Speaker. Prior to the recently-closed Session the Premier had offered W. A. O. Morson, the Conservative member for Cardigan, an official position and this, being accepted, had left the Government with a majority of two for the time being.

Meanwhile, the report of the Educational Commission of 1908, composed of D. C. McLeod, K.C., Dr. Robertson, Principal of Prince of Wales College, and F. J. Buote of Tignish, had been made public on Feb. 25th. The Commission, which took evidence all over the Province, found that there was a general desire for improved schools. It recommended an increase in teachers' salaries of from 50 to 60 per cent., also two schemes for consolidation of schools, one to cost $242,000 and the other $200,000. The advantages of consolidation were strongly emphasized in the Report. Amongst other changes proposed was a different classification of schools, higher qualifications for teachers with more professional training, and higher qualifications for inspectors and more of them. In text-books the main change recommended was the adoption of the new Series of Ontario Readers. A pension scheme for teachers, whereby they would draw an annuity after the age of 60, was recommended. Physical training and military drill, a measure for enforced attendance, a prominent place for nature study and manual training, were also recommended. The Commission did not advise ways and means for meeting the increased cost which these changes would involve, and nothing was done during the year by the Government excepting an arrangement with the Ontario Government for the purchase of its Readers, as published by the T. Eaton Company, for the next nine years. In the matter of Prohibition no change was made in 1910 and a debate in the Senate at Ottawa on Feb. 22nd evoked figures which placed the Island, in respect to conditions for larceny, drunkenness, summary convictions, etc., as by far the most advanced in Canada. In Charlottetown, which used to keep 16 policemen, only 2 were on duty in 1910. An incident of the year was the retirement of Hon. E. J. Hodgson, Master of the Rolls, after 19 years service.

General

VIII-THE THREE WESTERN PROVINCES

Progress and Public Affairs in Manitoba

The Province of Manitoba though small in area still had, in 1910, 25,000,000 acres of unoccupied land-much of it fit for settlement; the population was estimated at 500,000 or double that of 1901; the transportation facilities were splendid with nearly 4,000 miles of completed railway lines. The wheat inspected at Winnipeg in 1909 was 94,922,385 bushels; the wheat reported by the local Grain Exchange as being handled during the succeeding year up to September was 88,268,330 bushels; as the next highest on the continent was Minneapolis with 81,111,410 bushels this left Winnipeg the largest wheat market in America. During the year the crops in Southern Manitoba were damaged by the drought and hot weather in June and the plague of rats which had bothered the Province for some years was still prevalent, entailing-according to the Deputy Minister of Agriculture a yearly loss of $4,500,000 to the farmer if effective steps were not soon taken. During the harvesting there was a marked shortage in farm help; dairying made substantial progress and the College of Agriculture did good work while a large deputation of farmers asked the Government on Feb. 17th to place the Agricultural Societies of the Province under the guidance of W. J. Black, Principal of the College. The production of the year was as follows:

According, therefore, to the above estimates of the Ottawa Bureau of Statistics the agricultural production of Manitoba in 1910 was worth $55,000,000. In addition to this, and according to Provincial figures published on Dec. 8th, the dairy products of the year included 6,905,759 pounds of butter, valued at $1,537,613 and 923,258 pounds of cheese worth $99,250. The June Report of the Provincial Department of Agriculture showed a total of

The Pro

NOTE.-There is always a considerable variation between the Provincial estimates in the West and those of the Federal Bureau of Statistics. vinces do not always estimate values.

232,725 horses, 397,261 cattle, 176,212 pigs and 32,223 sheep. The values attached to these respective classes of animals by the Federal authorities was, respectively, $26,214,000, $13,835,000, $1,807,000 and $197,000. The poultry sold by farmers during the year included 115,878 turkeys, 57,432 geese, and 635,702 chickens. The number of farm hands employed in June was 23,262, and those required were 35,888; the number of female servants employed was 6,815 and those required were 4,890. The Dominion Bureau placed the average yearly wages of males in this connection at $365.55 and of females $261.84.

A great political and agricultural issue of the year was the Government purchase of Provincial Elevators. On Jan. 5th the Committee of the Manitoba Grain Growers' Association appointed to co-operate with the Government in drawing up a plan of Government ownership of interior elevators presented a Memorandum of their recommendations to the Cabinet. The Government, it was proposed, should assume the responsibility of providing the money to either purchase existing elevators or to build a new system. The cost either way was placed at $3,000,000. The following charges, the Grain Growers figured, would provide sufficient revenue:-One and three-quarter cents per bushel for receiving, cleaning and storing wheat; one cent for oats, one-and-ahalf cents for barley, and two cents for flax for the first fifteen days, with an additional charge of one-thirtieth of a cent per day afterwards. The main suggestions contained in the Memorial were: (1) to acquire or erect elevators by the issue of Provincial forty-year bonds; (2) to offer to purchase elevators now in existence on a basis of valuation to be determined by an estimation of the cost of duplication, not at the value as a running concern, and with little attention to vested rights; (3) to have administration by a Commission above and beyond political control with Commissioners to be named by the Directors of the Grain Growers' Association and to be appointed for life by the Government; (4) no cost of operation or maintenance to be a charge upon the Province, the Elevator system when inaugurated to be self-sustaining. The members of the Committee which met the Cabinet were as follows:

On Feb. 21 the Grain Growers' draft Bill in this connection was published and differed in some important respects from that which the Government presented and carried through the Legislature shortly afterwards.* The latter retained for the Government

NOTE. See also pages 487-9.

complete control of the proposed system. It took power to appoint the Commission or to dismiss its members, laid down the policy which was to govern the administration of the Elevators and reserved the right of veto over regulations made by the Elevator Commission. It provided that Government should erect elevators at rural points only on petition of 60 per cent. of the farmers in the district contributory and that the farmers must pledge themselves to use the Government elevators exclusively. Existing elevators at points where it was intended to have Governmen elevators were to be expropriated. This provision, it was said, exceeded the power of the Legislature. As matters devloped, following the discussion in the House and in the ensuing elections, the Liberal official section of the Grain Growers and, no doubt, some who were not Liberals, took a position of active criticism and protest.

On Mch. 15 the Grain Dealers of Winnipeg waited on the Government and protested earnestly against the whole policy on the ground that the Elevator business was not a public utility, a natural monopoly, or an artificial monopoly. A. J. Andrews, K.C., acted as spokesman and declared that the Government might as well take over the Lumber or any other business. The Grain Growers on the following day published an elaborate estimate of operating expenses giving the probable revenue of the System as $1,100,000, the expenditures as $925,000 and the total cost as $3,000,000. After the passage of the Bill the Grain Growers asked that John Kennedy, E. S. Estlin, F. B. McLennan and W. C. Graham be appointed Commissioners; the Government on May 17th announced the selection of D. W. McCuaig, President of the Grain Growers' Association, W. C. Graham, Manager of the Farmers Mutual Hail Insurance Co., and F. B. McLennan, a well-known grain dealer. Work commenced at Dufresne on July 6 on the first Government elevator either in Manitoba or Canada. By Aug. 21st 200 petitions had been received by the Commission, 75 Elevators had been purchased and 10 were in process of erection.

Of miscellaneous lines of development the Lake fisheries in the Federal fiscal year 1909-10 produced $1,003,385 or an increase of $402,989. A Dominion Report on the Lac du Bonnet Fisheries recommended a continuation of the policy of closing its waters to all but resident settlers; the subject of Provincial Lake fisheries in general was discussed in the Commons on Jan. 28th; the Interim Report of the Manitoba Fisheries Commission published on Jan. 19th stated that "We have reached the conclusion that all the Lakes of Manitoba have been over-fished, that some of the more valuable species such as whitefish and yellow pickerel have decreased very seriously in size and abundance, and that the sturgeon, the most valuable fish found in these waters, is on the point of extinction and can only be preserved by stringent meas

ures." Strict regulations, stern enforcement of law, careful inspection and supervision, were urged. In Winnipeg it was estimated (Telegram, May 12) that the Manufacturers' local output was $28,000,000 in 1910 as compared with $8,616,248 in 1900 and that the Wholesale turnover was $122,000,000. The Mortgage loans in Manitoba at the beginning of 1910 totalled $34,248,787 in the hands of Loan Companies in Britain and Canada, generally, and $1,092,901 in those of Trust Companies. Similarly Life Insurance Companies-chiefly Canadian-were stated in October to have invested $23,352,547 in the Province. The waterpowers of Manitoba were estimated at 504,000 horse-power of which 18,000 horse-power were developed. The Mineral production of the Province (Federal estimate) was placed at $1,470,776. The Municipal assessment of real and personal property (Dec. 31, 1909) was officially placed at $248,399,165 with a Debenture debt of $22,927,550.

In matters of Administration and politics, apart from the Legislature and the general elections, some facts must be recorded. The 2nd Report of the Government Telephone System showed a revenue in 1909 of $788,444 compared with $648,000 in the previous year, with 25,300 subscribers against 14,000, and longdistance lines totalling 5,180 as compared with 3,350. The Capital expenditure of the year was $959,494. At the close of 1910 the total Provincial expenditure on Telephones had reached $7,600,000; during the year the Capital expenses were $2,490,148 and the revenue $1,038,466; the system included 29,748 telephones of which 11,181 were business, 11,537 residences, and 7,030 rural, with 33,446 total subscribers. In Education the annual report of the Department issued in February by Hon. G. R. Coldwell, K.C., Minister of Education, showed that 60 per cent. of the pupils attending Secondary schools were there to prepare for the Teaching profession; that the Collegiates in Winnipeg were over-crowded and that 444 teachers were under training at the Normal School; that in the second and third courses only 58 were men and that the average tenure of teacher

in service was 3 years; that consolidation of schools and the institution of municipal school boards were greatly needed. The re-organization of Manitoba University was urged on the ground that "the elementary school system cannor flourish excepting in an atmosphere of intelligence and it requires a University to create this atmosphere."

A compulsory school law was advocated in various directions; supported by a Resolution of the Trustees Department in the Manitoba Educational Association on Mch. 2nd, as was the establishment of a State-controlled University; urged by the Provincial Grand Orange Lodge on Mch. 6; opposed by Mr. Coldwell in the Legislature as good in principle but injudicious and inopportune at present. On Mch. 15th the appointment of a Royal Commission