550 



ONTARIO. 



For granting aid to the sufferers by the late 

 disastrous fire in the cities of Ottawa and Hull. 



Respecting provincial aid toward the establish- 

 ment of municipal cold-storage buildings. 



Respecting the manufacture of spruce and other 



Ip wood cut on the Crown domain. 



To amend the act to establish forest reserves. 



To amend the mines act. 



To amend the act respecting cheese and butter 

 manufacturing associations and companies. 



To provide for the incorporation of co-operative 

 cold-storage associations. 



To amend the loan corporations act. 



Respecting aid by land grant to the Algoma 

 Central Railway Company. 



Respecting certain subsidies granted to the 

 .Mimitoulin and North Shore Railway. 



Authorizing municipal and other grants for the 

 benefit of Canadians on military service in South 

 Africa. 



To permit municipalities to use voting machines. 



To amend the act respecting brewers' and dis- 

 tillers' and other licenses. 



To amend the Ontario shops regulation act. 



To amend the act for the prevention of accidents 

 by fire in hotels and other like buildings. 



To amend the act to preserve the forests from 

 destruction by fire. 



To amend the San Jose scale act. 



For the prevention and destruction of certain 

 noxious insects. 



To amend and consolidate the Ontario game pro- 

 tection act. 



Respecting municipal sanitaria for consump- 

 tives. 



Finances. On March 6 the report of the Fi- 

 nance Commission, composed of Messrs. John Hos- 

 kin, Q. C., Byron E. Walker, and Angus Kirkland, 

 was submitted to the house, and it set at rest in 

 great measure the long-standing dispute between 

 Government and Opposition as to what did and 

 what did not constitute provincial assets. Ac- 

 cording to this statement, the assets of the prov- 

 ince on Oct. 31, 1899, included bank balances and 

 special deposits of $597,526.38; funds held by the 

 Dominion in behalf of Ontario, upon which in- 

 terest at 5 per cent, has been settled and is paid, 

 $4,758,135.13; common school fund of preconfed- 

 eration period held by the Dominion in trust for 

 Ontario, and paying 5 per cent., $1,479,656.10; 

 miscellaneous Dominion securities, $305,100.59 a 

 total of $7,140,418.22. The liabilities included 

 $2,000,000 as a balance of account current with 

 the Dominion and a capitalization of certain In- 

 dian tribal bounties due by the old province of 

 Upper Canada (now Ontario) and assumed by the 

 Dominion; the present value of certain annuity 

 payments and railway certificates, $3,117,714.90; 

 miscellaneous sums, $14,830.03 total, $5,132,544.- 

 93. This left a surplus of assets over liabilities of 

 $1,957,873.29, instead of the $4,000,000 or $5,000,000 

 which the Government had claimed for two 

 decades. 



On March 8 the Hon. G. W. Ross delivered his 

 first budget speech as Treasurer in the reorganized 

 Government. As illustrating the conflict of opin- 

 ion and statement regarding the finances of the 

 province, it may be said that two days after the 

 commissioners reported the Treasurer varied his 

 figures from theirs and gave the assets of the 

 province as $7,368,917 and the liabilities as $5,- 

 117,980. The receipts for 189!) were announced 

 as $4,096.494, the expenditures as $3,710,420, leav- 

 ing a surplus of $386,074. The estimated revenue 

 for 1000 was $5,019,682. and the estimated ex- 

 penditure $3,723,292. The chief items of revenue 

 in 1899 were: Crown lands, $87,286; rent, $111,- 



169; woods and forests, $1,092,848; liquor licenses, 

 $373,803; succession duties, $150,111; public in- 

 stitutions, $97,432. The increase over the revenue 

 of 1898 was $449,141. The final division upon the 

 Treasurer's statement and financial proposals 

 showed a Government majority of 7 votes. 



Licenses and Temperance. In 1874 there 

 were 4,793 tavern licenses in Ontario; in 1899 

 there were 2,641. Concurrently with the curtail- 

 ment in the number of licenses there had been 

 apparently a lessening of drunkenness. The aver- 

 age yearly commitments for drunkenness in the 

 five years from 1876 to 1880 inclusive was 3,812; 

 from 1881 to 1885 it was 4,016; from 1886 to 1890, 

 4,311; while from 1891 to 1895 it was only 2,703. 

 During the Scott act period, from 1881 to 1890, 

 the average yearly commitments for drunkenness 

 exceeded 4,000, while under the restrictive license 

 system prevailing since then the commitments 

 have only averaged 2,703 per annum. 



Crime. An interesting report was the one pre- 

 pared by the Inspector of Prisons and Reforma- 

 tories. In 1899, 8,203 persons were committed to 

 the jails. This was the lowest number in twenty- 

 six years. In 1898, 8,256 persons were committed. 

 Of those committed last year, 6,846 were men, 

 1,057 were women, 267 were boys under sixteen 

 years of age, and 33 were girls. There was a de- 

 crease in crimes against public morals from 354 

 in 1898 to 247 in 1899. Committals for crimes 

 against the person numbered 638 in 1899, being a 

 decrease of 11 compared with the year previous. 

 For drunkenness, 1,892 people were committed, 

 while the number in 1898 was 1,707. Seven people 

 were committed for bigamy, and 1,428 were sent 

 to jail for vagrancy. Of the total of 8,203 com- 

 mittals, there were brought to trial and discharged 

 1,584. By order of the judge, 806 were let go. The 

 remainder, 5,034, were sentenced or kept for some 

 reason or other. To jail 4,060 of those guilty 

 were sentenced, while 613 went to prison and 133 

 to Kingston and the reformatories. By the report 

 it is seen that 3,297 of those sentenced were tem- 

 perate, and 6,855 of the total number of S.-2():i 

 could read and write. The total cost of the jails 

 last year was $136,617, while in 1898 the cost \\a- 

 $137,310. The average cost per patient was 20J 

 cents a day. During 1898 there were committed 

 389 lunatics and idiots. 



Education. The financial condition of the Uni- 

 versity of Toronto, which is in some measure sub- 

 sidized and controlled by the province, came in for 

 considerable discussion during the year. The linn. 

 Edward Blake, M. P. (now living in England), 

 resigned the chancellorship which he had held for 

 many years, as did the Hon. William Mulock the 

 vice-chancellorship. Sir W. R. Mereditn, Chief 

 Justice of Ontario, and Mr. Justice Charles MM 

 were elected unanimously to be their successors. 

 The income of the university last year was $1:27.- 

 445.59, of which the larger items were: Inlcrc-t 

 on purchase moneys. $566.83; interest on loan-. 

 S-J0..107; interest on debentures, $11,896.87: rein-. 

 $17,209.57; city of Toronto -riant as rent f..r 

 Queen's Park, '$6,000; legislative grant. S7.(iiiii : 

 wild land sales, $8,191.81 ; interest on advances to 

 Upper Canada College. $7.6.18.92: university and 

 college fees, $44,441.3.1: gymnasium fees S'.H) 

 There was a deficit for the current year of s^n.nuil. 



The latest official figures available rcganling 

 general education in Ontario are those of isits. in 

 ihe annual report of 1899. They show .!.!>:;_' public 

 schools. 47S..S94 pupils registered, an average at- 

 tendance of 273.451, 6,4(i(i female teachers. 7 !'> 

 male teachers, receipts of $5,219.444. ami expendi- 

 tures amounting to $4,392,714. The Roman Cath- 

 olic separate schools numbered 345, the pupils 









