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The Huron Signal, 1882-03-10, Page 5• 1'!IE lit:RON SIGNAL, FRIDAY. MARCH 10, Id82. 3 his taritf from the consuu.uI . stud not .u,y al las of life-- keep accurate accounts the inanuf•cturer's /emit of view. Than' of their expeudtture. I find it a matter is what this poor min has to write, and of groat difficulty to obtatu any reliable let hon. gentlemen ponder it well:— ( statements from my fanning friends as "I am certain of the—that under the i to the aiuuuut hat they purchase of revenue 'eraI was sickly, 1 had * good dutiable articles, rad as t., the way the deal of b; .leu days off wurk, but 1 was tariff affects them. Nevertheless I have sucueeded an finding one or two, and with the permission of the house I will call their attention to the way in which 'he present taxation affects our farmers when carrying on operations on anything like a considerable scale. I have here a statement m detail from au extremely respectable farmer of my own acquaint- ance, having a family of nine, in which he states that he has expended in the every t3atur[ay, and as to s>,ving sty- I last year for clothing, dry -goods, and millinery of all kinds about $180; for hardware, $58; fur a variety of agricul- tural articles, $180; harness, $40; for tea andsuigar,$53; amp for miscellaneous dutiable goods about $60, makiug in all about $571. 1 do not mean to say that this luau is au ordinary example; he is • farmer of more than the ordinary in- telligence sod of inure than ordinary in - nein; but I say this,that it is quite clear applying the tariff to the various classes of articles I have enumerated, that this man is ouutr,bu'ing fir more than his fau pr•purtwn of duties to the revenue. I should estimate the taxes which that Riau has to pay, at certainly n.,t less., a $130 a year. and tam quite well aware that then: cot • great tuary farmers, at any ram in that part of the wort+ where he resides, who are obliged to pay quite ae taune and rime even a larger suet to aver revenue. Sir, when I listen to the h ue gentleman s enumeration of his (efts by the tariff U. the farnter, and when I remember what the oat is that Kase farmers had u. pry, my wind le.erte to a certain story of a famous Assess oi. whish the hon. gentleman say perhaps have heard of. I will take She liberty, air, of calling his attention its the &nameless in question: Once upon *Woe, sin Mr. Barnum relates, 1:e found ` self sin'.least. struts; he had nu meaty. tie pmt, his character even was shier a clued, some petty difficulty Nash a sestemet I believe, I don't knew what. at any rat. Mr. Barnum was mor- ally awl fManea.Uy nearly dead beat. well, air, he toes ..n to narrate how in ibis beer of extremist need s brilliant lltPalliala, s dash of genius, struck Marna boas. and he determined to start a Weer, on an entirely new principle. /is Lottery was t• have no blanks, all Imre to he prises All classes—farmers, mechanics merchants, importers, and manufacturers --111 were to have prizes in Mr BarnuMe lottery, and he relates how after several years had Iafaed gentlemen who obtained prises in the lottery discovered that the prizes on the average were worth &beet one-tenth of the cwt .of the lottery ticket. Well, sir, I 'do not know whether the hon. gentlemen or his chief has ever heard the stery. If they did not copy Mr. Barnum in this particular it wee d only be one of the numerous in- stances with which history is studded, and will show us how great minds, when they find themselves in similar difficul- enabled too save !rein 8880 to $40 a year. I have enjoyed gasp health during the last throe or tour years, and have been I seldom n day off wurk.,' Am I to think that the hon. gentleman imputes it to thu National Policy that this man enjoyed good health during the past threo w• four year. 1 "I have had to curtail my expenses considerably to meet the claims upon me thing, it is impassible. Sir, that is the exact fact. The hon. gentleman did not and does not intend it. I dare soy; but the effect of such tax- ation as I have depicted on much inoenes as than [ have reterrad to has been most undoubtedly to interfere, first.fall, with the aonfort of the working classes, and then with their tomer to better their conditi.m. There Dan be no doubt that this heavy tixation deprive* these clause to a great extent of the power of making a home for theniselves; that it greatly impedes the education of emir ch.Idren; that it deprives them of obtaamint lux- uries which they are entitle[ t.. a• much as the hon. gentleman ..r anyb.a'y else; and that it distinctly :.ower* the stan- dard of comfort. Although I d.. not mean to env that the tariff is whoUy re- sponsible -because I believe the price .4 pruvtuons, which t aim tie larsest por- ton of a labouring means esp.nd.turs, has goon up yet then can be so doth that there has been a merged sal sastti- ble degradstsuw in Me etaenard of elm - fort fort enp..ywh by these sea New. tom,, therm are imp.rtaat y.meti.,es title+!