740 



QUEBEC. 



Q 



QUEBEC, a province of the Dominion of Can- 

 ada; area, 228,900 square miles; population in 

 1896, 1,488,535. Capital, Quebec. 



Government and Politics. The session of 

 the Legislature was opened on Jan. 12, 1899, by 

 Lieut.-Gov. L. A. Jette with a speech from the 

 throne, of which the following are the chief por- 

 tions : 



" Among the occurrences of the year just ended, 

 I can not pass over in silence the meeting in this 

 capital, in August, of the international confer- 

 ence charged with the duty of harmonizing the 

 many relations between the population of the 

 United States and ours. The presence in our 

 midst of the notable men to whom negotiations 

 of so grave - and so delicate a nature were con- 



laws adopted at almost every session of this 

 Legislature have led my Government to gut mi it 

 a complete consolidation to you. The increase in 

 the territory of this province, caused by concur- 

 rent legislation of this Legislature and of the 

 Parliament of Canada during their la-t sessions, 

 necessitates the civil and judicial organization of 

 the newly acquired territory. You will, at the 

 same time, be called upon to define again the 

 northern, northeastern, and northwestern limits 

 of the counties adjoining such territory. The 



S roper administration of the public lands ren- 

 ers certain important amendments to the laws 

 goxerning them impcrat ivel y necessary. 



"In view of the financial situation which it 

 had to face on its accession to power, the pio- 



QUEBEC, FROM THE TERRACE. 



fided was a source of satisfaction, and even of 

 pride, to the inhabitants of this city, and at the 

 same time was a tribute paid to the oldest prov- 

 ince of the confederation. During the sitting of 

 that commission, in September, the statue erected 

 by the city of Quebec in honor of Champlain was 

 inaugurated, and a more solemn or imposing spec- 

 tacle was never witnessed by the population of 

 this city. 



" The decision by the Judicial Committee of the 

 Privy Council with reference to the respective 

 rights of the Government of Canada and the pro- 

 vincial governments over the fisheries of this coun- 

 try has necessitated legislation on this important 

 matter. The numerous amendments to the game 



ent Government found it -elf compelled to n 

 pnlilic expenditure as much as possible, and to 

 push the collection of the revenue in order to ob- 

 tain the indispensable equilibrium between an- 

 nual receipt- mid expenditure. This 1a>k wa> all 

 the more difficult that the previous Government, 

 after reducing the ordinary receipts by the ex- 

 tinction of several sources of revenue, and in- 

 creasing the expenditure by statutory enactments 

 -really exceeding what it had provided tor in its 

 estimates had destroyed the basis on which it 

 had founded the calculations of it- la-t financial 

 statement. Notwithstanding all th.-e dillicultics. 

 my Government has succeeded, if not in complete- 

 ly doing away during its fir-t y< ar with the deficit 



