CANADA, DOMINION OF. 



Job Harriman; Lieutenant Governor. James An- 

 drew: Secretary of State, Hinil Liess ; Controller, 

 .John Etobeztaon; Treasurer. K. M. Dewey; Attor- 

 ney-General, A. F. St fawn-Hamilton : Surveyor 

 General, J. George Smith ; Clerk of the Supreme 

 Court, Lemuel I>. Hiddle; Superintendent of In- 

 .-truction. .lam- A. Roulston ; Superintendent of 

 Printing. A. Conic. 



The election in November resulted in the success 

 of almoM tin- entire Republican ticket; but Walter 

 Van Dyke, fusion, was elected Justice of the Su- 

 preme Court n\-i-r Justice Van Fleet. All but one 

 of the Republican candidates for Congress were 

 elected. 'I In- Senate will probably stand 27 to 13, 

 and tli.' Assembly 60 to 22 in favor of the Repub- 

 licans. 



Sev.-n constitutional amendments were sub- 

 mitted, and also a proposition for calling a conven- 

 tion to revise the Constitution. The official figures 

 are not at hand, but it appears as if the convention 

 and the first proposed amendment were defeated. 

 Amendment No. 1 was to exempt certain just 

 claims against San Francisco from the operation of 

 that provision of the Constitution requiring such 

 claims to be paid from the revenue of the years in 

 which they were incurred. Amendment No. 2 was 

 intended to change the method of prescribing 

 county governments by classification as at present. 

 Amendment No. 3 was to establish a court of 

 claims. Amendment No. 4 concerned San Fran- 

 cisco only and was designed to do away with the 

 conflict in certain particulars between the new city 

 charter and the State Constitution. Amendment 

 No. 5 provided for the succession, in case of a va- 

 cancy in the office of Governor or his absence from 

 the State, placing the president pro tempore of the 

 Senate in the line of succession next to the Lieuten- 

 ant Governor, and the Speaker of the Assembly 

 next. Amendment No. 6 was to revise the school 

 system of the State. Amendment No. 7 was to ex- 

 tend the session of the Legislature to seventy-five 

 days and divide it into two parts. 



CANADA, DOMINION OF, a federated group 

 of British provinces in North America. 



Parliament and Politics. The third session 

 of the eighth Parliament of Canada was opened in 

 state by Lord Aberdeen, the Governor General, on 

 Feb. 3, 1898, with a speech from the throne, in 

 which he said : 



" I have observed with great pleasure the remark- 

 able advance in the political importance and 

 material prosperity of Canada during the year 

 which has just closed. The loan recently effected 

 has shown that the credit of Canada has never stood 

 so high in European markets, and affords reason- 

 able grounds for expecting that the burdens of the 

 people will in the near future be materially reduced 

 by the substitution of a much lower rate of interest 

 on our indebtedness than that which now exists. 

 The action of the Imperial Government in denoun- 

 cing tin- treaties with Germany and Belgium affords 

 iiio-i sati>factory evidence of their desire to facili- 

 tate your efforts to promote *\\c closest possible 

 commercial relations between Canada and the re- 

 mainder of the empire, and will, I trust, contribute 

 materially to the development of imperial trade. 

 A contract has been entered into, subject to your 

 approval, for the completion at I lie earliest possible 

 moment of a system of rail and river communica- 

 tion through Canadian territory with the Klondike 

 and principal gold fields, which it is expected will 

 secure to Canada the larger portion of the lucrative 

 traffic of that country. The bountiful harvest with 

 which we have been favored by a benevolent Provi- 

 dence has contributed greatly to the increase of 

 our prosperity, and I am glad to note that the 

 trade and commerce of the Dominion, and more 



especially the amount and values of her principal 

 exports, have increased greatly during the past 

 eighteen months. I observe with pleasure that 

 certain Government contracts recently let contain 

 provisions calculated to suppress the evils of the 

 sweating system." 



Three new members of the House, all Liberals, 

 were formally introduced, and then the usual de- 

 bate on the address in reply to the Governor's 

 speech took place. By an act passed June 13 the 

 following legislation regarding the new imperial 

 preferential tariff came into operation on Aug. 1. in 

 accordance with the Government's policy by which 

 in 1897 a preference was given to British goods in 

 the Canadian market of 12 per cent, and was to be 

 increased in 1898 to 25 per cent. : 



" 1. That all articles except wines, malt liquors, 

 spirits, spirituous liquors, liquid medicines and 

 articles containing alcohol, tobacco, cigars, and 

 cigarettes which are the growth, produce, or manu- 

 facture of any of the following countries, and are 

 declared to be dutiable upon importation into 

 Canada, may, when imported direct into Canada 

 from any of such countries, be entered for duty or 

 taken out of warehouse for consumption in Canada, 

 on and after the 1st day of August, 1898, at a re- 

 duction of one fourth from the general tariff rates 

 of duty : (a) The United Kingdom of Great Britain 

 and Ireland, (b) The British colony of Bermuda, 

 (c) The British colonies commonly called the British 

 West Indies, including the following : the Bahamas, 

 Jamaica, Turk's island and the Caicos Islands, the 

 Leeward Islands (Antigua, St. Christopher, Nevis, 

 Dominica, Montserrat, and the Virgin Islands), the 

 Windward Islands (Grenada, St. Vincent, and St. 

 Lucia), Barbadoes, Trinidad, and Tobago, (d) 

 British Guiana, (e) Any other British colony or 

 possession the customs tariff of which, on the 

 whole, is as favorable to Canada as the British 

 preferential tariff is to such colony or possession. 



"2. That manufactured articles to be admitted 

 under such preferential tariff shall be bona fide the 

 manufactures of a country or countries entitled to 

 the benefits of such tariff, and that such benefits 

 shall not extend to the importation of articles into 

 the production of which there has not entered a 

 substantial portion of the labor of such countries. 

 Any question that may arise as to any articles being 

 entitled to such benefits shall be decided by tin- 

 Minister of Customs, whose decision shall be final. 



" 3. That raw sugar, including sugar drain ings or 

 pumpings drained in transit, melado or concen- 

 trated melado, tank bottoms, and sugar concrete, 

 the produce of any British colony or possession, 

 may, when imported direct from any British colony 

 or possession, be entered for duty or taken out of 

 warehouse for consumption in Canada at the re- 

 duced rate of duty provided in the British prefer- 

 ential tariff. 



"4. That the reduction under the preferential 

 tariff shall only apply to refined sugars when evi- 

 dence satisfactory to the Minister of Customs is 

 furnished that such refined sugar has been manu- 

 factured wholly from raw sugar produced in the 

 British colonies or possessions. 



"5. That the Minister of Customs, with the ap- 

 proval of the Governor in Council, shall determine 

 what British colonies or possessions shall be entitled 

 to the benefits of the said preferential tariff under 

 clause e of paragraph 1 of this memorandum. 



" 6. That the Minister of Customs may, with the 

 approval of the Governor in Council, make such 

 regulations as may be deemed necessary for carry- 

 ing out the intention of the act." 



The Minister of Customs, under the power vested 

 in him by the said act, and with the approval of 

 the Governor in Council, has determined that the 



