On April 



BRITISH COLUMBIA. 



89 



On April 14 the redistribution bill was intro- 

 duced. It increased the number of members of the 

 House from 33 to 38, gave Vancouver the same 

 number as Victoria, and distributed the represen- 

 tation in other localities to suit the changing and 

 increasing population. About this time also the 

 provincial Government was advised by the Federal 

 authorities that the alien labor bill, passed in the 

 preceding session and held for the Governor Gen- 

 eral's approval, would not be put in operation, as it 

 "seriously interfered with international relations 

 and Federal interests." The House was prorogued 

 in May, and dissolved soon afterward. 



The elections took place on July 9 and resulted 

 in the return of 19 Government supporters and 19 

 Oppositionists. A curious complication in the con- 

 test was the active participation of the Hon. Joseph 

 Martin, formerly Attorney-General of Manitoba, a 

 new resident in the province. He was elected for 

 Vancouver and at once took a place as one of the 

 Opposition leaders. The Turner Government thus 

 lost its previous majority of 9, and on Aug. 8 the 

 province was startled by the statement that Lieut.- 

 Gov. Mclnnes had dismissed his ministry and 

 called upon the Hon. Robert Beaven, a member of 

 the Opposition who had been defeated in the elec- 

 tions, to form a new Government. A prolonged 

 constitutional controversy followed. The following 

 extracts from letters written by the Lieutenant Gov- 

 ernor to Mr. Turner explain his position in the 

 matter and his reasons for calling in Mr. Beaven 

 instead of Mr. Martin or Mr. Cotton. On July 14, 

 five days after the election, he wrote : " I can not 

 look on the result of the general elections in this 

 province, held on the 9th instant, as other than ad- 

 verse to your administration and an expression of 

 want of confidence on the part of the people." On 

 Aug. 8 he repeated this opinion, and added that 

 the result of the single Cassiar election " would not 

 reverse the verdict of the electorate," and he ex- 

 pressly declared that in calling for the resignation 

 of his ministers he was ' acting on what I consider 

 the verdict of the electorate." Later in the same 

 letter he says: "For, as I would not feel justified 

 in granting you another dissolution and appeal to 

 the electorate, and as, after a careful consideration 

 of the situation, I am convinced that you could not 

 command a majority of the Assembly, I shall not 

 put the province to the delay or to the expense of 

 a special session of the Legislature merely for the 

 purpose of formally demonstrating to you what has 

 already been sufficiently demonstrated to me by the 

 general election." Writing to Mr. Semlin, the 

 Lieutenant Governor said : " From the best infor- 

 mation I could obtain, it was made to appear to me 

 that there was no recognized leader of the party 

 since the general election on the 9th ultimo, it 

 being divided into two factions supporting re- 

 spectively the claims of yourself and Mr. Martin to 

 leadership." 



Eventually Mr. Semlin was sent for and formed 

 a ministry as follows : Hon. C. A. Semlin, Premier 

 and Commissioner of Lands and Works ; Hon. 



Joseph Martin, Attorney-General; Hon. F. Carter- 

 Cotton, Minister of Finance and Agriculture; Hon. 

 J. Frederick Hume, Provincial Secretary; Hon. R. 

 E. McKechnie, M. I)., without portfolio. 



The new Government has entered upon its duties 

 at an auspicious time. Financially, the province 

 is in a good condition. The revenue has grown 

 from $821,000 in 1893-'94 to $1,383,000 in 1897-'98, 

 and out of this all ordinary expenditures have 

 been made and more than $1,000,000 expended on 

 permanent public works. An indication of the ex- 

 pansion in this direction is seen in the Kootenay 

 district, where a revenue of $30,000 has grown to 

 one of $230,000. 



Mines and Minerals. In 1897 the value of the 

 product of British Columbia mines was $10,455,- 

 268, almost exactly $3,000,000 more than in 1896. 

 To show what strides have been made since 1890 

 the value of the output for that year namely, 

 $2,608,803 must be mentioned. This progress is 

 by no means all to be credited to gold, or even to 

 the two precious metals exclusively, though they 

 did contribute much the greatest part of it, but 

 it is practically all to be set down to gold and 

 silver mining, .that is, the whole gain made within 

 the past seven years has been derived from mines 

 yielding mainly gold and silver, but in addition 

 thereto copper and lead. Of the gold output, lode 

 and placer, the value in 1897 was $2,636,340, against 

 $1,788,206 in 1896; and of silver $3,272,836, against 

 $2,100,689 in 1896 ; making the total yield of the 

 two precious metals $5,909,170 in 1897, against 

 $3,888,895 in 1896. In addition to this increase in 

 the gold and silver constituent of the ores, there is 

 an increase of about $750,000 to be put down to 

 the lead and copper extracted from the same ores. 

 The whole of this advance springs from the mines 

 of a single district West Kootenay ; and mostly 

 from two divisions of that district the Slocan and 

 the Trail or Rossland divisions. West Kootenay's 

 yield, which amounted to $4,002,735 in 1896, rose 

 to $6,765,703 in 1897. It will serve to emphasize 

 the latter figures to note the fact that as late as 

 1892 the total output of West Kootenay's mines had 

 not passed $100,000. Properly to appreciate this 

 growth, we have to take into account the remote- 

 ness, almost inaccessibility, of the wilderness in 

 which it has taken place. Of course, the isolation 

 of the Kootenay miners is now a thing of the past, 

 and more perfect connections with the outside world 

 are being developed. An early realization of the 

 wealth there led to the extension thither of the 

 Spokane Falls and Northern Railway, one branch 

 of that road, the Nelson and Fort Sheppard, being 

 pushed into the silver country ; another, the Red 

 Mountain Railway, being thrown out to Rossland. 

 The desire for an early entrance into the same 

 promising market impelled the important mercan- 

 tile interests of Eastern Canada to call for the con- 

 struction of the Crow's Nest Pass Railway, which 

 is now completed as far as the Columbia river. 

 The following table shows the mineral production 

 in two recent years : 



