.576 



QUEBEC. 



" Agriculture in the province has reached a 

 degree of prosperity hitherto unheard of, and my 

 Government has been pleased and will continue 

 in future to hold itself at the disposal of farmers, 

 to second their efforts and encourage agricultural 

 activity within the measure of our resources. 

 Colonization has been energetically and success- 

 fully carried on, and a strong impetus has been 

 given to the settlements of our public lands. The 

 disastrous fire in Hull, which destroyed the court- 

 house, the registry office and notaries' safes, 

 entailed the loss of documents of great impor- 

 tance. My Government at once subscribed a sum 

 of $25,000 for the unfortunate victims of the con- 

 flagration, and a bill will be laid before you for 

 replacing the lost titles and documents. 



" In view of the sufferings entailed by indus- 

 trial conflicts, my Government has decided to 

 place before you a measure for the purpose of 

 facilitating conciliation or arbitration in diffi- 

 culties between employers and workmen. The 

 experience of the past three years has shown that 

 the change in the organization of the depart- 

 ments of Lands, Forests and Fisheries, and Col- 

 onization and Mines, far from facilitating the 

 working of these branches of the public service, 

 has given rise to needless complications in the 

 .administration of affairs. To remedy this, you 

 will be called upon to adopt a measure which, 

 while removing existing difficulties, will allow of 

 a considerable saving being effected by the sup- 

 pression of one of those departments." 



The Hon. E. J. Flynn spoke more than an hour, 

 and criticized the Government program for its 

 omissions as well as for its general character. 

 In the fisheries question he trusted that none of 

 the rights of the province would be sacrificed. 

 He wanted to know who was going to pay for 

 the free text-books, doubted the existence of an 

 .actual surplus, expressed dissent from the state- 

 ment that agriculture was unprecedentedly pros- 

 perous, questioned the advisability of abolishing 

 the colonization department, and inquired about 

 the position of the Government on the subject 

 of abattoirs and railway subsidies. On March 

 28 the Legislature was prorogued after a session 

 of thirty-three days, during which the Assembly 

 voted 24 times and sent 158 measures to the 

 Council. The latter body submitted 24 measures 

 to the Assembly. 



Finances. The Hon. H. T. Duffy, Provincial 

 Treasurer, delivered his annual statement on 

 March 7. He first summed up the condition of 

 affairs during the five years preceding Mr. F. G. 

 Marchand's accession to power in 1897, in order 

 to show the difficulties which that gentleman had 

 to face in managing the provincial finances. Dur- 

 ing that period, he said, the public debt increased 

 by $3,869,081; the funded debt increased by 

 $9,021,334; there was a yearly average deficit of 

 $291,481, and a total deficit of $1,457,408; there 

 were increased taxes amounting to $2,262,452, and 

 increased interest charges of $123,082. In the 

 first year of the new Government, ending June 30, 

 1898, the total deficit was reduced from $984,043 

 to $213,030; the second year there was a surplus 

 of $15,179; in the third year the surplus was 

 $36,612. This, he said, resulted from economy 

 and involved no increased taxes. For the last 

 year, ending June 30, 1900, the ordinary receipts 

 were $4,451,578, and the ordinary expenditure 

 $4,428,385. The chief items of increase in the 

 receipts over the preceding year were in lands, 

 forests, and fisheries, $256,126; mines, $7,835; 

 law fees, $5,552; direct taxes on commercial cor- 

 porations, $13,972; lunatic asylums, $32,473. The 

 first item was mainly owing to the increased de- 



mand for timber, and especially for pulp-wood. 

 The principal increases in expenditure were $9,535 

 for legislation; $16,221 for civil government; 

 $17,111 for the administration of justice; $63,743 

 for public instruction; $18,341 for agriculture; 

 $45,000 for colonization ; lands, forests, and fisher- 

 ies, $28,135. There had been revenue decreases 

 from the Dominion of Canada of $41,145; from 

 licenses, $20,307; and from succession duties, 

 $17,130. The reductions in expenditure were 

 mainly in connection with the debt, and amount- 

 ed to $20,263. The Treasurer intimated that 

 there was a steady decrease in the amount re- 

 ceived from the succession tax, and that it might 

 be necessary to copy the English legislation un- 

 der which transfers of property by donation with- 

 in a certain period of the owner's death are re- 

 garded as transmissions by inheritance. The 

 estimated revenue for the year ending June 30, 

 1902, was $4,321,761, and the expenditure $4,267,- 

 643. According to the official figures published 

 at a later period, the actual receipts up to June 

 30, 1901, amounted to $4,816,210. The expendi- 

 tures included $1,549,275 upon the public debt, 

 $235,596 upon legislation, $278,307 upon civil gov- 

 ernment, $534,114 upon the administration of jus- 

 tice, $427,589 upon public instruction, $147,555 

 upon public works and buildings, $199,217 upon 

 agriculture, $138,425 upon lands, forests, and fish- 

 eries, $189,390 upon colonization and mines, 

 $345,000 upon lunatic asylums, $123,318 upon rail- 

 way subsidies, and $528,208 upon miscellaneous 

 matters and services. The total expenditures 

 were $4,756,002. The funded debt of the province on 

 June 30, 1900, was $35,072,027. On June 30, 1901, ac- 

 cording to the official statement,it was $26,072,419. 



The Hon. Mr. Flynn briefly criticized the budget. 

 Any little surplus that existed was due to the 

 sale of water-powers and other infringements 

 upon capital. The Conservative administration 

 in 1896 had been severely criticized because they 

 had spent $3,978,424, and yet the present Govern- 

 ment had voted for 1900-1901 ordinary expendi- 

 tures of $4,510,000, and a total amount of $4,899,- 

 435. Special warrants, which the Liberal party 

 and the members of the present ministry had 

 once denounced, were now being issued to an 

 alarming extent. The appropriations for the com- 

 ing year he considered insufficient, and this was 

 proved by the increase in the warrants, while the 

 revenues were being swelled by such extraordi- 

 nary means as the sale of timber limits, water- 

 powers, and the seigneury of Mingan for $447,804. 



Reorganization of Departments. On March 

 18 the Hon. Mr. Gouin introduced his measure 

 for the abolition of the Department of Coloniza- 

 tion and Mines, the limiting of the number of 

 ministers to 6 instead of 7, the change of desig- 

 nation from that of commissioner to minister, the 

 transference of colonization matters to the Depart- 

 ment of Public Works, and of Mines to the Crown 

 Lands Department. The measure was warmly 

 debated, and finally passed on March 25 after 

 some amendments by the Legislative Council. 

 Under its terms, the title of " commissioner " was 

 abolished, and the Lieutenant-Governor was au- 

 thorized to appoint 6 ministers, as follows: 1. A 

 minister charged with the administration of jus- 

 tice, and designated as Attorney-General. 2. A 

 minister with the attributions mentioned in Act 

 705 and following of the Statutes, designated as 

 Provincial Secretary. 3. A minister charged with 

 presiding over the Treasury Department, desig- 

 nated as Provincial Treasurer. 4. A Minister of 

 Colonization and Public Works. 5. A Minister 

 of Agriculture. 6. A Minister of Lands, Mines, 

 and Fisheries. 



