568 



MANITOBA. 



all buildings thereon. Some of the Toronto 

 and Montreal merchants went so far as to say 

 that the new law was ultra vires, because it 

 would interfere with inter-provincial trade, 

 while legislation on all matters connected with 

 trade and commerce appertains to the Domin- 

 ion Government, and demanded the disallow- 

 ance of the whole law. Others made a more 

 reasonable demand: that the law should be 

 disallowed in so far as it would interfere with 

 existing contracts, holding that, as eastern mer- 

 chants and manufacturers had given credit to 

 Manitoba customers on the faith of the secu- 

 rity afforded by their property, the Provincial 

 Legislature had no right to step in and wipe 

 that security out of existence. 



Provincial Claims. An agreement was arrived 

 at this year between the Federal and Provin- 

 cial governments, on certain questions that 

 have been the occasion of great discontent in 

 the province for some time. In December, 

 1883, the Farmers' Union of Manitoba, a pow- 

 erful organization, including in its ranks mem- 

 bers of both political parties, met in conven- 

 tion and formulated a " Bill of Rights," which 

 it submitted to the Dominion Government, 

 and which was unanimously adopted by the 

 Provincial Legislature. The Legislature ap- 

 pointed a delegation composed of the Hon. 

 John Norquay, Premier and Provincial Treas- 

 urer ; the Hon. Alexander Murray, Speaker of 

 the Legislative Assembly ; and the Hon. Will- 

 iam Miller, Attorney-General, to lay the claims 

 of Manitoba before the Dominion Government. 

 The delegates urged the right of the province 

 to the control, management, and sale of the 

 public lands within its limits for the public 

 uses thereof; and the mines, minerals, wood, 

 and timber thereon, or an equivalent therefor, 

 and to receive from the Dominion Government 

 payment for the lands already disposed of by 

 them, within the province, less cost of surveys 

 and management. The Federal Government 

 refused this demand, arguing that the lands of 

 Manitoba hold a different position in relation 

 to the Dominion from the lands of the other 

 provinces. The Northwest lands, out of which 

 Manitoba was formed, were acquired by the 

 Dominion Government by purchase from the 

 Hudson Bay Company at considerable cost. 

 The Dominion Government is at further cost 

 in extinguishing Indian titles and maintaining 

 the Indians. The Dominion Government also 

 contended that the lands were being " applied 

 to the public uses of Manitoba " by being util- 

 ized for railway purposes. By agreement in 

 1881, $45,000 per annum was accepted by the 

 province as compensation for the public lands. 

 The Dominion Government, however, now 

 agreed, following the practice of the United 

 States Government in dealing with new States, 

 to transfer all the swamp lands to the prov- 

 ince. The delegates also asked that the school 

 lands be transferred to the province, which 

 was likewise refused. The proceeds of all 

 sales of school lands are invested in Govern- 



ment securities, and the interest is paid to the 

 Provincial government for school purposes. 

 The Dominion Government announced its in- 

 tention of selecting 150,000 acres of land as 

 an endowment for the University of Manitoba. 

 The delegates also asked for the adjustment of 

 the capital account of the province decennially 

 according to population, the present population 

 to be assumed to be 150,000 and to be altered 

 until it corresponds to the amount allowed 

 Ontario on that account. The Dominion Gov- 

 ernment agreed to grant Manitoba the same 

 per capita allowance on an assumed population 

 of 150,000 that had been originally granted to 

 a population of 17,000, the capital sum there- 

 from to be charged with such advances as have 

 already been made from the former capital ac- 

 count and expenditures incurred by the Do- 

 minion Government of a strictly local charac- 

 ter. The delegates further demanded for the 

 province the right to charter railways in the 

 province, except so far as that right is limited 

 by its own legislature in the Extension Act of 

 1881. This demand arose out of the disallow- 

 ance of certain railway charters that were 

 held to conflict with the Canadian Pacific 

 Railway Act, which forbids the Dominion Par- 

 liament to charter any railway south of the 

 Canadian Pacific and running from any point 

 at or near that line, except such lines as shall 

 run southwest, nor to within fifteen miles of 

 latitude 49. The object of this clause was to 

 prevent the tapping of the Canadian Pacific by 

 any of the American trunk lines. The Domin- 

 ion Government declined to alter its policy of 

 protecting the Canadian Pacific until the expi- 

 ration of the time mentioned in its contract. 

 The delegates asked that the grant of eighty 

 cents a bead be not limited to a population of 

 400,000, but continued until the Ontario maxi- 

 mum is reached. The Dominion Government, 

 in view of the exceptionally rapid increase in 

 the population of Manitoba, granted that, in- 

 stead of a decennial increase in the annual 

 grant, Manitoba should have an increase four 

 times in every decade ; a quinquennial census 

 to be taken and an approximate estimate of 

 the population to be made at evenly divided 

 periods between each census ; the 400,000 

 limit to be adhered to. The delegates asked 

 for extended provincial railway facilities, and 

 particularly for the energetic prosecution of 

 the Manitoba Southwestern, the Souris and 

 Rocky Mountains, and the Manitoba and 

 Northwestern Railways. "Without commit- 

 ting itself to any definite promises, the I 

 minion Government pointed to the expendi- 

 ture on the Canadian Pacific Railway and on 

 the Hudson Bay explorations as proofs of i 

 desire to extend railway facilities in Manitoba 

 and- the Northwest in any direction that will 

 not conflict with the general interest and en- 

 gagements of the Government. The delegates 

 called the attention of the Government to the 

 prejudicial effects of the tariff on Manitoba. 

 The Government declined to see any such 



