592 



NEW BRUNSWICK. 



Public Instruction, W. G. Hyde ; for Attorney- 

 General, W. C. Love ; for Justice of the Supreme 

 Court, J. H. McMillan; for Clerk of the Su- 

 preme Court, W. W. Booker; for member of 

 Congress, G. W. Cassidy. The platform includes 

 the following : 



Of the hundreds of corporations owning mines and 

 minino 1 upon the great Comstock lode but one is a 

 Nevacfa corporation ; the rest are non-resident. A 

 thousand million dollars have been taken out of the 

 mines, yet not $10,000,000 remain in the State. Every 

 profitable industry is monopolized and plundered 

 until nothing is left to our people but the wretched 

 pittance called the wages of labor. Our population, 

 which was 80,000 in 1864, and which should have 

 been 500,000 by this time, has decreased to 40,000, 

 and our taxable wealth, which should be $ljOOO,000,- 

 000, is less than $20,000,000. Taxes have increased 

 until in many places the property is valueless ; immi- 

 gration has ceased, and the State is being depopu- 

 lated. 



At the November election the entire Republi- 

 can State ticket was elected, the vote for Gov- 

 ernor being: Colcord, 6,601; Winters, 5,791. 

 For member of Congress, Bartine received 6,610 

 votes; Cassidy, 5,736; and M. E. Ward, the 

 nominee of the Prohibition party, 34. Members 

 of the State Legislature were chosen at the same 

 time, the Republicans electing 53 members and 

 the Democrats 7. The question whether a con- 

 vention should be called to revise the State Con- 

 stitution was also voted upon, but the act pro- 

 viding for the submission of this question was 

 subsequently discovered to be fatally defective. 

 It contained no provision authorizing the judges 

 or inspectors of election to count and make re- 

 turns of the votes cast or authorizing the State 

 canvassing board or any State officer to canvass 

 such votes. Although the votes actually cast 

 showed a majority in favor of the convention, 

 no legal method for ascertaining that fact had 

 been provided, and the election was therefore 

 void. 



NEW BRUNSWICK. A general election of 

 members to serve in the Provincial Legislature 

 was held in New Brunswick in January, 1890. 

 The most notable feature of the contest was the 

 election of six opposition members in the city 

 and county of St. John, and the consequent de- 

 feat of Hon. D. McLellan, who had held the of- 

 fice of Provincial Secretary for nearly seven 

 years. This necessitated a change in the Pro- 

 vincial Cabinet. Hon. James Mitchell, Survey- 

 or-General, took the office of Provincial Secre- 

 tary, and his place was filled by Hon. Lemuel J. 

 Tweedie. The latter appointment was made un- 

 der an arrangement for the reduction of the 

 stumpage dues on lumber cut on Crown lands, 

 from $1.25 a thousand superficial feet to $1. 

 This change excited a keen discussion in the 

 Legislature and the public press. A commission 

 was appointed to examine into the condition of 

 the lumber trade, and report on the whole sub- 

 ject of stumpage dues and timber leases. This 

 commission is to report in 1892. 



A great part of the session of 1890 was taken 

 up with the investigation of a charge against the 

 leader of the Government, of having corruptly 

 disposed of an important dock contract to John 

 D. Leary, of New York. The charge was com- 

 pletely disproved. It created intense interest all 

 over the province, principally because of the 



high standing and exceptional political skill of 

 the gentleman attacked, the Hon. A. G. Blair. 



The principal laws passed during the year 

 were: 



To authorize the issuing of debentures to pay for the 

 erection of iron or steel highway bridges, such deben- 

 tures to be redeemable at any time after ten years, and 

 to bear interest at a not greater rate than four per cent. 



[Respecting practice and procedure in the Supmne 

 Court of Equity. This act deals with the whole sub- 

 ject in equity practice, provides for the care of the es- 

 tate of infants, the foreclosure of mortgages, the par- 

 tition of lands, the administration of trusts, the con- 

 trol of the estates of lunatics, the adoption of children, 

 dower, and the management of the property of habit- 

 ual drunkards. All previous acts in regard to these 

 subjects are repealed, and the practice of the court is 

 simplified and modernized. 



To amend the Controverted Elections Act. In the 

 Canadian provinces elections may be set aside by the 

 Supreme Court, where the successful party has used 

 bribery or other unlawful means. The act of 1890 

 provides that the petitioner in such a proceeding shall, 

 at the time of tiling his petition, deposit with the 

 clerk of the court the sum of $1,000 as security for 

 costs, also that the judge is not bound to unseat the 

 successful candidate, unless in his opinion his election 

 was due to illegal practices. Formerly it was suffi- 

 cient simply to prove that these had been committed, 

 even to the slightest extent. Now it must be made 

 clear that the majority of the successful candidate 

 was probably obtained by corrupt means, unless it 

 it shall be shown that no corrupt means were used by 

 the defeated candidate, when the judge may declare 

 the latter elected, if it shall appear that the de- 

 feated candidate was equally guilty with the success- 

 ful one in the employment of illegal agencies, the peti- 

 tion shall be dismissed. 



For the protection of certain animals. This pro- 

 vides a close season for moose, caribou, deer, and red 

 deer, from Jan. 15, to Aug. 31, with a penalty of not 

 less than $100 and not more than $200 for each offense; 

 absolutely prohibits the killing of a cow moose under 

 a penalty of $500 : limits the number of animals that 

 one person may kill in any year as follows: One 

 moose, two caribou, three deer, and three red deer ; 

 and provides an annual appropriation for the enforce- 

 ment of the law. 



For the registration of dental surgeons. This es- 

 tablishes a dental society, and provides that only den- 

 tists who register in the books of the society may 

 practice in the province, an exception being made in 

 the case of registered medical practitioners. 



Railways. The only new line of railway con- 

 structed in the province during the year was the 

 St. Francis Railroad, from Edmundston, the 

 junction of the New Brunswick and Temiscou- 

 ata Railways, up the St. John valley 20 miles. 

 This line will probably be prolonged to Quebec. 



The most important event in railway circles in 

 New Brunswick during the year was the acquire- 

 ment by the Canadian Pacific Railway Company 

 of the New Brunswick Railway. This was orig- 

 in&lly a narrow-gauge road from Fredericton to 

 Edmundston, built principally by Alexander Gib- 

 son, a New Brunswick capitalist, under an act of 

 the local Legislature, giving a bonus of 10,000 

 acres of land per mile. In addition to its line 

 in the province, the company built an important 

 feeder into Aroostook County, Me. In 1879 the 

 New Brunswick Railway was purchased by a 

 syndicate, at the head of which were Sir George 

 Stephen and Sir Donald Smith, afterward the 

 head of the Canadian Pacific syndicate. The 

 new owners of the New Brunswick line proceed- 

 ed to acquire all connecting lines, and soon ob- 







