526 



ONTARIO. 



liquor traffic visited the Parliament buildings and 

 presented a vigorous protest to the Premier 

 against the impending legislation referring the 

 question of provincial prohibition to a vote of 

 the people. James Haverson made the following 

 statement in behalf of the delegation : " There 

 was invested in the distilleries and breweries of 

 the Dominion $15,500,000; in the real estate of 

 the retailers, $38,000,000; in the stock and fix- 

 tures, $21,000,000; making $74,500,000 directly 

 invested in the business. There was paid by the 

 distillers and brewers to the farmers annually 

 $2,382,000, and to the transpoitation companies 

 $450,000; wages, $1,200,000; other outgoings, 

 $1,012,000. The retailers paid $10,500,000 in 

 wages. There was an outgoing by the trade of 

 nearly $15,500,000 annually. There was in bond 

 in the Dominion 14,000,000 gallons of spirits, 

 which, with the duty upon them, represented $26,- 

 500,000 alone. The province of Ontario last year 

 derived in revenue from the liquor trade $629,000, 

 of which $250,000 was paid to the municipalities. 

 All the distilleries of the country were in this 

 province, and the largest number of the brewer- 

 ies. The retail trade of Ontario was more than 

 half that of the rest of the provinces put together. 

 Not only the liquor trade would be affected, but 

 the banks, the loan companies, and the financial 

 institutions." 



The Premier gave a simple promise of consid- 

 eration. On Feb. 12 Mr. Ross presented his meas- 

 ure to the Legislature in an elaborate speech. 



The majority for the measure at its second 

 reading on March 6 was 13. Very few amend- 

 ments were accepted, though the date was 

 changed to Dec. 4, and the voting requirements 

 were adapted to the general election of 1898, 

 instead of that of 1902. The bill finally passed 

 the House on March 15 with the same major- 

 ity as above. Meanwhile, on Feb. 26, F. S. Spence 

 presented to a Convention of the Dominion Alli- 

 ance for the Prohibition of the Liquor Traffic 

 resolutions from its executive declaring the con- 

 ditions attached to the referendum to be " diffi- 

 cult, unjust, and unreasonable." On March 26 

 the same committee issued a manifesto urging 

 popular work and support for prohibition. 



The day previous to the election the papers 

 published a document signed by a large number 

 of business and professional men protesting 

 against the measure as unwise and impracticable. 

 The first returns on Dec. 5 indicated that a suffi- 

 cient vote had not been obtained, as 213,507 were 

 necessary to make the measure law. But as the 

 incomplete returns came in the vote was shown 

 to be much larger than expected, until on Dec. 

 27 95,992 votes in favor of prohibition were re- 

 ceived. The total vote cast was 301,268. 



Finances. The Premier and Provincial Treas- 

 urer of Ontario delivered his third annual budget 

 speech in the Legislature on Jan. 22, 1902. He 

 took great credit to the Government for their 

 saw-log legislation of 1890, by which the export of 

 logs to United States mills for manufacture had 

 been stopped, and he pointed out the benefits of 

 their policy of setting apart forest reserves to 

 the extent of about 2,500,000 acres. He said 

 that since confederation in 1867 they had received 

 $3,814,588 interest on investments; that the Gov- 

 ernment had encouraged the railways of the 

 province by adding 2.219 miles since 1871, at a 

 total cost of $10,058,942; that during the same 

 period $3,492,410 had been spent upon coloniza- 

 tion roads, $4,407,546 upon asylums, $1,307,880 

 upon penal institutions, $1,399,542 upon educa- 

 tional institutions, $541,565 upon agricultural in- 

 stitutions, and $1,502,682 upon the new Parlia- 



ment buildings. With some minor sums, these 

 items made a total of $9,986,026 which had been 

 spent upon public institutions and special inter- 

 ests. Turning to the actual receipts for the past 

 year, the Treasurer said that they had exceeded 

 the estimates by $640,511. They were given as: 



Balance in banks, Jan. 1, 1901, $1,033,546; sub- 

 sidy from Dominion, $1,116,872; specific Domin- 

 ion grant, $80,000; interest due by Dominion 

 Government, $142,414; interest on investments, 

 $46,760; Crown Lands Department, including 

 woods and forests, $1,634,724; Algoma taxes, 

 $2,361; law stamps, $55,747; licenses, $76,372; 

 Education Department, $57,379 ; secretary's depart- 

 ment, $88,157; Fisheries Department, $35,887; sup- 

 plementary revenue act, $237,506; succession du- 

 ties, $366,581; public institutions, $97,735; casual 

 revenues, $92,655; miscellaneous, $42,621; total, 

 $5,507,317. 



The expenditures included $281,135 upon civil 

 government; $134,138 upon legislation; $416,042 

 upon administration of justice; $782,193 upon edu- 

 cation; $833,163 upon public institutions' main- 

 tenance; $4,825 upon immigration; $209,858 upon 

 agriculture; $192,280 upon hospitals and char- 

 ities; $91,681 upon repairs and maintenance; 

 $194,607 upon public buildings; $60,847 upon pub- 

 lic works; $138,801 upon colonization roads; 

 $179,008 upon charges of Crown lands; $24,314 

 upon refunds; $254,738 upon miscellaneous; 

 $7,097 upon drainage debentures purchased; 

 $96,209 upon railway aid certificates; $102,900 

 upon annuity; $25,281 upon the University of 

 Toronto; $9,706 upon common-school lands; a 

 total of $4,038,834. This, with a bank balance 

 of $1,468,492 on Dec. 31, 1901, made up the total 

 of $5,507,327. The estimated revenue for 1902 

 (excluding bank balances) was $4,075,872, and 

 the estimated expenditures $4,004,228. The in- 

 debtedness of the province for annuities was 

 $2,908,150, and on railway aid certificates $2,961,- 

 890. The Opposition, by adding to these latter 

 figures various railway subsidies and other obli- 



fations said to exist, made out a total debt of 

 12,769,000, and by other sums added to the 

 year's expenses estimated a deficit in the current 

 accounts of $310,000. 



Fisheries. According to the latest published 

 figures of the Dominion Department of Fisheries, 

 the value of the capital invested in the lake fish- 

 ing trade of Ontario was $789,042 in 1900, and 

 the men employed 2,502. Of the fish caught, and 

 valued at $1,330,293, trout figured at a valua- 

 tion of $531,854, whitefish $216,054, herring $163,- 

 560, pickerel $130,280, sturgeon $52,577, caviare 

 $45,380, and pike $51,433. The report of F. R. 

 Latchford for 1901 was dated Feb. 28, 1902, and 

 said that licenses to fish with 2,410,627 fathoms 

 of gill net and various other methods had been 

 issued; that employment during the year was 

 given to 2,802 men, 101 tugs, and 1,299 boats; that 

 a capital estimated at $749,071 was invested in the 

 industry; that the aggregate catch was 27,428,375 

 pounds, and its estimated value $1,428.078. 



Crime and Lunacy. The report of the In- 

 spector of Prisons, etc., was presented to the 

 Legislature on Feb. 15, 1902. He described some 

 of the country jails as being in a bad condition, 

 unsafe and unsanitary. Officials were excoivr 

 in numbers at some places, and deficient at 

 others. The number of committals in 1901 was 

 8,546, or fewer than in the previous year. There 

 were 7,314 male prisoners, and 1,232 females. 

 Two-thirds of these were intemperate, and one- 

 third could not read or write. There were 41 

 deaths in the year, and 10 escapes, of whom 6 

 were recaptured. 