► lying this whole ss►ja.t en wine\ die hoes voodooism 'meld d.. man bi ageged, nem is •mini s as sash etsisemmole le 1 More sae -ted Mas evsdaems ealela toi as from every genee.r .4 taw e-e+y —whin goes 4 • ♦•w Chet site be., gentlemen hes dame two tk.sgpq• likely ire be &heeded in tie fetere wroth treat Inge Chief tie flus a,mntry. Id. Ms eempilblg lowered tee standard .4 comfort OMENS the working people, sad he tam to a WIT �arrg�.. extent, by &Mi$ct&l lerrtaleti.ist. let ter(er'ed with the diertheesee, .4 pee. party, without adding me farthing M the national wealth eollsetively nenrolutin Tri root IA, Sir, the hon. gentleman knows, or the hoe. gentleman ougbt to know. that ill ,ver the world et this w,Ient thuagbt- timen, men 111 the htgkeet p..ssable tion, of the highest p,estble intellects - al attainments, are moat desirous too nen how, if it be possible by law, great fon tune% may not he artificially created, or the proper distribution .d great fortunes may be ensured, and he 'night, if he chose, learn from the straits to which our friends in the mother country are re- duced, the risk of artificially creating great fortunes by operation of law. Now, sir, I have no objection whatever to any man accumulating as large a for - dime he owe ,u, re than be does to the I protect the family of the workingenui, incurred, that the hon. Patlematt oppe. that this hu b51"" 1" all lutea" 811 lumbermen ! Here, again, 1 prefer to truant hie safety and protect hien against alto was anxious to make a appear purpusss the °kiwi spending depertenstg. go to the fountain head. 1 have triad dangers which the framers of this report I that suis expenditure of $27,780,000, tient you have an ono us u,crecae,and to find out for myself what the opinion Say, and say luatlY, at present exist In a was really very little more than the ea -1 that is not the worst of it. To a very of the luwtennen of thwadn may hap- great many (autumn, in the Duuainion. penditure .of $23,b00,1/00. But I will i large extent, practically, thew charges pen to be as to the merits of the hon. gentleman's tariff, and 1 received but one week ago a letter from the head of a leading lumbering firm, which 1 shell take the liberty of reading to this House. This gentleman says: — "I know that our timber ousts U. from $l, to $1.50 per thousand wore than it did tour years ago. The loeger portion of this way be attributed to in- crease of duties, yet some unquestion- ably, is due t, the Mermaid demand fur labour, owing to the return of activity in the lumber business in the United States. During the past summer wages were about $2 por month higher, cowing partly to the increase.' expenditure of the men upon themselves and their families, owing to the extra price of clothing, etc. The expenditure in the woods has been considerably higher, partly owing to the same . ause, partly owing to the advance in standing tim- ber. That the present tariff presses very heavily upon the lumber trade is a fact beyond dispute, while the profits derived from it are on an average of years much below a fair return on the capital invested. Everything the lum- berman use in his business, iron, steel saws, wo ,liens, cotton, pork, flour, oats, corn, and lots of other things, are sub- ject to an almost prohibitive tax, al- though in many cases you cannot ob- tain tain cot Canada articles of the quality yen want. For instance, I sent the other day an order for a few hundred dollars worth of saws, on which I shall have to pay 36 per cent. duty in order to build up one or two factories in Cana- da who cannot make the quality of -saws I require." Sir, I deem it unnecessary to add bre word to that statement. It is made by a man of many years' experience in the trade, thoroughly familiar with its working. and to my certain knowledge, eminently capable of calculating what the tariff actually does cost the lumber trade, and I ask again what will the hon. gentleman do to protect and en- courage the lumberman, to whom more than to any other class he owes the sur- plus of which he and his friends b..ast so readily. PROTE.TION TO TES WORKINOM AN. Then, sir, what has the hon. gentle- man done for the workingman ? His vaunts ara loud enough, but let me ask, has the hon. gentleman taken any steps to protect the :workingman 1 gas he tried -to secure them from foreign com- petition ? Are they less worthy, the workingmen of Canada, of being secur- ed against foreign competition1 Are Canadian men less worthy of protection than Canadian :cotton and woollen goods ? \Vhy, sir, these gentlemen will not condescend to take the ordinary precaution to secure