BRITISH COLUMBIA. 



and paper, and negotiations are now being carried 

 on for the establishment of these industries. Ne- 

 gotiations are being carried on for the purpose of 

 securing the construction of a railway from Bute 

 inlet to Yellowhead pass, to connect with the 

 railway system on Vancouver island, and for 

 the construction of the Coast Kootenay Railway. 

 Legislation will be introduced dealing with taxa- 

 tion and assistance to hospitals. The estimates 

 of revenue and expenditure have been carefully 

 prepared with a view to the strictest economy 

 being exercised, and will be submitted without 

 delay." 



An important piece of legislation during the 

 session, which closed on June 21, was a measure 

 increasing the number of members of the Legisla- 

 ture from 38 to 42. Vancouver received 1 more 

 member, or 5 against Victoria's 4. The bill 

 passed its second reading on March 25 by 32 to 

 3, and was declared by many Opposition members 

 to be extremely fair. It eventually became law. 



Hallway Legislation. The most important 

 enactment of the session was the passing of a 

 measure that temporarily settled the problem of 

 aiding transportation through the northern part 

 of the province and of meeting the popular de- 

 mand for some form of competition with the Ca- 

 nadian Pacific Railway. By this act, which was 

 presented on May 6 and finally passed, the old 

 Victoria, Vancouver, and Eastern Railway proj- 

 ect was merged in a new line the Vancouver 

 and Coast Kootenay Railway and Messrs. 

 Mackenzie and Mann, with their American sup- 

 porter, J. J. Hill, received the reward of prolonged 

 agitation. The measure provided for land and 

 monetary aid to the Canadian Northern Railway, 

 from Bute inlet to the eastern boundary of the 

 province, and to the Vancouver and Coast Koo- 

 tenay Railway Company. To aid the Canadian 

 Northern, the Government was to pay for the 

 first 50 miles of railway, beginning at or near 

 Bute inlet, $4,800 a mile ; from the end of the said 

 first 50 miles to the point nearest to Quesnel, 

 $4,000 a mile ; from the said point nearest Quesnel 

 to the eastern boundary of British Columbia, at 

 or near Yellowhead pass, $4,500 a mile; and also 

 20,000 acres of land for each mile of railway, 

 the company to sell the land at the current price 

 of Government lands, and to accept the cash sub- 

 sidy in British Columbia 3-per-cent. inscribed 

 stock. 



For the Vancouver and Coast Kootenay Rail- 

 way the Government offered $4,000 a mile for the 

 westerly 80 miles; for the next 100 miles, $4,800 

 a mile.; and for the other 110 miles, $4,000 a mile. 

 The railway was to connect with the Victoria 

 Terminal Railway and ferry company's line for 

 Victoria. The Canadian Northern was also to 

 run a ferry to Vancouver island and a railway 

 down Vancouver island to Victoria. The Govern- 

 ment also introduced a bill to borrow $3,000,000 

 to aid the railways, to pay the overdraft, and to 

 carry on other public works. 



The War. On June 2 the following resolution 

 was unanimously passed : " That this house, hav- 

 ing heard with the greatest satisfaction that the 

 war in South Africa has been brought to a suc- 

 cessful termination, desires to extend to his 

 Majesty's Government the most sincere and loyal 

 congratulations vipon the happy occasion." 



In the course of his speech the Premier made 

 the following remarks: 



" It is at once a matter of pride and patriotic 

 joy that we can join with the people of Great 

 Britain and Britons everywhere in celebrating the 

 successful outcome of a conflict in which our 

 brave Canadian sons took so valorous and con- 



spicuous a part, having among colonial troops 

 won special distinction everywhere in South 

 Africa and throughout the whole war. It is es- 

 pecially gratifying to us to know that- among 

 Canadians the boys of British Columbia were 

 ever to the front in deeds of bravery and shared 

 the hardest fighting and the longest and most 

 memorable inarches. The gallant charge at Paar- 

 deberg will live long in history, and is engraved 

 in the hearts of the British people." 



Finances. The receipts of the province for 

 the fiscal year ending June 30, 1902, were $2,140,- 

 751, the expenditure $2,475,334. The estima- 

 ted receipts for the year ending June 30, 1903, 

 were stated to be $2,222,568 ; the estimated expend- 

 iture, $2,486,127. The following are the details 

 of the receipts for the first and second periods 

 mentioned. The estimate of receipts included: 

 Dominion of Canada subsidy, grant, and interest, 

 $305,968.65; land sales (including estimated col- 

 lections on overdue payments, $40,000), $80,000; 

 land revenue (including rental of lands and wa- 

 ter dues), $37,000; timber royalty and licenses, 

 $80,000; timber leases, $110,000; free miners' cer- 

 tificates, $100,000; mining receipts, general, $175,- 

 000; licenses, $80,000; real-property tax (inclu- 

 ding estimated collections on arrears, $80,000), 

 $210,000; personal-property tax (including esti- 

 mated collections on arrears, $60,000), $140,000; 

 wild-land tax (including estimated collections on 

 arrears, $75,000), $130,000; income tax (inclu- 

 ding estimated collections on arrears, $15,000), 

 $55,000; revenue tax, $150,000; mineral tax, 

 $130,000; fines and forfeitures and small debt 

 court fees, $16,000; law stamps, $14,000; probate 

 fees, $10,000; registry fees, $80,000; printing-office 

 receipts, $15,000; interest on investment of sink- 

 ing-funds, $35,000; Chinese restriction act, 1884 

 (Dominion refund), $40,000; fisheries, etc., $35,- 

 000; succession duty, $20,000; royalty and tax on 

 coal, $130,000; miscellaneous receipts, $44,100. 



The expenditures in 1901-'02 included $411,- 

 440 upon the public debt, $253,980 upon salaries, 

 $231,132 upon justice, $41,325 upon legislation, 

 $124,380 upon the maintenance of public insti- 

 tutions and $87,300 upon hospitals and charities, 

 $110,200 upon administration of justice, $369,537 

 upon education, $32,200 upon transport and reve- 

 nue services, $804,641 upon public works, and 

 $119,900 upon miscellaneous matters. 



The Opposition denounced the Government 

 very freely for extravagance and for filing up 

 alleged deficits year after year. R. G. Tatlow 

 and Dennis Murphy were the chief speakers on this 

 subject, and the latter estimated the public debt 

 of the province at the close of 1902 as being 

 nearly $10,000,000. Speaking on May 3, he ex- 

 plained this as follows : " The debt as it appears 

 in the balance-sheet is about $6,450,465.08; un- 

 recoverable assets, principally payments of inter- 

 est on railway bonds, the details of which he 

 had given, were $298,676.05; discount on diking 

 items, $400,000; total, $6,749,141.13. To this 

 must be added the overdraft for the current year. 

 Taking the Finance Minister's own figures he 

 thought they were below the mark this over- 

 draft will on June 30, 1902, amount to $1,600,000. 

 The overdraft on June 30, 1901, was $871,771.56, 

 so that the increase during the current year will 

 be in round numbers $729.668. Adding this 

 amount to the debt as already computed of 

 $6,749,141.13, the total net debt of the province 

 on June 30, 1902, would be $7,878,141.13. The 

 Finance Minister intended to raise a new loan 

 of $3,000,000, of which, according to his own fig- 

 ures, $1,600,000 would be eaten up by the over- 

 draft, leaving the sum of $1,400,000 to be added 



