676 



QUEBEC. 



Lord's last prayer shall find its answer. Higher 

 and fuller training is urged in the matter of the 

 ministry, and the power of the living voice is 

 earnestly presented. Parents are affectionately 

 urged anew to the importance of consecrating 

 some one or more of their sons to the sacred 

 ministry, as well as to yield up beloved daugh- 

 ters to the solemn service of ministering in the 

 Lord's behalf where alone they can do the im- 

 peratively needed work. Noting, in conclusion, 

 that the Church sends forth this year 7 mission- 



ary bishops, the Fathers of the Protestant Epis-. 

 copal Church thus bring their letter to an end: 

 " So, brethren, we are set in our high estate and 

 called to our high and holy calling, to prepare the 

 world which He has redeemed for the coming of 

 its Lord and ours ; to watch, and wait, -and toil ; 

 to do our day's work faithfully, looking in un- 

 faltering hope for the hour when the awakening 

 cry shall ring across all earthly nights and days, 

 ' Behold, the King cometh ! ' and his knock shall 

 shake the gates of mortal life ! " 



Q 



QUEBEC, PROVINCE OF. The most prom- 

 inent political event of 1891, in this province, was 

 the fall of the local Premier, Count Mercier, and 

 his colleagues, and the advent to power of the 

 De Boucherville administration. The new min- 

 isters were at once confronted by the necessity 

 of adopting direct taxation as the only means by 

 which the Government could be carried on. The 

 following preamble, common to three different 

 provincial acts, assented to on June 24, 1892, ex- 

 plains the position in which M. De Boucherville 

 and his colleagues found themselves: 



Whereas, The funded debt of this province, on the 

 30th of January, 1887, was $18,155,013.33, and on the 

 17th of December, 1891, had been increased to $25,- 

 209,873.33, and the ordinary expenditure had been in- 

 creased from $3,032,771.45, in the year ending 30th of 

 June, 1886, to the sum of $4,095,520.45 for the year 

 ending 30th of June, 1891, and to an estimated expend- 

 iture of $4,436,907.50 for the year ending 30th of 

 June, 1892, and the total expenditure has been in- 

 creased from $3,532,742.27, in the year ending June 

 30, 1886, to the sum, for the year ending 30th of June, 

 1891, of $5,871,394.86, and to an estimated expenditure 

 for the year ending 30th of June, 1892, of the sum of 

 $6,247,997.96 ; Whereas, also, the floating debt of this 

 province, on the 17th of December, 1891, exclusive of 

 claims and petitions of right, and of the loan of 20,- 

 000,000 francs falling due on the 16th of July, 1893, 

 amounted to a sum of over $8,000,000 ; Whereas, al- 

 though, during the last five years, additional taxes 

 have been levied, yet the ordinary revenue was $2,948,- 

 999.69 for the year ending 30th of June, 1886, and only 

 $3,457,144.32 for the year ending 30th of June, 1891, 

 and an estimated revenue of $3,392,106.71 for the year 

 ending 30th of June, 1892, and is totally inadequate 

 to meet the increased expenditure ; Whereas, the pres- 

 ent revenue is insufficient to meet the increased ex- 

 penditure and additional burdens put on this province, 

 and it is expedient and necessary to levy new taxes to 

 meet such debts and obligations ; Therefore her Ma- 

 jesty, etc., enacts, etc. 



Then it is enacted that all members of the 

 liberal professions, which are held to be advo- 

 cates, notaries, physicians, dentists, land survey- 

 ors, civil engineers, and architects, practising 

 within the limits of the province, pay a direct 

 tax, viz., those who reside in incorporated cities 

 and towns, to pay an annual sum of $6 ; those 

 who reside in other municipalities of the prov- 

 ince, an annual sum of $8. All members of 

 the Executive Council of the province, members 

 of the civil service, and public employees and 

 officers receiving a fixed salary, are to pay a di- 

 rect tax of 2| per cent, upon their salaries of over 

 $400. The professionals are to pay on or before 

 the first judicial day in October of each year, or 

 incur the penalty of a fine equal to double the 



tax, recoverable with costs before any court of 

 competent jurisdiction. In the case of executive 

 councilors and public officials the tax is to be 

 retained monthly out of their salaries. Further, 

 on the sale, transfer, assignment, or exchange of 

 immovable property within the province, not 

 exceeding $5,000 in value, there is to be levied a 

 tax of 1-J- cent per dollar upon the bona fide value 

 of the property sold, etc., payable one half by each 

 of the parties to the transaction ; in case of such 

 parties understating such value, the tax is to be 

 doubled. In the case of succession to the prop- 

 erty, movable or immovable, of deceased per- 

 sons, the successor is to pay a tax of from 1 to 

 10 per cent, upon its value, according to his pro- 

 pinquity of relationship to the deceased. These 

 measures are probably only the insertion of the 

 wedge, since it would be an intensely long task 

 for Quebec to get rid of her pecuniary difficulties 

 by these means alone. 



Meanwhile the De Boucherville administration 

 began legal proceedings against Mercier and his 

 principal agent, Pacaud, for virtual malappro- 

 priation of the public funds. It was not denied 

 that these two financiers had done what was laid 

 to their charge, yet they were acquitted of that 

 charge by a Quebecois jury ; and Count Mercier 

 was afterward chaired by'his friends, who have 

 probably taken this means of expressing their 

 views of direct taxation. 



Late in November a Quebec judge decided, on 

 appeal, that the above-mentioned " act respect- 

 ing duties on successions and on transfers of real 

 estate " was ultra vires of the Provincial Legis- 

 lature ; but there is no probability that such a 

 decision will be sustained. 



Among other phenomenal acts of the last Legis- 

 lature was one that provides for free grants of, 

 in each instance, 100 acres of Crown lands to the 

 father or mother of a family of 12 children liv- 

 ing and born in lawful wedlock. 



By another such act, widows and spinsters, 

 otherwise qualified as by law provided, are en- 

 titled to be entered on the list of electors, and to 

 vote at all municipal elections, in any city, town, 

 village, or rural municipality, and also to vote 

 for school commissioners and trustees. Quebec 

 has thus become the first of the Canadian prov- 

 inces to confer the franchise, at municipal elec- 

 tions, upon women. 



During the latter days of the year, Hon. J. E. 

 Chapleau accepted and assumed the duties of 

 Lieutenant-Governor, vice Hon. A. R. Angers, 

 who took a portfolio in Sir John Thompson's 

 Cabinet. 