the health and safety of the workingman. Sir, that was a most suggestive paragraph in the Throne:— tune as he can byanyhonest and I ti- Speech from the aRoyal eRt The report of a Royal Commission nate means. I d•, not mean to say that' ties, are apt to resort to similar exiled- issuedto enquire. into the question of I regard it as the highest aim and ob- ienta in order to get out of them ject of life, and 1 may say this, and .'LAYS PRIVILEGES. most of us are likely actuated by the I The hon. gentlemen to -day informed us same sentiments, that if that be regarded I that he was about to make a new depar- as the highest end and object of life we turn in political economy, in this country would not be engaged in politics, for ray at least. He is going to give, so'he tells experience in politica is this, that al- us, a bounty of considerable' amount to though many men have entered office the fishermen of the Maritime Provinces rich and left it poor, no honest and hon- Now, sir, knowing how greviously op- ourable man ever entered office poor and preaive his tariff has been to that most left it rich. But, sir, be that as it may, deserving•class of the community, know - my objection to his whole policy lies ing how much they have suffered under here, that what he has been doing is, as it, knowing how utterly in'posaible it is I said, to take many millions from the for hint to help them, I do not know,eir, great mass of the lo-ol.le, and to divide that I should feel disposed to criticise it among a very si.o..,l and favoured few. him so much fur relieving them to some I do not mien to say that there is not extent, although his is a very curious ar- something in a political sense to be said gument in favour of a policy to take for thus policy. The men among whom you are distributing. the ntilliuns are likely to help you at election tunes. They may controlovotes, very likely, and very often they do, and no doubt, sir, as in old times, the public may be de- bauched by the free use of the money which has been previously Taken from them. But I do not regard that as statesmanship. I do not regard that as an honest policy, nor do I believe, what- ever the hon. Minister may say, that that is • policy which is likely to be at- tended *ith any great ultimates ad - vintage to the country. THE FARMER. DECEIVED. Now. the hon. gentlenian was extremely anxious ti have us show what ground we had for our allegation that he was unjust to the farmers of Canada. Sir, I might remind hint of the promises .rade, if not by 'him, at any rate by his followers and friends, that these farmers should most undoubtedly obtain better prices than would bo paid in the UnitedStates. The hon. gentleman himself must know that that is not the case, because he deo voted a long and laboured argument to butter that he may bring to market , gated either by one of the Cummnisstoners show why it was that to -day prices I would like to know what reason the or rote one in the factory. We are• are lower in Toronto than they are in hen. gentleman can advance why he sorry t. report that in very many in - Chicago. Well, sir, I think the farm- i should not give bounties to that and the stances the children—having no educe - ere of Canada will require some better other classes I have enumerate:. Does tion whatever --could not tell their ages; this applies more particularly to those from twelve years downward, some tieing found as young as eight and nine years.. The Commissioners go on to describe a state of things in which, "The children invariably work u many hours as adults, and if not com- pelled are requested to work overtime factory labour, and the best means of promoting the comfort and well-being of the workingman and his family, without undue interference with the develop- ment of our manufacturing industries, will be laid before you." The paternal Government are to take pains to secure the comfort and happi- ness of the workingman and his family, always provided that it is not to be done by interfering with the profits of their masters, the manufacturers. Sir, one good thing these hon. gentlemen have done—late in the day, and I do not hold it by any means•an excuse for their pre- vious neglect—they did issue a com- niieaion to enquire into the condition of, facture children in the factories he has money out of one pocket and put it intoalluded-to, and I ant hound to say that, another, and calling that granting relief I so far as I am able to perceive, the gen- to the poo le. Ilut, sir, I submit that tlemen to whom the work was entrusted if he be right in redressing the injustice have done it honestly and well. But, which he has laid upon the fishermen by sir, what do these gentlemen report to his tariff, there are other classes in this us I They tell us in the first place that community who