DOMINION OF CANADA. 



221 



man Steamship Company, to perform this ser- 

 vice, by calling fortnightly at Halifax for mails 

 and passengers, on their voyages to and from 

 the United Kingdom. Important laws respect- 

 ing customs, public works, the civil service, 

 the militia, marine, and fisheries, and an " Act 

 respecting the currency," have also passed.* 

 Cap. 40 of the militia law makes provision 

 for works of fortification and defence. Power 

 is taken to raise 1,000,000 for such works, 

 under the guarantee of the imperial treasury, 

 to rank next after the Intercolonial Kailway 

 Loan, and to be expended on the works at St. 

 John, N. B., Montreal, and points farther west. 

 The Currency Act provides that if the Con- 

 gress of the United States adopt the basis of 

 the International Monetary Conference, mak- 

 ing the American half-eagle equal to the 

 French twenty -five franc piece, then, by proc- 

 lamation, the same currency will be adopted 

 in the Dominion. It it also provided that the 

 Governor may order that silver coins of the 

 United States be received as legal tender in 

 Quebec, Ontario, and New Brunswick. A 

 marked feature in the legislation of Ontario is 

 a measure- in favor of immigrant settlers. 

 " Free grants and homesteads " are authorized 

 to be given in several extensive districts, and 

 it is humanely regulated that, " upon the death 

 of the locatee, the land so given passes to his 

 widow, unless she prefers to accept her dower 

 in it. The land cannot be alienated or mort- 

 gaged until the patent issues, nor within twenty 

 years of the location, without consent of the 

 wife, if living. Nor shall it be liable during 

 that twenty years to be sold under execution 

 for any debt, except a mortgage or pledge, 

 after the patent issues." An act " respecting 

 gold and silver mines" also passed; and the 

 genius of the people (chiefly of English and 

 Scotch birth and origin) is shown by a law re- 

 lating to the municipal institutions of the Prov- 

 ince, in which previously-existing laws are care- 

 fully and minutely altered and improved. The 

 Quebec Legislature has shown no disposition 

 to encourage emigration to that province from 

 Europe. This is, no doubt, owing to the 

 natural desire to preserve intact the power of 

 the French element. Much anxiety is evinced 

 to induce French Canadians from the old and 

 thickly-settled districts to take possession of 

 the unsettled, or crown lands ; and to this end 

 "colonization roads" are being constructed 

 to a considerable extent, exclusively by the 

 Government, and aid tendered to municipalities 

 for a like purpose. It is also known that agen- 

 cies are at work to induce French-Canadian em- 

 igrants to the United States to return. As a 

 result of this movement, addresses from many 

 of those emigrants, residing in the Northern 

 States, have lately been presented, praying that 

 *' the Parliament of Quebec will furnish them 



* The Customs Act, consisting of one hundred and 

 forty-one clauses, consolidates the previous laws of the 

 several Provinces of the Dominion, furnishing a complete 

 general code, and making the tariff uniform. 



an opportunity of returning to their country." 

 Per contra, it may be stated that the Catholic 

 Bishop of Burlington, Vt., lately applied, in 

 the city of Quebec, for French-Canadian priests 

 to cooperate with him in ministering to their 

 countrymen residing in the United States, of 

 whom, he says, there are not less, in the ag- 

 gregate, than half a million; "that they are 

 still pressing forward at an average of a thou- 

 sand per week," and that he " desired to sup- 

 ply them with priests, speaking their own lan- 

 guage and participating in their ideas, on the 

 soil to which they have become attached." 



In New Brunswick, the legislation embraces 

 collection and management of revenue, roads 

 and bridges, county courts, and an act which 

 exempts homesteads, not exceeding in value 

 six hundred dollars, from seizure for debt, or 

 cause of action accruing after the passing of said 

 act. The principal measure in Nova Scotia 

 relates to its leading interests, gold and coal 

 mines. And besides the general act, not less 

 than thirty-five " gold-mining companies " 

 were incorporated capital from fifty thousand 

 to one hundred thousand dollars each and 

 eight companies for " coal mining," capital 

 from one hundred thousand dollars to five 

 hundred thousand dollars. 



But the proceeding of paramount interest in 

 the Dominion in the past year is the enact- 

 ment authorizing the Intercolonial Eailway, 

 and the commencement, accordingly, of that 

 great work. This road is to confederation as 

 the keystone to the arch. Without it there 

 could be no union, and without the union the 

 British Government would never guarantee the 

 necessary loan of 3,000,000. The imperial 

 act authorizing this loan provides thus : " The 

 commissioners of her Majesty's Treasury shall 

 not give any guarantee under this Act, unless 

 and until an Act of the Parliament of Canada 

 has been passed, within two years after the 

 union of Canada under the British North 

 America Act, 1867, providing, to the satisfac- 

 tion of one of her Majesty's principal Secre- 

 taries of State, as follows : 



"1. For the construction of the railway. 



" 2. For the use of the railway at all times 

 for Her Majesty's military and other service. 



" Nor unless and until the line in which the 

 railway is to be constructed has been approved 

 by one of her Majesty's Principal Secretaries 

 of State." The main object of this clause was 

 to oblige the Dominion Parliament to adopt a 

 line marked out some years since by Major 

 Eobinson, an imperial officer, running by the 

 Gulf shore as far north as possible from the 

 American frontier. This line has been adopted, 

 the sanction of the Secretary of State obtained 

 accordingly, railway commissioners appointed, 

 as directed by the Dominion Act, and tenders 

 for contracts called for. There are two pro- 

 visions in the law evidently directed against 

 jobbing, viz. : "All contracts for over $10,000 

 to be submitted to the Governor in council for 

 approval. No member of Parliament can be 



