CANADA. DOMINION OP. 



t'nfortunatelr, however, it was discovered that. 

 t.-rin- of secial trvatir* with the (Jerinan 



Kollvorvin and with Hrlgiuin. the euuds of those 

 count r.-* would have to bo admitted on the same 

 UTIII* gi\en t" Knglmid. Asa n-Milt of Canadian 

 pressure and partly as a oonasquenoe of the im|*>- 

 ril spirit manifested during the jubilee y.-ar. tin- 

 Hriti-htiiivrniinent a few month* lal 

 many and Belgium the necessary not ice of it- int. n- 

 to abrogate the treat iw. " < Hi the whole, the 

 budmi was well received, and the policy became 

 popular. Mr. Fielding ron. luded his speech with 



" u- - ibmil a tariff which largely abandon! tin- 



apaciftv dune* that have been so unju>t to the |>oorer 

 cluara We submit a tariff in which t he large free 

 IM is n-.t pnt ' ;rl.ed. l.ut has largo addi- 



tioos made to it. We give to the country the 



f five corn, which will have an ini|N. riant ef- 



lo|niii-nt <f our fanning interests, 

 ami particularly <>f the dain ing interest. We give 



country a reduction of the duty mi coal "1. 

 and i ; <f the burdensome restriction- iv- 



i- t ho sale of coal oil. We give to the farmer 

 his fence wire at a low rate of duty for the p: 

 Tear, and place it on the free list from .Ian. 1 next. 

 We give him his hinder twine on the same terms. a 

 lower rate of duty for the present, and make it fr -.- 

 from Jan. 1 next. We put all surgical and dental 

 instruments on the free list. \\ " recognise the 

 great mining industry of the country by placing on 

 the fr.-e list all machinery exclusively iised in min- 

 ing enterprises. We gift the people the benefit of 

 n*lnctionsonbreadstuiTs, flour, wheat, and corn meal. 

 We give the manufacturers the benefit of cheaper 

 iron. We provide the necessary revenue, but pro- 



meet the great n ..... Is of" the country by in- 

 creased taxes on articles of luxury. And last* but 

 not least, we give to the people the benefits of pi. f- 

 erential trade with the mother country." 



Post., | N. i \i,e. The 9,103 post offices in the 

 Dominion in 1896 were used for the transmission 

 of 116,028,000 letters, 24,794.800 post cards. ::. 

 500 registered letters, 4,803,800 free letters '.24,024.- 

 000 newspapers, periodicals, and circulars. 2.352,000 

 packages of printers' copy, deeds, policies, etc., 

 1,320,700 packages of merchandise, :;:;i.7w parcels. 

 post packages, 22,630 closed parcels for the United 

 Kingdom, The mails were carried over 1,669 miles 

 of railway, an inoreaseof 206 miles over 1895. There 

 has been a very great increase in the amount of 

 correspondence between Canada and china and 

 Japan; 229.168 letters went to these countries, an 

 ase of 49.745 compared with 1- 



li nance. The financial arrangements of the 



fiscal year 1896-*97 did not pass without severe 



sin. The exjH-nditure was $1.1 ;..:,, i more 



than that of the previous year on current account, 



ftcit was $525.739, and the addition to the 

 net debt of the country was $2,794,000. The fol- 

 lowing were the figures : 





i m m 



|ig I78JM 



M8MM 



,781 



The expenditure on capital account for the year 

 ended Jim- :u>. 1897. was $8,705.<;i 1. 