have a right to the same they have found much inconvenience and justice at his hands. If the fishermen delay in obtaining information; that in are to have bounties, other classes of the some instances they were told by menu - community have a right to the basun- facturers that they knew their own busi- ties too. The lumberman has a right ness, and that the Government should to be indemnified for the increased not dictate whom they should employ,' cost to which this tariff has put or interfere in matters of trade. hint. Why - should one man receive THE COMMISSIONERS'. REPORT. a privilege more than another i Why "The employment of children and should the maker of cotton. dlothing young persons in mills and factories is or the maker of woolen clothing be al- extensive and largely on the increase, lowed to receive from one-third to one- the supply being unequal to the demand, half more than the fair market value of particularly in some localities, which his article when he comes into compe- may partially explain why those of such titian with other roods made in other tender years are engaged. As to obtain markets? And why should my agricul- 1 ing with accuracy the ages of the child- tural friends not be allowed to receive i ren employed we found some difficulty, one-third to one-half, on whatever pro- inasmuch as the,empl..yer has no record portion may be, more than the absolute thereof, laving no interest or obligation market value of every bushel of grain in sr. doing. Consequently, in order to and every pound of beef. cheese. and ascertain their ages they were intern, - explanation than the hon. gentleman has given to satisfy them that there can be any just cause for the condition of things which I find recorded at present as twisting between these plans. Or- dinarily speaking, sir, in the days when classes, except possibly, the one class of my hon. friend was Premier there was • fishermen, farmers have to dread and Very material difference in favor of To- have to contend with foreign competi- ronto markets as against the Chicago markets. I take the date of the llth September, 1878. and I find there, sir, that in Toronto wheat stood higher than in Chicago, from 10 to 13 cents. that the market 'toted higher for oats about $ cents and for rye 11 cents. I turn to the date „( January, 1882, and i find that the 13 cents advance have shrunk to 4 cents, that nets are positively 3 cents lower in Toronto than in Chicago, and 1 find that rye is 10 cents lower. and barley Is 17 Dents lower. Now, sir, i would not say 1 never have said that the hon. gentleman's p.hey was &dilly responsible for that; but i do say, that the onus boss on tbese gentlemen, who promised farmers better terms, prods- competitor is the American producer. ed them very much better prices, that against whom this tariff puts him at the the ',nus lies nn them to show how it is , highest disadvantage. Then, sir, 1 prn- that th o promisee were so completely Beed to ask. following the line r,f the a•,.1 totally reversed, and why after three hon gentleman's argument, what has he • n, experiemce of the N. F. prices ..f done for the lumberman/ To whom reals are abeolutoly Inwer in our own markets than in the markets of the I Ott ed States. Now, the hen. gentleman has one sdvantage, and he talks of the way which taxes affect farmer I of import& 1•psn those import. he has Very few farmers -vary f •w pe..ple in mimed th.as four millt.,n. T•, whom he dare to say that the farmers are leas deserving ? Does he not know that on our fanners more than on any other class the whole prosperity of this Dominion depends; that above all other ti..n. And how Sows he propose to help them in their fight with foreign comps- when circumstances so demand which titors 1 Hs has weighed them down in has not been unusual of late in most every possible way. He has added to linea of manufactures. The appearance the price of every article that they re and condition of the children in the sf- qutre to use. He has increased the cost ter tart of the day, rtiuch as may ho wit- nf production of their articles, and has nestled in the months of July and Au - done nothing whatever to advantage gnat. we. anything hut inviting or de - them in any shape or way. Sir. 1 say arable.