MANITOBA, PROVINCE OF. 



345- 



that lines built last year had not cost the province 

 one dollar, had passed orders in Council and writ- 

 ten a letter promising a bonus of $1,750 for every 

 mile of new line built by the Canadian Pacific 

 Railway last year. In the case of some of these 

 lines, Mr. Greenway had merely written letters to 

 the managers, saying that he had promised aid, 

 and would have given it had he remained in power, 

 and would support the Macdonald Government in 

 paying it over. For other lines aid had been 

 promised by orders in Council, with the knowledge 

 of the whole Cabinet, and contracts were made 

 subject to ratification by the Legislature. On 

 considering the matter fully, he had come to the 

 conclusion that the good faith of the province did 

 not require that even bonuses promised by orders 

 in Council should be paid ; that there would be 

 no breach of good faith, and the good name of 

 the province would not suffer, by refusing to pay 

 them, for he found an order in Council had been 

 passed on July 14, when the Legislature was in 

 session. There was plenty of time to pass a bill, 

 bill involving much larger amounts had been 

 ssed after that and before the close of the ses- 

 ion the Manitoba and Northwestern bill. But 

 r. Greenway did not wish the electors to know 

 at he was granting a bonus to the Canadian 

 'acific Railway and standing in with that com- 

 ny. It had struck Mr. Macdonald and his Gov- 

 ment that the Canadian Pacific Railway must 

 ave been a party to the suppression of the facts 

 nd concealment of them from the province. The 

 iresent Government had decided to refuse to pay 

 " ese bonuses. 



Meanwhile Mr. Greenway made a determined 

 *ort to retrieve himself. He declined a seat in 

 e Senate, offered to him by the Dominion au- 

 orities, although his late colleague, Mr. R. Wat- 

 >n, accepted one, and the Hon. D. H. McMillan, 

 October, became Lieutenant Governor. He de- 

 ared himself unwilling to let the " system of 

 mder and falsehood " that had been adopted by 

 e Conservative Government go unchallenged, 

 id expressed himself as determined to retain the 

 .dership of the provincial Liberals. Replying in 

 ore detail to the railway charges, he said : " If 

 y Government is now to be condemned for that 

 licy, condemnation should have been meted out 

 them a good many years ago, because that 

 licy has been consistently pursued since the year 

 88, when we came into office, and on account 

 which policy such a large mileage has been 

 ded to our railway system for the purpose, as 

 have time and again pointed out, of not only 

 uring, as far as possible, competitive lines, but 

 eeping in view the great need of the farmers 

 T convenient marketing facilities. As will be 

 membered, this policy included the introduction 

 f the Northern Pacific Railway, the Souris ex- 

 tension of the Canadian Pacific Railway, the 

 Pipestone branch, the Foxstone branch, and the 

 Imont extension of the Northern Pacific, all of 

 hich have been aided on exactly the same plan 

 f $1,750 per mile, a policy in which the House 

 as practically unanimous." As to the concealed 

 der in Council, giving aid to the Canadian 

 cific Railway on the Snowflake and Lac du 

 nnet branches, he said : " In the former case, 

 was a matter that had been urged upon my 

 overnment for years and years by the settlers 

 lere, to relieve them of their hardships, and I 

 id repeatedly interviewed the railway author- 

 ies, and made a promise of the usual bonus if 

 ey would build, and they finally agreed to the 

 instruction. As to the latter, a deputation of 

 Winnipeg citizens waited upon me several times, 

 urging the necessity of aiding the Lac du Bonnet 



line for the purpose of being able to get out of 

 that country the valuable wood and building^ 

 material, and for colonization purposes. A promise 

 for the usual aid was made to that deputation. 

 This contract was made in the usual way as all 

 others (including one for the building of a branch 

 from the Dauphin Railway into Gilbert Plains 

 country), all of which contracts were to be brought 

 before the House at a future date for ratification." 



A distinct demand from the Liberal press came 

 for Mr. Greenway's resignation of the leadership, 

 and one of his followers, Mr. C. A. Young, re- 

 signed from the Legislature as a protest against 

 his acting any longer as leader of the party. 



On April 4 a petition to the Dominion Parlia- 

 ment was passed in the Legislature by a unani- 

 mous vote. It asked that in pending legislation 

 for railways, and all future legislation for rail- 

 ways to be built and constructed within the 

 bounds of the province of Manitoba, Parliament 

 would make provision : ( 1 ) For complete and more 

 effectual control of rates thereon, including the 

 fixing of maximum charges for freight and pas- 

 sengers; (2) the right of acquisition of such lines 

 of railway by the province on equitable terms, 

 based on the cost of construction, and in the event 

 of the province and said railways being unable 

 to agree upon the price so to be paid, the same 

 to be determined by arbitration; (3) the right of 

 the province to use such lines of railway in con- 

 nection with any lines of railway that may here- 

 after be owned or operated by the province, the 

 rental to be on equitable terms, determined as in 

 the preceding paragraph; (4) that the province 

 shall have the first option of purchase on any of 

 the said lines of railway." 



Mr. Macdonald and his colleagues next turned 

 to the matter of the franchise, and in June intro- 

 duced and carried a measure for the repeal of the 

 existing law, which the Conservatives said had 

 rendered it easy for unscrupulous men to tamper 

 with the voters' lists and to interfere with a free 

 expression of the popular will. The new elections 

 act was framed largely upon the manhood suffrage 

 system of Ontario. It gave the preparation of the 

 voting lists into the hands of the municipal au- 

 thorities, and provided for a revision by judicial 

 officers. It abolished the system by which a 

 property owner could vote wherever he owned 

 property, and established the " one man, one vote " 

 principle. A clause that was widely discussed pro- 

 vided that the recent Galician, Doukhober, and 

 other foreign immigrants should not have a vote 

 for seven years unless they could read in either 

 the English, French, German, Swedish, or Icelandic 

 language. 



This session was the longest in the history of 

 the province, and 82 bills, embodying much new 

 legislation and amending much old legislation, 

 were passed. The House finally adjourned on July 

 5, after a speech from the Lieutenant Governor,, 

 and his assent in the name of the Queen to a 

 large amount of legislation, of which the follow- 

 ing acts were the most important: 



For the protection of persons employed in fac- 

 tories. 



To amend the assessment act. 



The Manitoba voters' list act. 



The manhood suffrage registration act. 



To amend the devolution of estates act. 



To amend the public schools act. 



Respecting the taxation of corporations and. 

 others for the purpose of supplementing the rev- 

 enues of the crown. 



Respecting mortgages and sales of personal 

 property. 



To incorporate the Selkirk Railway Company. 



