ONTARIO. 



631 





UUWCI. 



To secure the prompt punishment of persons 

 of personation at elections for the Legislative A 



their development has kept pace with wealthier and 

 more populous countries. 



The lumber trade continued active and the markets 

 good during the early part of the last year, and until 

 the monetary stringency in the United States caused 

 much depression in business in that country. Prices 

 since then have not been so high nor the market so 

 active. Notwithstanding this, the receipts from woods 

 and forests have, I am pleased to say, more than 

 equaled the estimated revenue from that source. 



A considerable area of fertile land has now been 

 surveyed on the shores of Lake Temiscamingue, is 

 easy of access and capable of sustaining a large popu- 

 lation. During the year a Crown lands agency lias 

 been established at llaileybury, at the northern end 

 of the lake, and several townships have been opened 

 for sale to actual settlers. 



The act passed during the last session of the Legis- 

 lature for the prevention of cruelty to, and the better 

 protection of children has been favorably received, 

 and a gratifying disposition has been manifested by 

 the public to take advantage of its provisions. 



The public accounts for the past vear will be 

 promptly laid before you, and you will be pleased to 

 learn from them that "the expenditure has been less 

 than was provided for in the estimates, and that the 

 receipts have exceeded the amount anticipated. 



The more important acts of the session were 

 as follow : 



To incorporate the Portlock and Desert Lake Min- 

 ing and Railway Company. 



To incorporate the Ontario Burglary Insurance 

 Company. 



To enable boards of trade in cities to appoint gen- 

 eral arbitrators for certain purposes. 



To authorize married women under age to bar 

 dower. 



>ns guilty 

 e Assem- 

 bly. 



Respecting councils of conciliation and arbitration 

 for settling industrial disputes. 



To incorporate the Georgian Bay Ship Canal and 

 Power Aqueduct Company. 



Respecting registration of voters in cities. 



To defray the expenses of the current year 

 (1894) the sum of $3,614,120.94 was granted out 

 of the Consolidated Revenue fund of the prov- 

 ince. The more important items of expenditure 

 provided for were as follow : Hospitals and char- 

 ities, $176,159; colonization roads, $104,370: 

 Crown lands, $125,309 ; miscellaneous criminal 

 and civil justices, $324,344 ; Supreme Court judi- 

 cature, $66,548; legislation, $124,300; Crown 

 Lands Department, $57,800 ; Executive Council 

 and Attorney-General's department, $20.150; 

 Education Department, $19,950; Public Works 

 Department, $21,650 ; Treasury Department, 

 $42,150; provincial secretary's department. $19,- 

 680; expenses of Central Prison, Toronto, $58,- 

 475 ; grants in aid of agriculture, $177,775 ; public 

 and separate schools, $242,794 ; collegiate insti- 

 tutes and high school, $100,000 ; inspection of 

 schools, $59,650 ; mechanic institutes, art schools, 

 etc.. $54,700 ; superannuated teachers, $61,300; 

 asylums for the insane, $568,756 ; miscellaneous 

 expenditure and unforeseen and unprovided ex- 

 penses, $229,000 ; and to defray the expenses of 

 civil government and for other purposes from 

 Jan. 1, 1895, to the passing of the Appropriation 

 act for that year, $250,000. It was further pro- 

 vided that $125,000 be set apart, from which 

 may be paid to the miners or producers of iron 

 ore mined and smelted in the province for a 

 period of five years from July 1, 1894, the equiv- 



alent of $1 a ton of the pig- metal product of 

 such ores. 



The most important grants made to railways 

 by the Legislature were the following : To the 

 Ottawa, Arnprior and Parry Sound Railway 

 Company, $3,000 a mile for '35 miles ; Ontario 

 and. Rainy River Railway, $3,000 a mile for 35 

 miles ; and to the Irondale, Bancroft and Ottawa 

 Railway Company, $3,000 a mile for 15 miles. 



Elections. The election for members of the 

 provincial Legislature was held on June 26, 

 1894, and resulted in the return of Sir Oliver 

 Mowat and the Liberals to power by a majority 

 of 20. There were 4 parties in the field, and the 

 Conservatives were hopeful that this circum- 

 stance would result in the overthrow of the Lib- 

 erals, who, under the leadership of Sir Oliver, 

 have held the reins of government in Ontario for 

 twenty-two years. The Liberals contested 83 of 

 the 90 constituencies of the province and the 

 Conservatives 60. Of the 48 candidates put for- 

 ward by the Patrons of Industry party, the 

 greater number were Liberals, and about one 

 fourth of them were elected. The Protestant 

 Protective Association, recently formed to op- 

 pose state aid to Roman Catholic schools, con- 

 tested 24 constituencies and carried 3. 



Though the Province of Ontario has given the 

 Liberals a majority in every provincial election 

 for well-nigh a quarter of a century, it has on 

 different occasions during that period given de- 

 cided majorities for the Conservatives in Domin- 

 ion or general elections. 



During the session of the provincial Parlia- 

 ment of 1893 an act was passed providing for a 

 plebiscite upon the question of prohibition. At 

 the municipal elections held in January, 1894, a 

 large majority of the voters of Ontario declared 

 in favor of the measure. But this does not se- 

 cure prohibition for the province, for the right 

 to prohibit, as related to excise and vitally af- 

 fecting Dominion revenues, may be possibly re- 

 garded as an infringement upon the authority 

 of the Dominion Government. 



Public Institutions. There are 29 general 

 hospitals in the province, number of inmates, 

 11,404; 1 deaf and dumb institution, inmates, 

 285 ; 32 houses of refuge, inmates, 3,252 ; 2 Mag- 

 dalen asylums, inmates, 142 ; and 26 orphan asy- 

 lums, number of inmates, 3,742. The number of 

 asylums for the insane is 5, with 2,429 male and 

 2,356 female inmates. The number of insane in 

 Ontario is increasing faster than the population. 

 The expenditure on these various institutions 

 is as follows: General hospitals. $278,200; Deaf 

 and Dumb Institution, $41,673 ; houses of refuge, 

 $176,984;. orphan asylums, $99.096; asylums for 

 the insane, $544,581 ; and Magdalen asylums, 

 $15.822. 



The principle adopted in the treatment of the 

 insane is that known as state cure, which pre- 

 vails in all the provinces except Quebec and 

 Nova Scotia. 



There are 54 prisons in the province, in which 

 were confined on Sept. 30 689 men and 250 

 women. 



Fisheries. The yield of the fisheries in 1894 

 was estimated as equal to that of the year be- 

 fore, especially on the Great Lakes; but as 

 returns were not fully in at the end of the year, 

 only an approximation could be made as to the 



