QUEBEC. 



more deficits. Their deficits for four years aggre- 

 gated $5,474,189, and this despite their special 

 taxes. Mr. Marchand made only two promises : 

 that he would do his utmost to keep the expendi- 

 ture within the revenue, and that he would improve 

 the educational system. 



2. The Conservative View. This party, under the 

 leadership of the Hon. E. J. Flynn. la'te Premier, 

 asserts, with truth, that the province was almost 

 bankrupted by the admitted corruption and extrav- 

 agance of the Mercier regime, and that the diffi- 

 culties in the way of favorable loans, the necessity 

 of borrowing money at any cost, and the equally 

 imperative necessity of increasing taxation to re- 

 cover the depleted treasury and put the province 

 on its feet again, explain sufficiently the charges 

 about loans, new taxes, and deficits. A period of 

 hard times also added to their difficulties. Yet 

 they came out of the troubles with improved 

 finances and position generally. The railway sub- 

 sidies were, in the main, enforced carrying out of 

 obligations previously entered into by the Mercier 

 Government. 



Finances. Apart from any other consideration, 

 there can be no doubt of the improved financial 

 position of the province during 1897-'98. The fol- 

 lowing statement as to the debt of Quebec, covering 

 the period of attempted recuperation after Mer- 

 cier's downfall in 1891, was made by Mr. Marchand 

 in his budget speech on Dec. 14, 1897: 



"In order to be able to fully understand the diffi- 

 culty that we have to overcome, it is advisable in 

 the first place. I consider, to define the actual posi- 

 tion as clearly as possible. For that purpose I will 

 take the liberty, without any recrimination against 

 previous Administrations, of stating the facts ex- 

 actly as they are. The constant increase of our 

 public debt during the period of the last Legisla- 

 ture has been considerable, and here is a proof of it : 

 The excess of the liabilities over the assets on the 

 30th of June. 1892, according to the budget speech 

 of the 31st of January, 1893, was $23, 641,346.28. 

 From this amount must be deducted tjie railway 

 subsidies then lapsed under existing laws confirmed 

 by the act 59 Victoria, chap, v, amounting to $2,018,- 

 760.22 : leaving as the total excess of liabilities over 

 assets at that date the sum of $21.622,577.06. On 

 the other hand, the excess of liabilities over assets 

 of on the 30th June, 1897, as shown in the detailed 

 statement laid before this House, was $25,491,- 

 658.16. Whence it results that during the past five 

 years, instead of diminishing as was pretended, the 

 debt has been increased by $3,869,081.10. The in- 

 crease has taken place notwithstanding the fact 

 that the new taxes had added an average amount 

 of nearly $500,000 per annum to the revenues of 

 the province during the same period, yielding for 

 those five years a total increase in our revenue of 

 $2,262,452.55. On the other hand, the funded debt 

 has during the same period grown to enormous 

 proportions, both by the negotiation of permanent 

 loans, destined to pay off temporary loans, railway 

 subsidies, and various other floating debts, and by 

 heavy discounts on some of the permanent loans 

 effected for that object. On the 30th of June last, 

 1897, the outstanding debentures of the funded 

 debt amounted to $34,196,654,08; while on the 

 30th of June, 1892, according to the budget speech 

 of the 31st of January, 1893, they amounted only to 

 $25,175,320.01, which leaves a sum of $9,021,334.07 

 to represent the increase in our funded debt from 

 the 30th of June, 1892." 



The chief items of receipt and expenditure for 

 1896-'97 under his own Administration were given 

 as follow : Receipts Dominion of Canada, $1,257,- 

 183.70; Crown lands, $879,898.26; law stamps. 

