448 



MANITOBA. 



MANUFACTURERS' ASSOCIATION. 



exorbitant, and any relief which can be obtained 

 from such rates will be eagerly welcomed. 



" It was deemed wise to anticipate the time when 

 the Legislative Assembly would be dissolved in the 

 ordinary course in order to afford the people of the 

 province an opportunity of expressing themselves 

 upon the attitude assumed by my Government in 

 relation to the pending application of the minority 

 for a restoration of their former privileges in re- 

 gard to education. The result of the election leaves 

 no room for doubt that the attitude of my Govern- 

 ment is in accord with the wishes of a very large 

 majority of the people of the province. 



" Foreign relations of the motherland have re- 

 cently proved of an exciting and menacing charac- 

 ter. The people of this province join with the rest 

 of the Dominion in declaring their unswerving 

 loyalty to the empire." 



Findlay M. Young was re-elected Speaker of the 

 House. On Feb. 26 a long resolution was intro- 

 duced by Attorney-General Sifton (since a member 

 of the Laurier Government at Ottawa) denouncing 

 the whole policy of the Federal power regarding 

 the Manitoba school question, and concluding with 

 the assertion that " no case has been made out for 

 interference with our school law by the Dominion 

 Parliament which will justify such Parliament in 

 overriding the well-recognized principle of provin- 

 cial autonomy, a principle the maintenance of 

 which is essential to the satisfactory operation of 

 our Constitution," and the further statement " that 

 this House does therefore most solemnly protest 

 against the passage of the remedial act, which has 

 been introduced into the House of Commons, and 

 does hereby declare that the said act is an unneces- 

 sary and unjustifiable attack upon the constitu- 

 tional rights of the Legislature and people of Mani- 

 toba." The resolution was carried by a good ma- 

 jority, and adjournment took place on March 19, 

 after the following, among other, measures had been 

 passed : 



To amend the real property act. 



To amend the municipal hail insurance act. 



To amend the vital statistics act. 



To amend the bills of sale act. 



To amend an act respecting aid to railways. 



To amend the distress act. 



To incorporate the Home Investment and Sav- 

 ings Company. 



For codifying the law relating to the sale of goods. 



To amend the dairy factories incorporation act. 



To incorporate the Manitoba Trusts Company. 



Respecting the profession of civil engineers. 



To amend the assessment act. 



To amend the public schools act. 



To amend the public health act. 



To amend the liquor license act. 



To amend the mechanics' lien amendment act, 

 and to make further provision respecting the liens 

 of mechanics and laborers. 



To amend the master and servants act. 



Education. The annual report for 1895 showed 

 a school population of 44,032, against 36,459 in 

 1894, and a registered attendance of 35,371, as 

 against 32,680. The average attendance was 19.516 

 an increase of some 3,000 during the year. There 

 were 570 male and 523 female teachers, while the 

 number of organized school districts was 956, or 40 

 more than in 1894. The average teacher's salary 

 \\as $427.89, or $53 less than in the preceding year. 

 The total receipts of the Education Department 

 was $855.783, a decrease of $20,000. The expendi- 

 ture was $797,542, an increase of $22.000. The 

 total assets are stated at $1,560,700, the liabilities at 

 $972.912. The special grants were as follow : To 

 collegiate institutes, $5.895: to intermediate schools, 

 $4,950 ; to ordinary schools, $95,865 ; to Manitoba 



minority. $3,500 ; maximum grant to each school, 

 $130. There were 403 schools closed with religious 

 exercises, and 396 with prayer ; 295 used the Bible, 

 and 674 had temperance instruction : 205 schools 

 taught the Ten Commandments, and 629 gave 

 moral instruction of some kind. 



Agriculture. The production in the province 

 during 1895 was exceptionally good, as will be seen 

 in the following statistics : Wheat, 1,140,276 acres, 

 31,755.038 bushels; oats, 482,658 acres, 22,555,733 

 bushels; barley, 153,839 acres, 5,645,036 bushels; 

 potatoes, 16,716 acres, 4,042,562 bushels ; turnips, 

 6,685 acres, 2,225,283 bushels. The area of new 

 land broken in was 99,835 acres ; the expenditure 

 for new farm buildings was $792.640 ; and the total 

 area under all crops was 1,887,796, an increase of 

 295,000 acres over 1894. The export of stock, fat 

 cattle, and hogs from Manitoba has become a valua- 

 ble feature in its trade, and 22.000 head of cattle 

 and 10,000 hogs were shipped in 1895, showing an 

 increase of 100 per cent, in the one case and of 25 

 per cent, in the other. The total stock in the prov- 

 ince, held by 25,000 farmers, amounted to 91,194 

 horses, 192,525 cattle, 35,766 sheep, and 59.457 pigs. 

 A strong effort was made to increase the cheese 

 production of the province, and at the end of the 

 year there were 52 cheese factories, with an output 

 of 1,553,192 pounds, valued at $107,600. There were 

 19 creameries, which made $85,650 worth of butter. 



Miscellaneous. In 1882 the gross debt of Mani- 

 toba was $108,151 ; in 1895 it was $4,679,794, but 

 with assets estimated at $7,146,031. The province 

 also owns many buildings, valued at a total of 

 xTo'^.OOO, and has lands of a partially reclaimed and 

 available nature valued at over $1.000,000. 



MANUFACTURERS, NATIONAL ASSOCIA- 

 TION OF AMERICAN, an organization contain- 

 ing about 10,000 members, with branches in the 

 manufacturing States of the Union. The associa- 

 tion was formed in 1895, and the first annual meet- 

 ing was held in Chicago, Jan. 21-24, 1896. The 

 second annual meeting was held in Philadelphia, 

 Jan. 26-28, 1897. The association is wholly outside 

 of political lines. It takes no position on the tariff 

 and similar questions, although it seeks to develop 

 and extend the trade of the United States in Cen- 

 tral America, South America. Japan, China, and in 

 other countries where that trade can be improved. 

 Other objects of the association are : To secure a 

 uniform bankruptcy law; to embody the principle 

 of reciprocity in national legislation ; to promote a 

 judicious system of subsidies as a means to the res- 

 toration and extension of the American merchant 

 marine; to advance the interests of the Nicaragua 

 Canal under the control of the Federal Government; 

 to seek the improvement and extension of the natu- 

 ral and artificial water ways of the Union to the 

 full needs of commerce, with the immediate object 

 of connecting the Great Lakes with the rivers of the 

 Mississippi valley and the Atlantic seaboard ; to 

 show, through the consular service, where American 

 manufacturers can secure a foreign market for their, 

 products ; to establish a permanent headquarters 

 for the exhibition of American manufactures ; and 

 to secure the creation of another officer in the Cabi- 

 net of the President of the United States, to be 

 known as the Secretary of Manufactures and Com- 

 merce. The latter effort is the one that is now 

 most prominent in the association. In favor of this 

 plan, it is said that nearly every country in Europe 

 lias an officer of this sort and a bureau where manu- 

 facturers can obtain the latest and most trustworthy 

 information as to the class of goods in demand in 

 foreign countries. It is claimed that the bureau, if 

 created, would do for the manufacturing interests 

 what the Department of Agriculture has already 

 done for the agricultural interests. 