In most of the current services there was an in- 

 crease of expenditure, although the defense was 

 that this included payment of debts of the late ad- 



inini-tration. I Miring the session annual payments 



wafa piadnd bj kha Qovemmenl to tin- extent o 



$1,055.(KH> for" the Atlantic >erviee. the Crow's 

 Nest 1. !i-i"ll. the deep- 



Ill (Molier. IS'JT. Mr. 

 to |...n.|..ii and placed a loan of 

 rice \VM- !!. \\hich made 



the U.iids yield aitoiit ',,'jf per cent. The whole loan 

 was taken up at . -m .. m,,iv I han half of it l>\ < .m.i 

 ilian liank- and in\. stoit. Half the ani'Mint \\a- to 



pay off floating indeliieilness. 



deluded ;. total ex- 

 Hire of $44,6o7.'.:ts. In thi- w.-r.- i\\.. items 

 of ttgOOO aaeh for statues, opposite the parliament 



buildings, to the ( t >l|ee|| and the late Al. AaildiT 



I l< < I ions. During the \ear several l>\ 



t \<>\}* Were held, win ' .i.iai Went. 



with the (Jovernment. Winnipeg. M. I'.'.nifai . and 

 Macdonald. in Manitoba, a con-liltieiiey in 1'i'inee 

 Kd ward's i-land. Coleholer in Nova Scolia. Chain- 

 plain and I'.oiiav.-ntnre in (Jn. -l.ee. an<l 



ronto in Ontario, seemed to indicate that the ij.ie 



still ran strongly with the LiU-raK 



The >lanitol..i s.-l I (Jn-1 ion. --Thi> \.\-l 



prolilem WHS set i led for the time ln-ing. Mi. l.au- 

 rier. the Krench Catholic Liln-ral Premier of tl 

 minion, went into consullat i<n with the l-ji-li-h 

 Protestant Premier <>f Manilolia, and the. two gOT- 

 ernmeiit- exolved the fol N iwing agreement : 



" Legislation shall le introduced and pae.l at 

 the next regular -e-xj,n of i he Legislature of Mani- 

 toba embodying t he pm\ i-i"ii< hereinafter >et fort h 

 in amendment to the public schools act. (<>r the 

 purpose of settling the eilucat imial cpic*t joi,* that 

 have been in dispute in that province, lieligious 

 teaching to be conducted as hereinafter provided : 

 1. If authori/.ed by resolution passed by a ma 

 of the school trustees; or 2. If a petition be present- 

 ed to the board of school trustees asking I or re- 

 ligious t, -aching, signed by the parent s or guardians 

 of at least lOcliildivn attending the school, in the 

 case of a rural school district, or by the parents or 

 guardians of at least 25 children attending the 

 school in a city, town, or village. :{. Such nli 

 teaching to take place between tin- hours . 

 and 4 o clock in the afternoon, and to be conducted 

 by any Christian clergyman who*,, charge includes 

 any portion of the school district, or by a p 

 duly aut hori/ed by such clergyman, or by t he lea. her 

 when so ant hori/ed. -1. Where s., >pccih'cd in Mich 

 resolution of the trustees, or where so required by 

 the pet it ion of the parent* or guardians, religious 

 teaching during the prcseril>cd period may take 

 place only on certain specified days of the week, in- 

 stead of on every teaching day. :>. In any seh,.l 

 in towns and cities where the average attenda: 

 Ii'oiuan Catholic childrci .pward. and in 



villages and rural districts where the avera- 

 tendance of such children is 25 or upward, the t rus- 

 tees shall, if required by the petition of the p;, 

 or guardian* of such Dumber of H-man Catholic 

 children respect ivelv. employ at least 1 duly c.-rti- 

 fied IJoman Catholic teacher in such school. In 

 any school in town- and cities where the average 

 attendance of non-Koman Catholic children 

 or upward. and in villages and rural districts where 

 the average attendance ..| -\H-\\ children is ."") or up- 

 ward, the trustees shall, if required by the petition 

 of the pa 1 .ardians of such children. m- 



i.loy nt least 1 duly certificated non-Koman Catho- 

 lic tear-her. 6. Where religious teaching is required 

 to be carried on in any school in pursuance of the 

 foregoing provisions, and then- are Hornan Catholic 

 children and non-Roman Catholic children attcnd- 

 'ich school, and the schoolroom accommoda- 

 tion does not permit of the pupils being placed in 



