NEWFOUNDLAND. 



513 



amendment to the State Constitution; favors 

 the election of Senators by direct vote of the 

 people ; requests retrenchment in State expenses ; 

 demands Government ownership of railroads and 

 the enforcement of section 4 of the Interstate 

 Commerce act ; favors the enactment of law re- 

 stricting 1 campaign expenses in order that poor 

 men may compete for office, and opposes " ring " 

 rule in the politics of this State. 



The following nominations were made: For 

 Governor, George Peckham ; Attorney-General, 

 (I. F. Sawyer; Comptroller. Charles Steele; Treas- 

 urer. M. II. Dungan ; State Printer, M. I). 

 Dooley : Regent of the University, William 

 Webster ; for Congress, James Dougherty ; and 

 for Superintendent of Public Instruction, A. E. 

 Kaye, who declined the nomination. 



The Democratic party met in State convention 

 at Carson City, Sept. 17. The resolutions de- 

 clared unalterable devotion to bimetallism and 

 the free and unlimited coinage of silver at the 

 ratio of 16 to 1 ; denounced the Republican 

 party for its base treachery to silver by the De- 

 monetization act of 1873, and its subsequent 

 pretended advocacy of the cause of the white 

 metal; commended the National Administra- 

 tion and the tariff changes ; favored direct elec- 

 tion of United States Senators, arbitration in 

 labor disputes, and the adoption of the proposed 

 constitutional amendment consolidating State 

 offices as measures of economy, but recommended 

 that the other amendments proposed be defeated ; 

 they opposed " the extension of the time for pay- 

 ment by the Pacific railroads of their debts to 

 the National Government as contemplated by 

 the so-called ' Riley Funding bill,' and demanded 

 the prompt foreclosure by the Government of its 

 mortgages upon said roads as the debts secured 

 thereby become due," and favored the Govern- 

 ment ownership and operation of said roads ; 

 they also favored restriction of immigration and 

 strict construction and enforcement of the nat- 

 uralization laws. 



Two tickets were nominated by the two wings 

 of the party. Following is the one that was 

 recognized as regular : For Governor, Theodore 

 Winters: Treasurer, W. G. Thompson; Comp- 

 troller, D. H. Hall; Attorney-General, W. U 

 Grimes; Superintendent of Instruction, S. S. 

 Searles ; State Printer, James Morris ; Regents 

 of the University, J. W. Hyslop, A. Wiseman. 



The entire ticket of the Silver party was suc- 

 cessful Nov. 6. The vote for Governor stood : 

 Jones, Silver, 5,214; Cleveland, Republican, 

 3,887 ; Peckham, Populist, 710 ; Winters, Demo- 

 crat, 697. The expression of opinion on the 

 question of the election of United States Sena- 

 tors by direct vote of the people carried it in 

 the affirmative by a majority of 6,775 out of a 

 total vote of 7,641 ballots cast on that proposi- 

 tion. All the proposed constitutional amend- 

 ments were defeated in most cases 5 votes be- 

 ing cast against the amendment to 1 cast in fa- 

 vor of them. That proposing to disfranchise 

 ex-Confederate soldiers was defeated by a much 

 larger majority than the others. 



NEWFOUNDLAND. A general election was 

 held in November, 1893, and the returns showed 

 that the party led by Sir William Whiteway, the 

 former Premier, had a majority of 24 to 12 in 

 the House of Assembly. The legislative session 

 VOL. xxxiv. 33 A 



opened on Feb. 16, 1894. Petitions had been 

 presented against the returns of 17 members of 

 the Government party, on the ground that they 

 had been guilty of bribery and corruption. Each 

 of these petitions was tried by a judge of the 

 Supreme Court, in accordance with the act for 

 the prevention of corrupt practices at elections. 

 The trials, owing to the large number of wit- 

 nesses who were examined, were extended over 

 six months. The result was that, one after an- 

 other, 16 of the accused members were de- 

 clared by the judges to have been guilty of 

 bribery and corruption, and were unseated and 

 disqualified for candidacy at any election during 

 the term of the present Legislature. The un- 

 seated members included the Premier, Sir Wil- 

 liam Whiteway, and all but one of the Cabinet. 

 The trial of the seventeenth member (Mr. Parsons, 

 Representative of St. Barbe) had to be deferred, 

 owing to difficulty in securing the attendance of 

 witnesses. But meantime, during the progress 

 of the trials, the Legislature was in session, and 

 the revenue and other money bills for making 

 provision for the public service were laid on the 

 table of the House of Assembly. The Govern- 

 ment, seeing the turn events were taking in con- 

 nection with the controverted elections, and that 

 all the accused were likely to share the same 

 fate, endeavored to avert the consequences by 

 advising the Governor to dissolve the Legisla"- 

 ture and order a new election. Had this advice 

 been acted on it would have stayed all proceed- 

 ings in the law courts and enabled all the ac- 

 cused members to stand as candidates at the 

 election. But the Governor refused to act on 

 the advice of his ministers, on the ground that a 

 dissolution would have been an interference 

 with the course of justice, and would have 

 shielded those who had exposed themselves to 

 legal penalties by infringing an act on the stat- 

 ute book. In this decision the Governor was 

 sustained by the imperial authorities. Sir Wil- 

 liam Whiteway at once tendered his resignation, 

 and Mr. A. F. Goodridge, leader of the Opposi- 

 tion, was called on to form a government. In 

 this he was successful, and the new Government 

 assumed office on April 13, the Legislature in 

 the meantime having been prorogued. 



At first the difficulties that confronted the 

 Goodridge Government seemed almost insur- 

 mountable. They were still in a minority in 

 the House of Assembly, as the trials of the elec- 

 tion petitions were not nearly completed. They 

 could not therefore summon the prorogued Leg- 

 islature to meet, as they would be unable to 

 carry any measure. A still more serious dif- 

 ficulty was ahead. The Revenue act expired 

 on June 11, and the question presented itself. 

 How was the collection of revenue to proceed 

 without a renewal of the act? A complete col- 

 lapse would follow the noncollection of revenue, 

 and public credit would be injured. The dif- 

 ficulty was met by continuing the collection of 

 revenue under a clause of the Customs' Manage- 

 ment act which prohibited removal of goods 

 without a permit showing that duties had been 

 paid. The great bulk of importers quietlv paid 

 their duties, and the few who were recalcitrant 

 had to submit, as their attempts to obtain re- 

 dress in the Supreme Court were unsuccessful. 

 Under this abnormal condition of things the 