- Now, 1 say the, the Gorern• ' that whatever the hon. gentleman may mens has a,mmitted a great and grave think, he will find that farmers know as fault, that they have been guilty of a well as i do -I was going to say es well very serious r.1,-),, in allowing such a as he does- that the price of all the great state of things to exist without, till noir, staples which they produce has been, Is, having made the faintest or remotest and will be, for many years to come, attempt to remedy it. They knew right ruled by the prone in the Kntlish and well, bemuse some of them at least ars geropean markets. and that their other not ignorant of what has transpired in other amontries, that when factory la- bor hat been stimulated, as they propose rp themselves to stimulate it under this Allow rise to recall to your mind aha in- same purposes amounts to $1,967,000, tariff. the greed of parents and em- numerable denunciations with ahieb this being sn excites of jest $1.089,000. New, ployees has always resulted in cases of country rang, of the intolerable exirsva- Sir. this is virtually the largest spending the gr..esest tyranny and oppressive to Rance* of my hon. friend, when he asked department of the Government. it is the unfortunate young children employ- tar $13,500,000 for the public service. true that nominally the Department of L do not know whether it wet from N• • the Minister of Railways, and perhaps nominee of the facts, which he .ought ti. )se ilepa►rtment of the Poet I )lice, spend hare known, .r from a not unnatural de ,larger sums; hut, as is well known to the sire to diminish the weight of the erne Honer, so much of the expenditure in mous expenditure which he omit....at he these departments is absolutely fired And let Inc tell the hon. gentleman this, that they are doubly bound to see that thew children are well taken care d, that they are not oppressed sad ill-treat- ed in the case of special protected wa n u fact urers, because th� specially protected m,unufacturers are neither more or leas than subsidized pensioners of the State, and the State which pen. •ions them ought to hok to them and see that each 'pinions wrongs and op- pressions as this reprint reveals are nut permitted to be exercised 0[12,000 or 9,000 children in Canada. 1 will take the ease, as the hen. gentlenian desires, of the o$SAT BULK or THE MANUFACTURE?. or CANADA. Those of which thave just spoken were o FtecuillY protected, but 1 Dewe now to the great bulk of the manufacturers. I repudiate entirely the attacks which the hon. Minister and his friends have from time to time made ou u& I say they have no right whatever, from any utter- ances of mine or any hon. gentlemen ou this side of the House, to say we enter- tain the faintest or slightest feeling of hostility towards the manufacturers of cot Cascada, Sir, the causes of their pros- perity, autwitheanding whet the hod .ntleases W done for therm, he in the profits 4 our great industries have tm- pruved and increased t,, a .try large ex- tent, and when the great bulk .1 ,,our people become better able to purchase their prim—Was they is term remotes • con- siderable share cot pramp.ttty, bat as tar ea skis Tani is a,woersed the test d dm scatter IS UMW* this, that with ar*met to rat of tee inaaufeetets me aka Uwe two Gather duveal, ,alssd Own. ire it bee Mit Mem meetly elmosgs=asios. k:►at interest nave Mess w ««sits tans wasp& stir rmnti. 1.14 ! der thaw Teat watts sees be "mot is over .K elms the madams 4 the wok - mg men mats beamsnkl� doses neveme became in spate -4 the isatin M. ter s statement, it e • weU ta,.we teat that a d..LLr w.Aay wall set- pairrame .K within 10 1,5 per Gest. r emese a dollar wesld pmreaaw le years nen wins uttering have the mssefect.sers as rave being .dearer fireeplit•, ,K amass cm raw mater"[ is the shaped ,rum. er MAG.. pewee u the shape .4 oust die, the bus. Magmas, *puke jest sew et the incrvu . as tae ptrmdeetwa et Girl That carr be, ov it may set be. It w.ald be very natural and very releasable that, when the geu.ral pt.••p.rity of thecwn- try increases. the cotsuamptIoii of any one of the leading articles sbu.►d mn- orease; but I find that a large portion d the increased prvducti..0 is due to causes with which the hon. gentlemen cannot pretend to have had anything to do. I ani inforu,el by hon. gentlettien conver- sant with the trade, that a very large proportion of the increased production of which the hon. gentlemen boasts, par- ticularly -in Cape Breton, arises from the fact that it has now become the custom for vessels from NewOrleans and otherAt- lantic ports to take a very considerable quantity 1 coal on board at that point to enable them to prosecute their voyage. If that be the case, it is a very desirable trade, and which should be fostered ,if theGovern- one mens could foster it,but.1 have yet to learn in what way the Government can cause ocean going steamers to visit Cepe Breton. There is another case in which a valuable trade is springing up, which would spring Up more rapidly if it were not hampered by the Tariff. It is an ex- port trade in • MANUFACTURED LUMBER does he owe the *erring of which he h.ruts r The lumber indu.try has in- ferred its *sports to $11,01i),01et It has enabled we to buy $12,900,000 rare such as doors and window sashes. There is a trade which i conceive is to be exceedingly desirable to cultivate, as