GALT 



GALTON 



Villa Rubein and A Man of Devon, his next 

 novels, like Jocclyn, received little notice from 

 the public, but after 1904 his talent was rec- 

 ognized. In that year appeared The Island 

 Pharisees, a study of English life. In rapid 

 succession thereafter he wrote A Man of Prop- 

 erty, satirizing the ways of the great capital- 

 ists, The Country House, which deals with the 

 life of the landed gentry, and Fraternity, which 

 is largely a study of class feeling. His later 

 books include The Patricians, the Inn of Tran- 

 quillity and The Dark Flower, a morbid tale. 



His plays, nearly all of which have been pro- 

 duced, include Joy, Strife, The Silver Box, 

 The Pigeon, The Eldest Son, The Fugitive, 

 The Mob, and The Little Dream, the last- 

 named a poetic, fantastic little story which is 

 very different from most of his tragic plays. In 

 1918 he refused the honor of knighthood. 



GALT, SIR ALEXANDER TILLOCH (1817-1893), 

 a Canadian financier and statesman, who was 

 responsible for the introduction of the decimal 

 system of currency into Canada. He was 

 born in London, England, but when he was 

 eighteen years of 

 age he was sent 

 to Canada in the 

 employ of the 

 Canada Land 

 Company, of 

 which his father 

 was superintend- 

 ent. He remained 

 in the service of 

 the company for 

 twenty years, and 

 during the last 

 twelve years of 

 the period was its chief commissioner. He 

 was at one time also interested in the pro- 

 motion of railways and was a partner in the 

 firm which constructed the Grand Trunk Rail- 

 way from Toronto westward to Sarnia. 



Gait entered political life in 1849 as a mem- 

 ber of the Canada assembly. Though a Lib- 

 eral, he opposed the Rebellion Losses Bill, the 

 chief measure of his party. He retired from 

 the assembly before the end of the year, but 

 reentered it in 1853, and for twenty years 

 thereafter was the leading spokesman for the 

 English Protestants of Quebec. A man of inde- 

 pendent views, he was never willing to give 

 his unqualified adherence to either political 

 party, and for that reason never had a large 

 following. Yet so great was his reputation that 

 in 1858 he was called on to form a ministry, 



SIR ALEXANDER GALT 



a task which he declined. From 1858 to 1862 

 and again from 1864 to 1866, as inspector-gen- 

 eral of finance, he did much to reduce the 

 chaotic finances of Canada to order. In 1859 

 he secured the passage of a tariff act which 

 was the beginning of a system of protection for 

 Canadian manufactures, and in 1866 the deci- 

 mal style of currency was adopted through his 

 efforts. 



Gait was one of the men whose influence 

 led to the coalition ministry of 1864-1867 and 

 eventually to Confederation. He became Min- 

 ister of Finance in the first Dominion Ministry, 

 formed by Sir John A. Macdonald r but 

 resigned after a few months. In 1877 he 

 rendered brilliant service as Canadian repre- 

 sentative on the Anglo-American Fisheries 

 Commission which met at Halifax. He was 

 the first High Commissioner to Great Britain, 

 from 1880 to 1883, being succeeded by Sir 

 Charles Tupper. The last ten years of his 

 life were spent in retirement. G.H.L. 



GALT, a town in Waterloo County, Ontario, 

 in the southwestern part of the province, situ- 

 ated on both banks of the Grand River, about 

 fifty-five miles from its entrance into Lake 

 Erie. Hamilton is twenty-five miles southeast 

 and Toronto is fifty-seven miles northeast. 

 Railway transportation is provided by the 

 Grand Trunk, the Canadian Pacific and the 

 Lake Erie & Northern railroads, and electric 

 lines connect with Kitchener, Paris, Waterloo 

 and Brantford. The first settlement was made 

 in 1816, but the city was not incorporated until 

 1915; it was named in honor of John Gait, a 

 Scotch author, father of Sir A. T. Gait. The 

 population is chiefly Scotch, with a small mix- 

 ture of English, Dutch and Germans; in 1911 

 it was 10,299; in 1916, estimated, 11,000. 



The immediate surroundings of the city are 

 well-wooded, and with the river, which is here 

 spanned by the several bridges, present some 

 picturesque scenery. Of the city's recreation 

 grounds, Victoria Park is the largest and most 

 attractive. Stone is largely used in the con- 

 struction of the buildings, the most note- 

 worthy being the post office and custom house, 

 the city hall, the public library and several 

 churches. Gait is located in a rich agricultural 

 district, which also produces a good supply of 

 lumber, limestone and sand. Manufactures are 

 represented chiefly by iron and brass foundries, 

 shoe factories and sawmills. J.MCC. 



GALTON, gawl'ton, SIR FRANCIS (1822-1911), 

 an English scientist and author who is chiefly 

 noted for his important researches in heredity, 



