ONTARIO. 



517 



nial census (1891), $1,492,475.84; bank balances, 

 $1,033,540.31 a total of $7,535,400.90. The lia- 

 bilities included the balance ot an account cur- 

 rent with the Dominion from confederation to date 

 of $1,815,848.89; common-school fund collections 

 payable to the Dominion in trust, $4,010.40; rail- 

 way certificates estimated at present value, $1,274- 

 847.96; annuities estimated at present value, $1,- 

 860,222.10 a total of $4,954,929.41. These figures 

 left a surplus of assets amounting to $2,580,471.49. 

 The receipts for the year were $4,201,080.29, and 

 the expenditures $4,003,729.37. The balance in 

 the banks on Jan. 1, 1900, was $836,195.39, and on 

 Dec. 1 of the same year it amounted to $1,033,- 

 546.31. Mr. Ross pointed out that the receipts 

 for 1900 were $9,452.90 in excess of the estimates, 

 and showed an actual surplus over expenditure 

 of nearly $200,000. The actual expenditure was 

 $99,991.67 less than the estimate. 



Lieut.-Col. Arthur James Matheson, who for 

 some years had been Opposition critic in financial 

 matters, replied to the Treasurer. He declared 

 that no correct view of the finances of the province 

 had been given; that, instead of a surplus, there 

 was actually a deficit this year as well as an ex- 

 pected one next year; that the sum of $636,000 

 being a bonus on timber sales made in 1899 and a 

 special matter should not properly be included 

 as regular receipts; that $24,000 which had been 

 received on capital account for drainage deben- 

 tures should not be accounted as ordinary reve- 

 nue; that certain special expenses, such as the 

 cost of the London Normal School, the Cobourg 

 Asylum, the National Patriotic fund, and the 

 Ottawa Fire fund, should be deducted from the 

 ordinary expenditures, leaving a practical deficit 

 between regular revenue and expenditure of 

 $288,000. 



The University. The condition of Toronto 

 University has been growing financially worse, 

 and as it is controlled largely by the provincial 

 Government, both political parties appear to have 

 felt this year that something should be done to 

 relieve the situation. On Feb. 27 Mr. Richard 

 Harcourt, Minister of Education, spoke on the 

 subject, and intimated that a definite scheme of 

 aid to the university would shortly be submitted. 

 He pointed out that during the past four years 

 the deficits of the institution had aggregated $31,- 

 600, and that the university had not been " doing 

 all the work which its graduates and friends and 

 the thinking public would expect it to do." The 

 important departments of mineralogy and geology 

 were lacking in equipment, a building was wanted 

 in connection with the teaching of physics, a phys- 

 ical laboratory was required, and general exten- 

 sion along the lines of industrial and commercial 

 education was desirable. The minister went on 

 to describe the measure of suitable Government 

 aid as being " exactly the measure of the needs of 

 the institution." On the departments of miner- 

 alogy and geology the university now only spent 

 $2,000 a year, where similar institutions across the 

 line expended $50,000. 



Mr. Whitney, the Opposition leader, while fa- 

 voring assistance to the university in a general 

 way, differed from Mr. Harcourt in believing that 

 educational reform should begin at the bottom 

 instead of at the top. " The only way to build a 

 house is to start with the foundation. There is 

 no use endeavoring to impart the higher education 

 to a people not already well grounded. The vast 

 number of the youth in this province will never 

 go to the university, and therefore the first step 

 to be taken is to improve the public schools." 

 Meanwhile the graduates of the university had 

 been organizing an association in different parts 



of the province, and on M;ivh ]:; :\. hu^rc depu- 

 tation waited upon the Government :\\ loronto. 

 Dr. R. A. Reeve, president or the City Alumni 

 Association, delivered an address u, winch lie 

 declared that the university holMn-jor, to the 

 state as much as the custom-houses or tho ex- 

 perimental farms. The Premier in his replv rec- 

 ognized the necessity of encouraging the scientific 

 side of the university," deprecated the idea of t.h< 

 Government being expected to make the institu- 

 tion equal to the great universities of Germany 

 or Great Britain, pointed out that the financial 

 resources of Ontario were not unlimited, and con- 

 cluded by promising aid in some form to be shortly 

 indicated. 



On March 21 Mr. Harcourt introduced into the 

 Assembly " an act to amend the act respecting the 

 University ot Toronto and University College of 

 Toronto." By this measure, to the scientific de- 

 partment of the university was given a sum esti- 

 mated at $20,000 for the current year, in addition 

 to the sum it already drew out of the previous 

 Government grant for general university require- 

 ments. Land was also set apart for buildings for 

 the mineralogy and geology departments and for 

 an extension of the present School of Practical 

 Science. A board of trustees was to be appointed 

 to control financial and property matters, and 

 to keep them apart from academic or educational 

 affairs. A principal of University College was to 

 be appointed distinct in function and position 

 from the president of the university. Special pro- 

 vision was made for the possible entry of Trinity 

 University into the federation of colleges known 

 as the University of Toronto, and a site was re- 

 served for new buildings, should it decide to do 

 so. Various minor matters of reform and rear- 

 rangement were also defined and dealt with, the 

 most important being the withdrawal of Govern- 

 ment nominees from the university senate, only 

 the Minister of Education remaining an ex-officio 

 member. In addition to the specified financial 

 conditions of the measure, it was announced on 

 the succeeding day that a new building for the 

 science department would be begun at once at an 

 estimated cost of $200,000. The proposals finally 

 became law, though the university authorities 

 did not consider them sufficiently liberal. 



Land Grants to Soldiers. On Feb. 20 the 

 Hon. E. J. Davis moved the first reading in the 

 Legislature of a bill granting certain lands to 

 Ontario soldiers who had served in South Africa 

 and to the survivors of those who had served 

 against the Fenians in 1866. The minister ex- 

 plained the measure, and stated that 160 acres of 

 land in either the free-grant section of New On- 

 tario or the districts where a charge was now 

 made to those taking up land, would be set apart 

 for persons enrolled in the province for active serv- 

 ice who had actually served in South Africa; for 

 the next of kin of any who had met death in the 

 war; and for members of the volunteer militia 

 who could prove actual defensive service in 1866. 

 All land so granted was to be free of settlement 

 duties, provincial and municipal taxes (except 

 school-rates) for ten years. If, however, the land 

 was disposed of by the original owner within that 

 period, then it was to become subject to the usual 

 taxation. In order to prevent the possible locking 

 up of large areas of land, no more than one loca- 

 tion of 160 acres was to be allowed to the square 

 mile. Nurses, chaplains, Red Cross commission- 

 ers, and newspaper correspondents were also to be 

 entitled to these grants on the same conditions. 

 The Government estimated the number eligible 

 for this purpose at about 1,000. The measure was 

 passed. The only extension of its provisions was 



