ONTARIO. 



OREGON. 



633 



out the year is gradually disappearing from the 

 older settled districts. The custom of engag- 

 ing a man for the summer six months, and of 

 doing without regular hired help for the other 

 six, has taken its place. The better class of 

 farmers are adopting another plan the most 

 satisfactory of all to the farmer : he engages 



a married laborer, provides him with a cottage 

 and a plot on one corner of the farm, and en- 

 gages his services for the year, or the summer 

 six months, as suits his convenience. 



Crop-Products. The following table exhibits 

 the statistics relating to the products, etc., of 

 Ontario for the year 1884: 



* In ear. 



Education. During November and Decem- 

 ber, farmers' institutes or conventions were in- 

 stituted in the various counties of the province. 

 The object is to discuss questions connected 

 with the farming interests. Already the eifect 

 has been remarkable. During the year, too, 

 the Department of Agriculture introduced writ- 

 ten examinations in agriculture. These exam- 

 inations are for farmers' sons, and are held at 

 the same time as the various teachers' exam- 

 inations. The object is to encourage young 

 men to remain on the farms. 



In professional education some important 

 changes have been introduced and advances 

 made. The Minister of Education for the prov- 

 ince, the Hon. G. W. Ross, has started a move- 

 ment to confederate the various provincial 

 universities. The plan is, to have one central 

 provincial university and several colleges. Each 

 of the present universities is to become a col- 

 lege, with a professional staff in the more or- 

 dinary departments ; but in the higher and the 

 science departments the university as feder- 

 ated shall supply the staff of professors. Each 

 college is to be represented by a fixed number 

 of members in the senate of the provincial 

 university, which alone is to have the power 

 of conferring degrees. Already Victoria Uni- 

 versity, the institution of the Methodist Church, 

 Trinity University, Knox College, McMaster 

 College, or the Baptist College, Wy cliff e Col- 

 lege, and the Western University, have signi- 

 fied their approval of the plan. Albert Uni- 

 versity, of Belleville, belonging to the late 

 Episcopal Methodist Church, federated, at the 

 time of the Church Union, with Victoria Uni- 

 versity of Cobourg. The Toronto School of 

 Medicine, and St. Michael's College, the latter 

 a Roman Catholic institution, were formerly 

 affiliated with the University of Toronto. The 

 only university in the province of any impor- 

 tance that has refused to enter the confederacy 

 is Queen's of Kingston. Victoria will move 

 from Cobourg to Toronto, and erect college 

 buildings convenient to the University of To- 

 ronto, as the other colleges have done. The 

 Minister of Education has also made an im- 

 portant move in the matter of provincial school 

 text-books. He proposes, and is carrying his 

 proposal into practical effect, to have but one 

 book on any subject ; one series of readers, one 



t Shelled. 



geography, one grammar, etc. Counsels are 

 much divided as to the propriety of this scheme. 



The Kindergarten system of educating junior 

 pupils has been most successfully introduced 

 in the province. The credit of the enterprise 

 is due mainly to Mr. J. L. Hughes, Inspector of 

 Schools, Toronto. Considerable discussion and 

 correspondence took place during the year, 

 relative to the introduction of the Bible into 

 the public schools of the province. The law 

 has for years permitted the reading of the 

 Scriptures and of prayers approved by the 

 Education Department, but nothing compulsory 

 was in the law. Several extreme members of 

 the clerical party endeavored to work up an 

 excitement about the immorality of the youth 

 of the land, owing to "new-fangled Yankee 

 notions," and to the absence of Bible-reading 

 in schools, but the law remains about as it was. 

 The Minister of Education caused a selection 

 to be made of the non-sectarian portions of 

 the Bible, and this will be bound in a separate 

 volume for use in the schools where it is 

 deemed necessary to read the Bible. 



Crime. Crime in Ontario has been at a low 

 ebb, so far as the more heinous offenses are 

 concerned ; but the petty crimes have been 

 very common. Burglary especially has been 

 exceedingly common in nearly all the large 

 cities and towns, and the police seem to be of 

 very little service. There is also a growing 

 tendency to use fire-arms. The Blake act, for- 

 bidding, under severe penalties, the carrying 

 of concealed weapons, is in force in Canada, 

 and is largely instrumental in rendering the 

 revolver unsalable. 



Popular Demonstrations. There were two great 

 demonstrations to two noted politicians in To- 

 ronto in 1884. The first was a monster street 

 procession in honor of the victory achieved 

 before the Privy Council in London, by the 

 Hon. Oliver Mowat, in connection with the 

 boundary award. The Liberals of the prov- 

 ince, from every municipality, turned out en 

 masse. The second was a convention and ban- 

 quet in honor of Sir John A. Macdonald's hav- 

 ing been decorated with the order of the Gar- 

 ter, and also of his having attained his forty- 

 first year of public life in Canada. 



OREGON. State Government. The following 

 were the State officers during the year : Gov- 