it Is one which would give employment to many hundreds, perhaps thousands, of pb.ple here; and how did the Govern- ment help this trade'? This is an export trade, one subject to severe foreign com- petition, and the Government helped it by imposing additional taxes, which amounted to about 81 ,per thousand on the production of the lumber, which is the raw material entering into this kind of manufactured goods All the hon. Minister can :say is, that he had not in- jured the trade to quite that extent, but only to the extent of about one-half of $1 per thousand. Speaking for myself, and in no way for anybodytt els? on this dex, they are likely to spend $170,000 side of the House, I may say this with in the year 1883. We find that in the respect to manufactures, that I have al- Post Office, while we spent $1,724,000, ways, when I was Minister of Finance, the demand $2,018000. We find that recognized as I do now, the plain and in immigration we spent 'MOW and self-evident fact, that there must be they demand' $378,000, and that the heavy indirect taxation to produce a total result is, as I said, that against revenue; that while we are burdened our annual expenditure of $23,500,000, with the obligations we ars„ now bur- they demand $27,750,000 in 1883. Sir, dened with, we cannot pretend to obtain although thew cases are bad enough, that revenue without indirect taxation, hut our policy was thii: We desired to distribute that taxation justly. We held that that was best for the great bulk of the manufacturers that they hail nothing then, as they have nothing now, to fear from us; that they are far more likely to be injured by the passing of the tariff exactions of the hon. gentlemen, and the domestic competition which, he says rightly, is the result in a great many cases. Our policy is to tax the people as lightly as we can, and when we are compelled to add to the taxes, to add to them justly and equally, avoiding all taxes which may press unduly on the poorer classes of the community, whom every statesman ought to guard, and from whom, especi- ally when their incomes are small, you ought to avoid taking away any portion of that small wage they possess. Now, to follow the hon. gentlemen in his ac- count of his expenditure and adminis- tration. we find that, ppractically, he has doubled our taxes. We know that HE HAA IoVRLED 0111 EXPENDITURE sinoe Confederation was inaugurated. We begin with 134 millions of dollars, and find ourselves to -day with 274 mil- lions dollars demanded for the service of the coming year. Allow me to recall his abatement that 224 million dollars were sufficient for all reasonable pu oast. explain to that hon. gentleman that the I are tiled uhatges, are the menially of n:- ouly reason why toy hon. friend beside I ed charges; stud when we dud that trona me was compelled, in the first two years I 8400,WU the expenditure fur Italians of the term of his office, to expend some- what more than he did in 1878, this, that when that hon. gentleman/as left of- fice he left behind him • legacyf threw or four million of dollars to be expended in theerious public works which hefted put underr construction u' 1873-74; and that of our total expenditure in 1875-6 chargeable to income at least $1,250,000 is due to the works which had been put under contract, and for which voter had been taken by that bun gentleman in 1873. That, and that only, is the rea- son why the expenditure of those two years was increased beyond the expendi- ture in 1878. The hon. gentleman will have to display a great deal inure ingen- uity than he has yet displayed before he will convince the people .d Canada that an expenditure that has increased from 823,500,000 in 1878 to $27,750,000 in 188.2, is an expenditurethat can be justi- fied, or which can be made consistent with hisown declarations in 1878, before be obtained office. But the hon. gentle- man talks of the percentage of taxes. 1 would like to call his attention to • few simple facts oft that subject. I tindthat in 1867, with • population of 3,250,000, we had a total taxation of $11,700,000, and the aversgeper head was ab. wt$3.60; in 1878, when our population was about 4,000,000, $17,841,000, cmisequently an average per head Dip $4.46. And even sf he adds the $1,000,0011 deficit which Jen existed, he cannot bong it beyond $4.71 per heal , and 1 tind now. with a pepaita,.a of 4,260,000, we have a taxa- tion u1 $L3,942,000, III other words, *Ail per fwd ; and if you take tuts Masder.tein the en.xmuus addition W Ms Fable burden caused by the oppres- ts w etsaracter of his Tara, we would py $; 00 per heal i tensed of $5.61. I imM that tar is even tun favorable a mew so take d the came, as there u too WOK rases 1u think, that when we take the ameass as our guide—we are resting us a very uncertain hunt Canada, I