DOMINION OF CANADA. 



branch threatens competition with the line 

 undertaken by the Ontario arid Sault company. 

 An amalgamation with the Canada Central and 

 Intercolonial Kail way, owned by the Govern- 

 ment, was effected by the syndicate. The por- 

 tions of the main line constructed are about 

 500 miles in Manitoba and 100 miles in British 

 Columbia, The whole will be completed by 

 the syndicate, it is expected, in about seven 

 years. The entire lino will be about 4,500 

 miles long, extending from Halifax to Burrard 

 Inlet Surveys have been made for a shorter 

 route between Kauiloopsand Selkirk than over 

 the Yellowbead Pass, the passage in the Rocky 

 Mountains selected by the Government. It 

 has been decided to construct two branch lines 

 extending in a northwesterly direction from 

 the main line, which will probably be deflected 

 to the south in the Northwest Territory from 

 the line surveyed by the Government engi- 

 neers. One of the branches is to enter the 

 main line at Brandon and one near the great 

 forks of the Qn'Appelle. 



The syndicate introduced regulations with 

 regard to the sale of lands in the Northwest 

 which are more inviting to settlers than those 

 in force before. The price of land in the sec- 

 tions belonging to the company within the 24- 

 mile belt was uniformly fixed at $2.50 an acre, 

 payable in seven annual installments with in- 

 terest; but one half of the purchase-money 

 payable within the first three years will be re- 

 mitted to settlers who crop one eighth or more 

 of an 80 or 160 acre tract, or 100 acres in a 

 320-acre tract, and a proportionate part of a 

 640-acre tract; and, when buildings of the 

 value of $1,000 or more are placed upon the 

 property, the same rebate is continued for five 

 years. The price of a quarter-section or half 

 a quarter-section is thus reduced for the pur- 

 chaser who tills the prescribed minimum, to 

 $2.03 an acre, not counting interest, and, if he 

 puts up buildings of the stipulated value, to 

 $1 -72 an acre. The Government have put the 

 same price on the even-numbered sections, but 

 allow no rebate, the right of the pre-emptor to 

 a contipruous quarter-section under the home- 

 stead law constituting an equivalent. The 

 Government land is open only to actual set- 

 tlers. From the 1st of January, 1882, the pre- 

 emption price is due in a single payment at the 

 end of three years. Outside the 24-mile belt 

 one half of the land is subject to homestead and 

 pre-emption at the price of $2 an acre, and the 

 remainder is salable to any buyers and in any 

 quantities at $2 cash per acre. The European 

 companies and individuals may purchase tracts 

 of land within the 24-mile belt at $1.25 

 an acre on the condition of colonizing them. 

 The Government also reserve the power of 

 granting tracts beyond the 24-mile belt to the 

 Canada Pacific or other railroad companies at 

 $1 an acre, and of leasing to cattle-breeders 

 for terms of twenty -one years tracts of 100,000 

 acres or less. 



A memorandum of the Minister of Agricult- 



ure, J. H. Pope, presenting a plan for the 

 establishment of impoverished Irish tenant 

 farmers upon unoccupied lands of the Domin- 

 ion by the assistance of the Canadian and the 

 Imperial Governments, was adopted by the 

 Privy Council of the Dominion and transmitted 

 to the Imperial Government in March. It pro- 

 posed that provision be made for removing 

 families from Ireland to the Northwest, and 

 their maintenance until the first crop should be 

 gathered from the land. By arrangement in 

 advance, the farm-lots of the new-comers could 

 be prepared, a small dwelling erected on each 

 lot, and a portion of the farm broken up and 

 prepared for seed before the arrival of the im- 

 migrant, and in the case of those sent late in 

 the season actually sown, so as to insure a crop 

 the same year that the immigrant is placed in 

 possession. This work would afford employ- 

 ment to the immigrants upon their arrival and 

 while their own crops are growing. The cost 

 of settling immigrants on this plan was esti- 

 mated at $200 for transport of a family with 

 three children to Winnipeg, and about the same 

 sum for preparing for seed eight acres of prai- 

 rie land. The advances which should be made 

 by the British Government for such purpose 

 might be intrusted to a national emigration 

 association; and "the Canadian Government 

 could provide that the cost of preparing home- 

 steads for the occupation of settlers and the 

 cost of transport should form a prior charge 

 upon the land, payable in certain annual in- 

 stallments with interest. The Canadian Gov- 

 ernment has provided for placing tracts of land 

 in the Northwest at the disposal of emigrant 

 associations or commissions for settlement by 

 families from the old country. 



A bill for the extension of the boundaries of 

 Manitoba was brought in the Senate by the 

 ministry in March. It provides in the same 

 manner as a bill which passed the Manitoba 

 Legislature, for the enlargement of the prov- 

 ince westward by the incorporation of the 

 settlements up to the Assiniboin, and for the 

 inclusion of the territory eastward up to the 

 Ontario boundary-line. The eastern boundary 

 thus defined may become a matter of contro- 

 versy, since the western and northern bound- 

 aries of the Province of Ontario are in dis- 

 pute between the Ontario and Dominion au- 

 thorities. 



In an alien act act passed by Parliament, the 

 principle was affirmed incidentally that the Do- 

 minion Parliament possesses concurrent powers 

 with the Provincial Assemblies in legislation 

 regarding property and civil rights. 



The revenue for the year ending June 30th 

 was $29,712,063, derived from the following 

 sources : 



From customs $13.406,058 18 



" excise 5,344.86114 



" other sources 5.961,644 65 





Total $29,712,063 9T 



The expenditures amounted to $25,579,168, 

 leaving a surplus of $4,132,895. The estimate 