 $177,426.80; registration stamps, $63,875.90; 



Building and Jury fund, $27,565.83; law fees, $9,- 

 654.38 ; municipalities for maintenance of prison- 

 ers, $12,751.96; licenses, $586,176.42; direct taxes 

 on commercial corporations, $134,404,03 ; tax on 

 transfers of property, $74,856.99; manufacturing 

 and trading licenses, $10,393.77; duties on succes- 

 sions, $229,441.72 ; percentage on fees of public 

 officers, $6,671.83; legislation, $8,391.39; lunatic- 

 asylums municipal contributions, $7,703.59 ; " Que- 

 bec Official Gazette," $21,637.58; casual revenue, 

 $7,570.62 ; civil service contributions for pensions, 

 $5,712.61 ; interest on loans antl deposits, $35,556.- 

 71 ; interest on price of the Q. M. 0. and 0. Kail- 

 way, $299,395.07 ; Marriage License fund deposit, 

 St. Lawrence Fire Insurance Company, $15,000; 

 Aylmer Courthouse fund, $17,976.14; temporary 

 loans, $700,000; proceeds loan, 1896, $1,124,200'; 

 proceeds loan, 1897, $1,224,000; proceeds of in- 

 scribed stock issued in conversion of debt, $3,015,- 

 853.86 ; cash on hand at July 1 each year. $784,- 

 799.49. Expenditures Public debt, $1,550,874.16 ; 

 legislation, $288,623.41; civil government, $277, 

 247.91 ; administration of justice, $662,665.77 ; 

 public instruction, $410,060 ; agriculture, coloniza- 

 tion, and immigration, 404.695.75; public works 

 and buildings, ordinary $165.783.76, extraordinary 

 $176.832.28; asylums and charities, $358,616,77"; 

 miscellaneous (including payments by revenues 

 officers out of collections), $558,527.67 ; purchase o:' 

 property, $30,000 ; repayment railway guarantee 

 deposits', $381,187.62 ; trust funds, $14,999.01 ; 

 reimbursement. Railway Subsidies fund costs of. 

 collections and refunds, $8,355.22; railway sub- 

 sidies and Q. M. and 0. Railway, $1,346,475.01 ; re- 

 demption of debt part of loan of 1896 and prem- 

 ium. $3,015,853.86; add, payment of warrants 

 outstanding at June 30, 1892, '93, '94, '95, '96, $173.- 

 122.28 ; deduct, unpaid warrants outstanding at 

 June 30. 1893, '94, '95, '96, '97, $443,257.08. 



The Upper House. For many years there have 

 been fitful agitations among Quebec Liberals for 

 abolition of the appointive Legislative Council as 

 being a fifth wheel to the Government coach. All 

 measures or suggestions, however, have been 

 blocked by the Council itself. Mr. Marc-hand's 

 Government has taken up the matter, and every 

 member duly appointed to a vacancy in the Council 

 has to pledge himself to vote for its abolition when 

 the time comes. On Dec. 11, 1898, Mr. McCorkill, 

 a new appointee, announced this fact and declared 

 the policy of the Government to be as stated. 

 There is only one other provincial House of this 

 nature now in Canada. 



Dairy and Agriculture. In 1897-'98 the Gov- 

 ernment expended upon agriculture, immigration, 

 and colonization $307,476, an increase of about 

 $20,000 over the preceding year. From sources of 

 revenue connected with this" department it received 

 $4,112,547, an increase of $237.744. In some direc- 

 tions the agricultural and dairy development \v.-is 

 not satisfactory. A decrease in cheese-producers' 

 earnings is the dominant fact of the season now 

 closed. Not counting the $50,000 lost through a 

 recent large failure in Montreal, factory men are 

 $2,000,000 out of pocket as a result of their lal>r< 

 since last spring. This is a decided reverse of tin 1 

 rule which has governed the business for the pa-t 

 ten years : for since 1888, while the average yearly 

 price may have fluctuated, the aggregate return 

 as a result of expansion in the output has re- 

 corded a steady increase from year to year. But 

 this season not "only have prices been 40 cents a l>ox 

 lower, but the exports show a decrease of 13 per 

 cent, compared with 1897. Lower prices were, of 

 course, largely instrumental in restricting produc- 

 tion of cheese, but another influence was also at 

 v,ork. In fact, the impression has prevailed for 