Dank, ..t ail civilised countries, puerile/Nose abase • ,''Nags, as a, which ,.rely an. certain tact u 1 tratiou of this department. We have known, and Ghat is, that It s utterly un- seen the most enormous increase in the reliable, that it is not an enumermtion expenditure W which I hate called at - d the poe.pb, that it does not give the at- tention. Sir, the state of that depart - intuition uf Canadians in Canada, but went is a by -word on the streets uf Ot- the number that are in Canada, and a taws; it is a by -word all through the Darton number of Canadians .outside North-West Territory, from one end of Canada as to whom no one can aay one the.Nurth•West to the other you hear tenth or one -twentieth will return. I 011e chorus of discontent at the iuefficien- fear that the mode that census wascy, at the difficulty of obtaining inform - fear in was with a deliberate fraudu- tion, at the lack of courtesy on the part lent intent. I fear it was taken for the of the officials of the Canadian Govern - purpose d eluding the terms of the Con- went in all matters respecting the settle - federation Act and depriving the Pro- went of that country. I speak of what vitae of Ontario and the Province of I have known. There is not a day that Nova Scotia of a large part of the re- I do not receive communications from presentation to which they are justly many of my own constituents, either in entitled. It is a very extraordinary Huron or who have gone to Manitoba, fact that the Province of Quebec, a pro- all saying the same thing, all repeating vince which was alleged to have been the same charges, the same complaints depopulated under my hon. friend's against the administration; all givingin- (Mr. Mackenzie's) administration has in- formation as to how the officers have creased under this census twice as much abused their positions ; all repeating that as it had between 1861 and 1871,and the you cannot obtain, in Canada, properin- diatribution of the population involves formation as t, the ordinary items of in - other circumstances which give the cen- formation that are supposed to be given, sus a suspicious character. If that and which ought to be given, to settlers suspicion be unfounded, the hon. gen- seeking their fortunes in the North tlemen have, at any Rate, deliberately Neat I will give you, out of a scute of invited it by their barbarous manner of letters, an extract from a letter I receiv- taking the census—a system which I ed but four days ago, and the letter is to do not believe would have been tolerated this effect : by any other country calling itself civil- "I ain unable to obtain maps here of ized. Apart from the enornwous amount any practical use, and I have already sp- in which tho total expenditure has been Plied to the Dominion Lands Office at swollen, we find on looking on the esti- Ottawa, nut with very poor results, as treated returns, a number of items enor- they appear there to have vgry little in- uously in excess of the sums expended formation to give to parties seeking it, by us in 1878; and what is very remark- or they are very careless about giving able is this, that the items in which the what they do puelioss. There are large largest figures appear are precisely these numbers of others involved in the same with respect to which these hon. gentle- difficulty. We can procure any number men were worst to denounce my hon. of maps of Dakota, but we are unable to friend and his colleagues for the display obtain even a fairly good map of our own of the greatest extravagance. We find North West." for civil government that in 1878 we ex- µ•!tat that roan writes to me, I have pended $823,000; in 1883 the expendi- heard from hundreds of other quarters ture is estimated to be $973,000. We within the past eighteen months. The find that in the tuperannuatod grants, contrast with the United States • in that which were also most vehemently de- particular is mutt lamentable, most die - gentlemen ask for $155,000 and if the United States officers may have, they return lately laid on the table be an in. are zealous and most active in giving all possible information with respect to the lands and the opportunity offered for settlement in their own territory. It is to be very much regretted that a similar state of things cannot be made to prevail in the department which is nominally administered by the Minister of the Interior. Sir, these things aro known to all. We know from, day to day, from quarter to pewter, at:d from alone has risen to something like $1,000- 01)0, and that when us italiaad at 4 per cunt. is equivalent to an addition of 815,000,00U to the national debt, we may well ask whither are we drifting. I ask, Sir, is it going to strip/ All that 1 can say is, 1 fear instead of stopping itrw wall increase. Now, this is the depart- ment