98 



CANADA, DOMINION OF. 



Further to protect the customs and fisheries. 



Incorporating the Western Alberta Railway 

 Company. 



Further to amend the railway act. 



To incorporate the Northern Commercial Tele- 

 graph Company (Limited). 



To incorporate the Lake Champlain and St. Law- 

 rence Ship Canal Company. 



I; ipeotingtbe Manitoba debt account. 



Respecting payment of grants in aid of the con- 

 st rurt ion >f public works. 



K.-IM-. tiiiir the north western, northern, and north- 

 eastern boundaries for the province of Quebec. 



Respecting the prohibition of importation, manu- 

 facture, and sale of intoxicating liquors. 



Respecting the Montreal, Ottawa and Georgian 

 Bav Canal Company. 



Further to amend the weights and measures act. 



To repeal the ejectora! franchise act, and further 

 to amend the Dominion elections act. 



To amend and consolidate the Northwest irriga- 

 tion acts of 1894 and 1895. 



cting the Great Northwest Central Railway 

 Company. 



To incorporate the Three Rivers and North Shore 

 Electric Railway Company. 



To amend the customs tariff, 1897. 



Further to amend the inland revenue act. 



The Governor General. One of the last acts 

 of the House of Commons was to present the fol- 

 lowing farewell address to Lord Aberdeen on June 

 8: "May it please your Excellency, we, her 

 Majesty's dutiful and loyal subjects, the House of 

 Commons of Canada, in Parliament assembled, on 

 the occasion of the approaching termination of 

 your Excellency's connection with this country, 

 hasten to assure you, the representative of her 

 most gracious Majesty, of the unswerving loyalty 

 and devotion of the Canadian people to the Crown 

 and Empire of Great Britain, and to express the 

 hope that you will in person convey these assur- 

 ances to our beloved Queen. It is our pleasant 

 duty to assure your Excellency of the high appre- 

 ciation by the people of Canada of the unfailing 

 courtesy and assiduous care with which you have 



E resided over the affairs of the Dominion for the 

 ist five years a period which, it must be no small 

 gratification to your Excellency to know, has been 

 characterized by a marked growth of progress and 



Crosperity ; and to testify to the generous and 

 indly interest which you have displayed in all that 

 pertains to the welfare and advancement of the peo- 

 ple, irrespective of distinctions of class or creed. 

 We are also highly sensible of the great degree in 

 which the literature, science, and art of the Domin- 

 ion have benefited from the deep and practical in- 

 terest which your Excellency has taken therein. 

 The important services which your Excellency has 

 rendered to this country have been heightened by the 

 zealous co-operation of her Excellency the Countess 

 of Aberdeen, whose untiring efforts to promote the 

 social and moral welfare of our people have en- 

 deared her to all classes of the community. We beg 

 to convey the assurance that your Excellency and 

 your distinguished consort will bear from our shores 

 our profound respect and esteem, coupled with our 

 warm wishes for your future welfare and happiness, 

 and we indulge the hope that this country may con- 

 tinue to have in your Excellency a friend and ad- 

 vocate in the councils of the empire." 



Lord and Lady Aberdeen sailed from Canada on 

 Nov. 12, after lu-ing entertained in Ottawa, Toronto, 

 Montreal, and Quebec. His Excellency was suc- 

 ceeded by the Earl of Minto. who as Lord Melgund 

 arid chief of staff to Gen. Middleton had served in 

 Canada during the rebellion of 1885 among the 

 half-breeds and Indians of the Northwest, and who 



previously distinguished himself in the British 

 v in other parts of the world. 



had . 



army in other parts of 



Finances. On April 5 Mr. W. S. Fielding de- 

 livered his third annual budget speech. It set 

 forth the existence of a surplus, evidences of ex- 

 panding trade, and the promised completion of the 

 British preferential-trade policy. The main fea- 

 tures of the speech were the announcement of the 

 preferential schedule ; the advance of the duty on 

 raw sugar from 50 cents a hundred pounds to 62^ 

 cents, on refined yellow sugar from $1 a hundred 



Eounds to $1.08, and the increase on granulated 

 rom $1 to $1.24 a half hundredweight ; and the re- 

 duction of the interest on Government savings bunk 

 deposits from 3 to 2i per cent. The estimate of the 

 revenue for 1897-'98 was $39,300,000, and of the ex- 

 penditure $38,750,000. The minister was able to 

 speak of deposits in the chartered banks as having 

 increased $19,000,000 in 1897 over the total of 

 1896, and in Government savings banks more than 

 $2,000,000. The note circulation of the banks and 

 the Government had also increased by more than 

 $8,000,000, and the bank clearings by $"126,000,000. 

 The revenue for 1895-'96 had been $36,618,590, 

 the expenditure $36,949,142, against a revenue in 

 1896-'97 of $37,829,778 and an expenditure of $38,- 

 349,759. The ultimate surplus for 1897-'98 was 

 more than $1.000,000. The Hon. E. G. Foster, in be- 

 half of the Opposition, criticised the whole statement 

 very strongly, and charged extravagance, chiefly in 

 connection with railway matters, the administration 

 of the Yukon, and the addition to the national debt. 

 The amount voted for administering the Yukon was 

 $685,576. 



Transportation. During'the year the Canadian 

 Pacific Railway, aided by a bonus from the Domin- 

 ion Government of $11,000 a mile, practically com- 

 pleted a branch line through the Rocky mountains, 

 340 miles from Lethbridge, Northwest Territory, 

 into and over the Crow's Nest pass to Nelson, Brit- 

 ish Columbia, thus opening up the great Kootenay 

 mining district, and providing cheap coal for its 

 smelters. Arrangements were also announced, in 

 the president's speech at the annual meeting, for a 

 hundred-mile extension into the Boundary creek 

 district. In connection with this latter mineral 

 region, lying along the international border. Mr. 

 Corbin proposed to build a line from the American 

 side in order to tap its wealth. A prolonged con- 

 test took place atOttawa between his friends and 

 the Canadian Pacific Railway interests, but the 

 latter eventually won, and the Corbin road was not 

 chartered. The Ontario and Rainy River Railway 

 is to run from a point near Port Arthur through 

 the Lake of the Woods gold region, to connect with 

 the Manitoba and Southeast Railway from Winni- 

 peg. About 2,200 miles of railway were projected, 

 with every probability of success. But the central 

 railway question of the year was that of an sill- 

 Canadian route to the Klondike or Yukon. The 

 problem was, to make such arrangements as to ob- 

 tain a fair share for Canadian merchants and cities 

 of the immense trade which was developed w.th 

 that far-away and inaccessible region a trade at 

 first chiefly in American hands. Accordingly, and 

 without consulting Parliament, under the belief 

 that great haste was essential, the Government ac- 

 cepted a contract with Messrs. Mackenzie & Mann 

 by which a line is to be built from navigable waters 

 of the Stickeen river in British Columbia, at or 

 near the mouth of Telegraph creek, Glenora, or 

 the mouth of Clear Water river, thence running 

 northward to the navigable waters of Tcslin lake, 

 about 150 miles, on or before Sept. 1, 1898; pro- 

 vided that the said railway shall be the property of 

 the contractors, but shall be subject to inspection 

 and approval by an engineer to be named by the 



