DOMINION OF CANADA. 



215 



tal account. The aggregate amount of revenue 

 received from them from the beginning was 

 $593,293, not one fourth as much as the ex- 

 penses of the mounted police alone. 



The total revenue from all sources for the 

 year 1881-'82 was reported as $32,188,793, 

 and the total expenditures on account of the 

 consolidated fund, $23,753,193. 



The excess of the revenue from customs over 

 the expected yield of the new tariff has caused 

 the Government to modify various duties, by 

 which a reduction in the receipts estimated to 

 amount to $1,500,000 will be attained. The 

 reductions are in articles of food and in various 

 manufacturing materials. The ill-advised corn 

 duties, directed against the United States im- 

 ports, have been altered, and the duties on tea, 

 coffee, etc., lowered. 



The estimated expenditures on account of 

 the consolidated fund for the year ending June 

 30, 1883, amount, with the supplementary esti- 

 mates, to $28,102,628. The estimated expendi- 

 tures on capital account are $25,994,767. The 

 acceleration of the Pacific Railway works in- 

 creases the subsidies and other expenditures in 

 connection with it to $14,754,000 for the year. 

 Of the remaining estimated expenditures $2,- 

 829,000 are in the improvement of the canal 

 system, and $609,086 on the burdensome In- 

 tercolonial Railway. 



LEGISLATION. The session of the Dominion 

 Parliament opened February 9th, and came to 

 a close May 17th. No important measures 

 were passed. The one which provoked the 

 most discussion was the redistribution of seats 

 in accordance with the new census. A civil- 

 service act provides for the examination of 

 candidates before entering the civil service, 

 but does not make the examinations competi- 

 tive. A few amending bills relating to juris- 

 prudence were passed, including one providing 

 for the extradition of fugitive offenders within 

 the limits of the British Empire. A commis- 

 sion appointed to investigate the abuses of 

 factory-labor had reported in favor of legisla- 

 tion similar to the English and American fac- 

 tory acts. A bill with very moderate pro- 

 visions was framed by the Government, but 

 afterward dropped. The establishment of a 

 railroad commission was proposed by a private 

 member, but not entertained. An act was 

 passed making the practice of ticket-scalping 

 a punishable offense. As many as twenty- 

 three charters for railroad or bridge compa- 

 nies were granted or amended, and several 

 subsidies voted. 



A strong sympathy has been felt by the ma- 

 jority of the people of Canada for the Irish in 

 their conflict with the British Government. 

 The Canadian politicians were carried so far 

 by this feeling, and by a desire to propitiate the 

 large Irish vote, as to send an address to the 

 Queen, recommending home rule as the solu- 

 tion of the Irish difficulty. The resolutions 

 were introduced in the House of Commons by 

 a private member, Costigan, who afterward re- 



ceived a ministerial portfolio. Both the party 

 leaders, Macdonald and Blake, expressed warm 

 sympathy with the Irish, and the motion was 

 carried in both Houses without a dissenting 

 vote. The address set forth the facts that the 

 Irish in Canada are prosperous and contented ; 

 it attributed the preference of Irish emigrants 

 for the United States to their estrangement 

 toward the British Government ; it expressed 

 the hope that the federal system with consid- 

 erable powers of self-government, under which 

 Canada has prospered, might be adopted be- 

 tween England and Ireland; finally, it peti- 

 tioned for the release of the suspects. The 

 indifference shown by the Canadians to the 

 interests of British manufacturers, and to the 

 representations of the British Government, 

 when they adopted a protective tariff, had given 

 deep offense to the English. The reply of 

 Lord Kimberly, the Colonial Secretary, to the 

 Irish resolutions of the Canadian Parliament 

 was as sharp as it could be written, declaring 

 that k 'her Majesty will, in accordance with the 

 Constitution of the country, have regard to 

 the advice of the Imperial Parliament and 

 ministers, to whom all matters relating to the 

 United Kingdom exclusively appertain." 



ELECTION. The Conservative Government, 

 feeling secure in the popularity of the " na- 

 tional policy " at present, determined to procure 

 a new lease of power before the expiration of 

 the Parliament by lapse of time in 1883. After 

 prorogation Parliament was dissolved and new 

 elections ordered in June. The Liberal or Re- 

 form party were taken at a disadvantage by 

 making the issue on the protective question. 

 They had been free-traders hitherto, but were 

 beginning to turn with the tide. The leader, 

 Edward Blake, seeing the hopelessness of the 

 free-trade views still advocated in the " Globe " 

 newspaper, the organ of the party, preferred 

 to enter the conflict without a party cry. He 

 made use of the temporizing phrases familiar 

 in American politics, of "incidental protection " 

 and the "impossibility of free trade" in a 

 country which must collect a revenue from 

 customs, in order to retrieve his position. The 

 boundary dispute was only available in Onta- 

 rio, and could only harm the party elsewhere. 

 The Pacific Railway arrangement was as per- 

 manently settled as the protective tariff, and 

 added to rather than detracted from the 

 strength of the Government party. The result 

 was a Conservative victory. The new appor- 

 tionment had increased the number of seats 

 belonging to Ontario by 4, and of Manitoba by 

 1, leaving the other provinces with the same 

 number as before. Seven of the leading Lib- 

 erals lost their seats. The Conservative ma- 

 jority was not as large as in the last Parlia- 

 ment, in which they held 145 out of 206 seats. 

 They were practically as strong, however, 

 forming a compact party under the control of 

 their skillful leader with a clear majority of 60 

 in the new House of 211 seats. 



WELLAND CANAL. The deepened "Welland 