which of all the depaenta un- der the control of the tioverimint needs the very closest supervene*, needs the very closest personal at- tention. The difficulties of adminis- tering this department are no doubt very groat; the temptations to which they are exposed are enormous, and, as everybody who has ever .at iu the Cabinet knows, there is and always will -he, under the beet cirouinstances, a very great difficulty indeed in efficiently super.ising it. It is incomparably the meat important department of the Gov- ernment at this moment, and I do not hesitate to say that it is INCVNPALAELY THE WORST MANAGED. Now, 1 ant perfectly well aware that the gentlenuui who is its present head, u, in some respects, an able man. He is an able lawyer, he is an able politician, but I am bound to say—and it is the opinion which I and tatty of the older members of the House have always entertained of him -.-that when we come to the practi- cal working of a department, the hon. gentleman will be found to be • very in- different administrator; and here we have a proof, Sir. It was a very great mistake for the hon. gentleman to as- sume this important department in ad- dition u. the onerous tunctions deco!: zt ring up 1 as Premier. If the hon. gentleman had been all he is not and all he ought to be, had he possessed the uhtiring zeal for the Public Sirvice, had he p eseesed the rigid integrity, had he possessed the powers of industry which my hon. friend beside me (Mr. Macken- zie) possessed, even still I would sly that the task would have been too much for his strength or the strength of any man. As it le, Sir, there has been j a must complete failure in the adminis- there are worse cases yet behind. When' half-year to half-year, that there has I come to consider the expenditure in some of the other departments, notably when I come to consider the expendi- ture in the Department of the Interior, i am, to quote a phrase from a colleague of the hon gentleman, appalled at the extravagance and misnsanagement which it discloses. Sir, within • few years, THE DEPARTMENT Or THE INTERIOR has become a great spending department, perhaps the very greatest spending de- partment in the hands of any Minister of the Government. We find that for the service of the future year, $909,000 are demanded for Indians: $413,000 for Mounted Police; $99,000 chargeable to income for Dominion lands: $450,000 chargeable to capital for the same pnr- pow,and for the office at t )ttawa,$8A,000 Now it will be interesting t, ormprr_ these expenditures with those for the same fntrpoee in 1878. Then the in- ,'labors compelling actual settlement been one continuous CHANOI IN THE REOULATION-4 affecting the important interests over which that hon. gentleman presides. First of all we have squatters warned off with the result, as I found when I was in that region, that snout 1,000 Cana- dians made homestead entries in the ad- joining Land Office of Dakota. Then there came a ukase limiting the settler to 80 acres, but that was repealed owing to the universal discontent which it aroused. Then terms under which the right of pre-emption might be obtained were altered, and next we had an arrangement that the land should bre sold at one-tenth of the nominal value paid down, and then, but not till after the mischief was done, no land is to he sold except for cash in full, aril then to we have a budget of so -tailed colonix anon schemes with all the clauses in the duns cost us $421,000; our Mounted Po- lice carefully struck cut. Then we fid an 8334,000; Dominion Termist, $87.000: wrrengement that the settler should and the expenditure for the department I hays each alternate section. Now, here amounted to $44,0110, without L see that whole counties wilt bre Sold counting in either cane the salary of the j for without any furniture .lasses al Minister ?Mr expenditure in 1878, an-' lowing any person t.. purchase who der the administration of my hon. friend I may aloeee to do w. Had them things from Bothwell. for all these purpose. ,occurred under the administration of my amounted t, $$$$,11100. The expenditure hon. friend, the member for B•.thwell under the Mim.ter of the Interim for (Mr. Willa, 1 ran well understand how .d rot th..w factories: and yet knowing that. they have allowed three years and •-half to elaps. since they undertook to inaugurate this policy before they here taken the smallest ..r .lightest pains to the House and the whole country would hero rung with denounciatioes if his tit atrsnce, hoe incompetence and his extra , snce. and with the most unbridled aepetlattons against him (nen one end of the Domini"n to the ..then. 1 suppose, easing that it is the hon. Minister of the 1Merinr, who is responsible for the d miaistrsti.d the department, that i nn t is all right But. 1 tell hint if he eon