DOMINION OF CANADA. 



221 



in Canada to the more careful discharge of 

 their duties. 



One of the periodical conflagrations to which 

 the wooden-built city of Quebec is liable oc- 

 curred June 8th, destroying a great part of the 

 suburb of St. John. Nearly 700 buildings were 

 destroyed, among them the fine church of St. 

 John. The pecuniary damage amounted to 

 nearly $2,000,000. The burned houses were 

 the homes of some 9,000 people. 



The Ontario Parliament closed its session 

 March 4th. Several railway projects were 

 chartered and subsidies granted, the chief of 

 the railway bills being the one providing for 

 the Sault Ste. Marie line. The principal act 

 of general legislation was an act consolidating 

 the superior courts of law and equity, and es- 

 tablishing a uniform system of pleading and 

 practice. Important amendments were made 

 in the license, municipal, and education laws. 

 An act was passed to secure better protection 

 of employ6s and the public against railroad ac- 

 cidents, and one to prevent the deterioration 

 of rivers and streams through negligence in 

 lumbering operations. The Liberal majority 

 in the Assembly continued unbroken. The 

 railway subsidies granted, it is expected, will 

 speedily return to the Treasury in the form of 

 increased revenue from crown lands and tim- 

 ber, resulting from the opening up of the coun- 

 try north of the Georgian Bay by the Sault 

 Railway. A feeling was evinced against the 

 subsidizing of further routes by the province, 

 unless they promise advantages of the same ex- 

 ceptional character. Resolutions were passed 

 in condemnation of the Dominion Government 

 for its tardiness in adjusting the northern and 

 western boundaries of the province, in accord- 

 ance with the award which was made in 1878. 

 An act was passed to give increased efficiency 

 to mutual insurance companies of the province. 



The act to preserve the public interest in 

 streams was disallowed on a petition to the 

 Governor-General in Council, the reasons given 

 being that it contravened a decision of a court 

 of competent jurisdiction by affirming a public 

 right where the court denied that there was 

 one, that it took away proprietary rights with- 

 out providing for compensation to the owner, 

 and that it was retroactive in its operation. 

 The Governor-General in Council is empow- 

 ered, under the British North America act, to 

 disallow provincial laws, not only because they 

 are ultra vires, but if they are deemed an abuse 

 of the legislative power within the sphere of 

 provincial legislation. The disallowed act pro- 

 vided that all persons might use slides, dams, 

 gates, booms, and works of excavation for 

 floating timber, upon the payment of a reason- 

 able toll to the owners of the improvements. 



The Judicature Act was drawn up on the 

 model of the act for the same purpose passed 

 seven years before by the British Parliament. 

 The Courts of Chancery and Common Pleas 

 and the Queen's Bench were consolidated into 

 a High Court of Justice. The distinction be- 



tween the rules of law and equity is abolished, 

 and where they differ the rules of equity are to 

 guide the court. Proceedings in chancery by 

 a bill or information give place to the common- 

 law writ. Technical pleading is done away 

 with, and a plain statement in ordinary lan- 

 guage is sufficient. 



The total expenditures of Ontario in 1880 

 amounted to $2,243,663, of which $173,732 

 went for the expenses of the civil government, 

 $111,585 for legislative expenses, $265,070 for 

 the administration of justice, $505,104 for edu- 

 cation, $505,598 for the maintenance of public 

 institutions, $141,361 for public works, $52,982 

 for immigration, $107,282 for agriculture, arts, 

 and literary institutions, $72,832 for hospitals 

 and charities, $91,293 for miscellaneous ex- 

 penses, $26,375 for public works, $96,839 for 

 colonization roads, $59,046 for crown lands, 

 and $34,558 refunded. The revenue for 1880 

 was $2,451,935. It was made up principally 

 by a subsidy of $1,116,872 ; a specific grant of 

 $80,000; interest on special funds, $136,696; 

 crown-lands revenue, $616,311 ; revenue from 

 public institutions, $63,982; from education, 

 $44,284; interest on investments, $101,812; 

 licenses, $91,207; law-stamps, $66,984. The 

 assets of the province, consisting of invest- 

 ments, trust-funds held by the Dominion, de- 

 posits in bank, etc., amounted to $5,040,487, 

 the liabilities to $820,398, leaving a surplus 

 over and above all indebtedness of $4,220,088. 

 The estimated expenditures for 1881 were 

 $2,034,823 for current expenses, $228,691 for 

 public works charged to capital account, 

 and $45,677 for other purposes ; together, 

 $2,309,191. The estimate of receipts was 

 $2,400,169. 



An inquiry as to the aggregate indebtedness 

 of municipalities in Ontario shows that it is 

 altogether about $22,000,000. The principal 

 objects for which the loans were raised were 

 railway aid, which took about $8,400,000 of 

 the proceeds of the loans ; water- works and 

 protection against fire, on which over $4,750,- 

 000 were expended; drainage and sewerage, 

 $2,000,000: roads and bridges, $1,800,000; 

 school-buildings, about $1,500,000 ; public 

 buildings, $1,000,000 ; aid to manufacturers, 

 $200,000. The municipal taxes for the year 

 1879 aggregated $7,872,461, being at a rate 

 somewhat less than one cent on the dollar, the 

 assessed valuation of the province amounting 

 to $787,000,000 on a basis which would make 

 the actual value of all property about $1,200,- 

 000,000. The municipal expenditures of the 

 province aggregated in 1879 $11,137,747, of 

 which $2,630,958 went for schools, $1,189,143 

 for roads, bridges, and sidewalks, and $651,967 

 for the administration of justice. Municipal 

 administration cost $993,361. 



The Province of Quebec is embarrassed by a 

 debt of about $17,000,000, the interest and 

 sinking fund for which absorb about $1,000,000 

 of the provincial revenues each year. No less 

 than $12,000,000 represent the cost of the 



