inquiry into fishery con- 

 ditions, and it was accepted by the house. The 

 report of this committee was presented to the 

 Assembly on April 1 by Mr. Sinclair, as chair- 

 man. Meetings had been held and witnesses ex- 

 amined, and they had found that, in proportion 

 as the railway rates to Montreal had been de- 

 creased, the trade in fresh fish had increased ; that 

 the success at Canso was especially due to this 

 fact, coupled with the establishment of steam 

 communication with railway points; that statis- 

 tics of the aggregate volume of the fresh-fish 

 trade in the province were unobtainable, but that 

 wherever facilities were provided the progress had 

 been satisfactory; that the advantages to the 

 fishermen in price and in other respects of the 

 fresh-fish trade to that of salt fish were very 

 marked; that the waters of the province con- 

 tained a practically inexhaustible supply of fresh 

 fish second to none in the world; that, with the 

 exception of live lobsters and a few special vari- 

 eties, the existing market for fresh fish was chief- 

 ly in western Canada, where there was, however, 

 the compilation of the fresh-water fish and the 

 sea-water fish from more favorably situated 

 points on the marine coast. The committee 

 pointed out that the Canadian duty on fish was 

 one half a cent a pound and the American duty 

 one cent a pound. This apparently induced Nova 

 Scotians frequently to buy their schooners in the 

 United States, register them in American waters, 

 and ship American fish to Canada. Under the 

 American registration system the rate of tonnage 

 is less. 



The value of the American fish imported into 

 Canada in 1900 was stated at $061,805. The fail- 

 ure to hold the market was due to adverse duty 

 and the lack of transportation facilities. The 

 committee recommended that the same regula- 

 tions be applied to the railway transportation of 

 fish that had been adopted by the Department 

 of Agriculture in connection with the shipment 

 of butter and cheese to Montreal. The latest 



official figures of the Nova Scotian fisheries avail- 

 able are those of 1899, and they show a produc- 

 tion of salmon, $94,611; mackerel, $644,864; her- 

 ring, $373,401; cod, $2,530,600; haddock, $567,- 

 766; lobsters, $1,639,790; hake, $469,477; pollock, 

 $197,006; halibut, $147,316; and miscellaneous, 

 $682,803. The amount of federal bounty paid to 

 the fishermen of Nova Scotia was $106,599. The 

 number in receipt of this bounty was 519, the 

 tonnage was 22,538, and the fishermen numbered 

 5,323. The number of boats in receipt of bounty 

 was 7,235, and the men engaged in them 11,305. 



Mines. On March 5 the Premier made a long 

 reference in the house to the increased sales of 

 coal and the progress of Cape Breton iron and 

 steel industries. To the coal-mines of the prov- 

 ince a greatly enlarged market had been given 

 by the development of the Whitney interests. In 

 1893 the sales of coal to the United States were 

 16,099 tons, in 1900 they were 624,273 tons. There 

 was steady progress in the mines of Pictou and 

 Cumberland. In the former the production for 

 the year ending Sept. 30, 1900, was 538,884 tons, 

 against 460,236 tons in the preceding year. In 

 the latter the production was 496,804, compared 

 with 437,121 tons in 1899. The Inverness coal- 

 fields were just beginning development, and a 

 well-constructed railway had been run through 

 their centers of production. 



The production of gold in the year showed a 

 slight increase 30,999 ounces, against 27,772 

 ounces in 1899. The milling capacity of the 

 province had been increased by more than 300 

 stamps. 



Eight days after Mr. Murray's speech the re- 

 port of the Hon. Charles E. Church, Commission- 

 er of Mines, was presented to the house. The 

 total production of coal for the year ending Sept. 

 30 was 3,238,245 tons, compared with 2,642,333 

 tons in 1899. The shipment to other countries 

 amounted to only 1,215 tons. 



Besides gold and coal, 15,597 tons of iron ore 

 were produced in Nova Scotia in the year, 8 tons 

 of manganese ore, 62,000 tons of coke, 122,281 tons 

 of gypsum, 56,500 tons of grindstones, 50,000 tons 

 of limestone, 783 tons of barytes, 1,100 tons of 

 tripoli and silica, and 600 tons of copper ore. 



Agriculture. The annual report of the De- 

 partment of Agriculture was presented to the 

 house on March 15 by the Hon. Mr. Murray. 

 He described the progress of this industry as 

 having been very marked, and by way of illustra- 

 tion instanced the growth of agricultural soci- 

 eties. In 1864 there were 37 in the province, with 

 3,744 members, who subscribed $1,859, and a Gov- 

 ernment subscription of $3,010. In 1894 the num- 

 ber was 80, with 3,986 members and subscriptions 

 reaching $4,424 from members and $8,000 from 

 the Government. At the close of 1900 there were 

 131 societies, with 7,362 members, whose subscrip- 

 tions amounted to $9,322. The Government grant 

 was $10,000. These societies devoted themselves 

 chiefly to the improvement of live-stock. Al- 

 though they had not all reported, it was clear 

 that 1,200 farmers sent milk to the creameries 

 and cheese factories, and 182 tons of cheese were 

 made by those actually reporting their work. 



A week later Mr. Murray proposed the second 

 reading of his bill for the establishment of an 

 agricultural and horticultural school. It was 

 done by agreement with the governments of New 

 Brunswick and Prince Edward Island, and em- 

 powered the expenditure of $50,000 for buildings 

 and farm lands. As it was to be located in their 

 province, the capital expenditure was to be borne 

 by Nova Scotia. The annual expenditure was to 

 be based upon the population of the different 



