CANADA, DOMINION OF. 



103 



To incorporate the St. Clair and Erie Ship 

 Canal Company. 



Respecting various railway and mining com- 

 panies. 



To incorporate La Compagnie du Chemin de 

 Fer de Colonization du Nord. 



To incorporate the Russell, Dundas and Gren- 

 ville County Railway Company. 



To incorporate the Athabasca Railway Com- 

 pany. 



To authorize the amalgamation of the Erie and 

 Huron Railway Company and the Lake Erie and 

 Detroit River Railway Company. 



To incorporate the Edmonton and Saskatche- 

 wan Railway Company. 



To incorporate the Klondike Mines Railway 

 Company. ' 



To incorporate the Canadian Inland Transpor- 

 tation Company. 



To incorporate the Canadian Permanent and 

 Western Canada Mortgage Corporation. 

 To amend the winding-up act. 

 To incorporate the Sudbury and Wahnapita 

 Railway Company. 



To incorporate the Rockland and Noyan Rail- 

 way Company. 



To incorporate the Canada Mining and Metal- 

 lurgical Company, Limited. 



There were no changes in the Government, ex- 

 cept that the Hon. C. A. Geoffrion died, and on 

 Sept. 30 James Sutherland was made a minister 

 without portfolio. So far as the session was 

 concerned, the Laurier Cabinet held its own, and 

 it was not until afterward that slowness in the 

 Transvaal contingent matter affected in some 

 measure its popularity in the country. Besides 

 Sir James D. Edgar, the Hon. J. F. Wood and the 

 Hon. W. B. Ives died during this time, and in 

 the year Senators Bellerose, Price, Sanford, Tem- 

 ple, Adams, Sutherland, and Boulton passed 

 away. As nearly all these Senators were Con- 

 servatives, their successors have helped to modify 

 the Senate problem from the Liberal standpoint. 

 A political event of importance was the reorgan- 

 ization of the Conservative party by Sir Charles 

 Tupper, and an exhibition of marvelous personal 

 activity in traveling, speaking, and working on 

 the part of the Conservative leader, who is now 

 on the verge of seventy-nine years. Meanwhile, 

 however, the Liberal majority in the House has 

 grown steadily through by-elections, as is usual 

 in Canada. * 



Federal Finances. The total revenue on ac- 

 count of the consolidated fund was $46,796,268, 

 and expenditure on the same account $41,760,343, 

 so that there was an apparent surplus of $5,036,- 

 625. But there was also an expenditure of $9,130,- 

 772 on capital account, which raised the total 

 expenditure for the year 1898-'99 to $50,891,115, 

 or $4,094,747 more than the receipts. This, of 

 course, caused an increase in the public debt, 

 which stood at $345,130,754 gross and $266,054,- 

 711 net on June 30, 1899, as compared with $338,- 

 370,254 gross and $264,086,358 net on June 30, 

 1898. A noticeable feature of the public debt is 

 that, in spite of the heavy increase in taxation, 

 as shown by the enlarged revenue from customs, 

 and excise, it was found necessary to make a 

 temporary loan of 800,000^ ($3,893,333.33). On 

 June 30, 1898, there was no temporary loan. 



There was much generous legislation during 

 the session of 1899 in favor of railways, etc., and 

 the Hon. Mr. Tarte, as Minister of Public Works, 

 announced that it was the policy of the Govern- 

 ment to regulate its subsidies, etc., in accord- 

 ance with the growing needs and prosperity of 

 the country. Hence supplementary pledges, in 



addition to the above-mentioned actual expendi- 

 ture, were made, which increased the total of 

 liabilities incurred for the year to $(50,000,000. 



In the statement of the public debt on June 30, 

 1898, and on June 30, 1899, the liabilities were as 

 follow : 



The statement of assets was as follows: 



Prohibition. Following upon the prohibition 

 plebiscite or referendum in 1898, by which a small 

 majority had been recorded for the principle in 

 the Dominion as a whole, and a large majority 

 against it in the province of Quebec, there was 

 much discussion throughout the country. The 

 Government refused to take any action under 

 the circumstances, and the ensuing letter, dated 

 March 4, 1899, from Prime-Minister Laurier to 

 a prominent prohibitionist in Toronto, explains 

 its position fully: 



" When the delegation of the Dominion Alli- 

 ance waited upon the Government last fall to 

 ask, as a consequence of the plebiscite, the in- 

 troduction of prohibitory legislation, they based 

 their demand upon the fact that, on the total of 

 the vote cast, there was a majority in favor of 

 the principle of prohibition. The exact figures 

 of the votes recorded were not at that time ac- 

 curately known, but the official figures, which 

 we have now, show that on the question put to 

 the electors 278,487 voted yea and 264,571 voted 

 nay. After the official figures had been made 

 public, it was contended by some of the opponents 

 of prohibition that the margin of difference be- 

 tween the majority and the minority was so 

 slight that it practically constituted a tie, and 

 there was, therefore, no occasion for the Gov- 

 ernment to pronounce either one way or the 

 other. The Government does not share that 

 view. We are of the opinion that the fairest 

 way of approaching the question is by the con- 

 sideration of the total vote cast in favor of pro- 

 hibition, leaving aside altogether the vote re- 

 corded against it. In that view of the question, 

 the record shows that the electorate of Canada, 

 to which the question was submitted, comprised 

 1,233,849 voters, and of that number less than 23 

 per cent., or a trifle over one fifth, affirmed their 

 conviction in the principle of prohibition. If we 

 remember that the subject of the plebiscite was 

 to give an opportunity to those who have at 

 heart the cause of prohibition, who believe that 

 the people were with them, and that if the ques- 

 tion were voted upon by itself, without any other 

 issue which might detract from its consideration, 

 a majority of the electorate would respond, and 

 thus show the Canadian people prepared and 



