268 



DOMINION OF CANADA. 



provincial rights against Federal centralization, 

 won, not only for herself, but also for her sis- 

 ter provinces, a series of legal victories. 



Temperance. The year 1884 witnessed in 

 Canada an important agitation in temperance 

 reform. The agitation has been directed to 

 secure the passing, by counties and other mu- 

 nicipal districts, of an act known colloquially 

 as " The Scott Act," but officially as u The Can- 

 ada Temperance Act." This act, passed in 

 1878, was amended last year, and was then 

 found satisfactory to the temperance workers. 

 It is to go into effect when adopted by a popu- 

 lar vote. The following is a synopsis: 



PART I. One fourth of the electors in any city or 

 county may petition the Governor-General in Council 

 to have a vote taken upon the act in such city or coun- 

 ty. The Governor-General in Council may then ap- 

 point a returning officer, fix a day for voting, and make 

 all other needful arrangements for the polling of votes. 

 The vote shall be taken by ballot, and in one day. 

 Severe penalties are provided for corrupt practices in 

 the election ; and no treating is allowed, nor are any 

 places where liquor is sold to be open during the whole 

 day of voting. Electors, entitled to vote at an election 

 of a member for the House of Commons, are entitled 

 to vote on the Scott Act. If a majority of the votes 

 polled are in favor of the act, a proclamation will be 

 issued, bringing it into force ; but in counties where 

 licenses are m operation it can not come into force 

 before at least five months after the voting, nor until 

 all licenses in force at the end of these five months 

 have expired. If no licenses are in force in a county, 

 the act may be brought into operation after three 

 months from the day of the vote adopting it. If the 

 act be adopted, it can not be repealed for at least three 

 years, nor until the repeal has been voted on and 

 adopted by the electors. If the act be rejected, it can 

 not be again voted on for three years. 



PART II. From the day of the act's coming into 

 force in any city or county, and as long as it remains 

 in force, no intoxicating liquor shall be sold in any 

 manner or under any pretext, except in the cases fol- 

 lowing: Persons who are specially licensed may sell 

 liquor by wholesale, but only in quantities of not less 

 than ten gallons, or ? in case of ale or beer, eight gal- 

 lons ; and only to licensed druggists, or other whole- 

 salers, or to persons who they have good reason to be- 

 lieve will carry it to and have it consumed in some 

 place where the Scott Act is not in force. Producers 

 of native wine, made from grapes grown by them- 

 selves, may, when licensed, sell such wine to any per- 

 son in quantities of not less than ten gallons, unless it 

 be for medicinal or sacramental purposes, when as 

 small a quantity as one gallon may be sold. Licensed 

 druggists may sell in quantities of not less than one 

 pint. Not more than one druggist may be licensed in 

 a township, not more than two in a town, and not 

 more than one for every 4,000 inhabitants in a city. 

 Druggists are allowed to sell liquor only for medici- 

 nal or sacramental use, or for use in some lonafide 

 art, trade, or manufacture. Liquor can be sold for 

 sacrament only on a certificate signed by a clergyman ; 

 for medicine, only on a certificate signed by a medical 

 man ; and for any other purpose, only on a certificate 

 signed by two justices of the peace. The licensed 

 druggist must file all these certificates, must keep a 

 full record of all the sales he makes, and report the 

 same to the Collector of Inland Eevenue. 



PART III. The penalties for illegal sale are : For the 

 first oifense, a fine of not less than fifty dollars ; for 

 the second offense, a fine of not less than one hundred 

 dollars ; and for the third and each subsequent offense, 

 imprisonment for not more than two months. The 

 clerk or agent who sells for another person shall be 

 held guilty, as well as his employer, and shall be lia- 

 ble to the same punishment. All liquor, and all ves- 



sels containing liquor, in respect to -which offenses 

 have been committed, shall be forfeited. Any person 

 may be a prosecutor for violation of the act. The Col- 

 lector of Inland Re venue is required to prosecute when 

 he has reason to believe that an offense has been com- 

 mitted. In evidence it is not necessary that a witness 

 should be able to name the kind or price of liquor un- 

 lawfully sold j it is enough to show that unlawful dis- 

 posal of intoxicating liquor took place. The finding, 

 in any place, of liquor, and also of appliances for its 

 sale, is prima facie evidence of unlawful keeping for 

 sale, unless the contrary is proved. The husband or 

 the wife of any person charged with an offense against 

 the Scott Act is a competent and compellable witness. 

 Any person attempting to tamper with a witness in 

 any prosecution under the act shall be liable to a fine 

 of fifty dollars. Any person who is a party to an at- 

 tempt to compromise or to settle any offense against 

 the act, with the view of saving the violator from prose- 

 cution or conviction, shall, on conviction, be impris- 

 oned for not more than three months. No appeal 

 shall be allowed against any conviction made by any 

 judge, stipendiary or police magistrate, sheriff, re- 

 corder, or paiish court commissioner. 



The act has already been submitted in 59 

 counties, unions of counties, and cities, and has 

 been defeated in only nine. In the 50 constit- 

 uencies in which the act has been passed, the 

 majorities sum up over 83,000 votes. The 

 fight, in the constituencies not yet voted in, is 

 being carried on very vigorously. Business 

 men report a great improvement in trade, 

 caused almost entirely by the fact that parties, 

 formerly in the habit of running long-time 

 accounts, or of not paying at all, now pay 

 up pretty regularly. Open drinking and its 

 consequent disturbance have very largely de- 

 creased wherever the act is in force. 



Religious Union. The year 1884 also saw car- 

 ried into effect a union of the following relig- 

 ious bodies i. e., "The Methodist Church of 

 Canada," "The Methodist Episcopal Church 

 in Canada," "The Primitive Methodist Church 

 in Canada," and " The Bible Christian Church 

 of Canada." The name of the united church 

 is " The Methodist Church of Canada." The 

 doctrinal basis of the Church is the standards 

 of doctrine and articles of religion contained 

 in the Book of Discipline of the Methodist 

 Church of Canada, and also the general rules, 

 ordinances, etc., of the said Church. The doc- 

 trines of the Church are those contained in 

 the 25 articles of religion, and those taught by 

 John Wesley, in his notes on the New Testa- 

 ment, and in the first 52 sermons of the first 

 series of his discourses, published during his 

 lifetime. 



Canadian Pacific Railway. This work was 

 pushed forward with much vigor during the 

 year. The only portions not yet completed 

 between Montreal and Coal Harbor on the Pa- 

 cific Ocean are a short section north of Lake 

 Superior, and one in the Rocky Mountains in 

 British Columbia. The former will be com- 

 pleted early in 1885, and the latter in the 

 spring of 1886. The entire line from Montreal 

 to the Pacific Ocean is over 2,900 miles, exclu- 

 sive of the Ontario branch, or independent 

 lines built or purchased by the Canadian Pa- 

 cific Railway Company. During the session of 



