city and county in the State for the use and benefit of the Firemen's Relief fund. The law has been a dead letter because of a decision obtained from the State Supreme Court soon after its enactment. Later the commissioner issued an order revoking the bonds of fire insurance companies outside the State, and the controversy over these matters continued till July, when a compromise was effected by which 25 companies signed a letter in which they agreed to pay to the State a sum equal to 1 per cent of their net premiums collected on risks taken on property within the State during the year 1897, and a similar sum during January of each succeeding year, estimated on the net California business for the preceding twelve months.

Railroads. During the year ending June 30 à little more than 19 miles of new road were built in California by the Southern Pacific, which completed several branch lines.

The Southern California Railway Company has a capital stock, issued and outstanding, of $12,824,000, and a total of 471.14 miles of track in operation. It produced a net income of $341,196 during the

year.

The Valley road, with its 277.34 miles of main line and its total length of 318 miles of track, recorded a net income for the year of $128,753.94. The construction of this road was continued, and in October it had 345 miles of track, when control of it was acquired by the Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fé, giving that road the connecting link to San Francisco.

The California Northwestern Railway Company was incorporated in March. The road is to be built to the redwood forests of Humboldt and Mendocino Counties.

Military. The records showed that there were in August 5,653 volunteers in Californian regiments at Manila.

In consequence of a quarrel over some trifling matter in a saloon in San Francisco, a mob of several hundred Tennessee volunteers attempted, on Aug. 15, to lynch a young negro crab fisher. They wrecked his mother's home and injured the boy, whose life was saved by the arrival of the major of the regiment, who threatened to shoot the first man that touched the negro, and succeeded in quelling the disturbance with the help of a squad of mounted men from the Fourth Cavalry.

Minerals. In regard to the gold product of the State, the San Francisco "Chronicle 66 says: For the year 1897 the returns of the Director of the Mint showed a material falling off in the gold product compared with the yield of 1896, the total being placed at about $17,000,000, whereas conservative estimates made by mining men familiar with the yield of the mining counties, and based upon the computed products of each county by its own newspapers, placed the total yield at $3,000,000 more, that is. at $20,000,000 in round numbers. Recently the United States Mint Statistician published his estimate for 1897. This places the grand total of gold and silver produced that year at $16.324,190. or $1,310.161 less than the year 1896. No one who kept track of the State's mining operations during last year has been willing to accept such a statement as an approximately fair return of the State's output." According to the figures published, the gold product was $15,871,401 and the silver $452,789.

The aggregate value of all mineral products in the State in 1897 is given as $25,142,441, distrib

uted as follows:

Antimony, 25 tons, $3,500; asphalt, 22,697 tons, $404,350; bituminous rock, 45,470 tons, $128,173; borax, 8.000 tons, $1,080,000; cement, 18,000 barrels, $66,000; brick, 97,468,000, $563,240; pottery,

24,592 tons, $30,290; coal, 87,449 tons, $196,255; copper, 13,638,626 pounds, $1,540,666; gold, $15,871,401; granite, 339.288 cubic feet, $188,024; gypsum, 2,200 tons, $19,250; infusorial earth, 5 tons, $200; lead, 596,000 pounds, $20,264; lime, 287,800 barrels, $252,900; limestone, 36,796 tons, $38,556; macadam, 487,911 tons, $313,087; magnesite, 1,143 tons, $13,671; manganese, 504 tons, $4,080; marble, 4,102 cubic feet, $7,280; mineral paint, 1,115,280 pounds, $8,165; mineral waters, 1,508,192 gallons, $345,863; natural gas, 63,920,000 cubic feet, $62,657; paving blocks, 1,711,000, $35,235; platinum, 150 ounces, $900; petroleum, 1,911,569 barrels, $1,918,269; quicksilver, 26,648 flasks, $993,445; rubble, 333,212 tons, $287,025; salt. 67.851 tons, $157,520; sandstone, 77,000 cubic feet, $24,086; serpentine, 2,500 cubic feet, $2,500; silver, $452,789 : slate, 400 squares, $2,800; soda, 5,000 tons, $110,000.

In 1896 the total value of the mineral product of the State was $24,291,398, and in 1895 it was $22,844,664.

Wines. The following figures showing the extent of the wine industry in the State are from the Hotel and Wine Gazette": "There are 157,000 acres planted to grapes, of which 75,000 acres are devoted to wine grapes, 72,000 acres to raisin grapes, and 10,000 acres to table grapes. The total value of the California viticultural interests, including land, cooperage, cellars, packing houses, etc., is placed at $85,000,000. The product of sweet wine for 1897 is placed at 5,000,000 gallons against 3.477,200 in 1896, and the 1897 vintage of dry wine at 25,750,000 gallons, the largest in the history of the State. The brandy product was estimated at 2,000,000 gallons; but by the crop summary published in December, the total wine and brandy product was placed at 35,442,468 gallons.

Agriculture.-The farm and orchard products in 1897 were estimated before the jubilee as follows: Wheat, 32,333,000 bushels; barley. 26,309,325 bushels; corn, 2,753,000 bushels; oats, 3,670,590 bushels; wool, 31,500,000 pounds; hops, 8,325,000 pounds; butter, 32,500,000 pounds; cheese, 6,500,000 pounds; beans, 87,462,500 pounds.

The crop summary at the close of the year gives the following statistics of the output of dried fruits and other products, which is in excess of the estimate in almost every instance: Prunes, 97,780,000 pounds; raisins, 93,704,000 pounds; beet sugar, 70,740,000 pounds: fresh-fruit shipments overland, 145,250,000 pounds; cured fruit, not including prunes, 79,100,000 pounds; almonds and walnuts, 12,720,000 pounds; hops, 8,100,000 pounds; honey, 7,878,000 pounds; canned fruit, 1,942,982 cases; tomatoes, packed, 318,553 cases; orange and lemon shipments overland, 15,400 car loads; vegetable shipments by land and sea, 94,704,000 pounds.

The Golden Jubilee.-The fiftieth anniversary of the discovery of gold in the State was celebrated Jan. 24, and was followed by a mining fair at San Francisco. The day was proclaimed a legal holiday by the Governor, and was observed by a great parade, in which were pioneers, native sons, United States soldiers, and various organizations, with floats representing scenes in the history of the State-the aborigines, a ship of the early Spanish navigators, the first Mission church, the raising of the flag, the historic Sutter's mill, early mining processes, old and recent fire apparatus contrasted, the various industries, and others suggestive of the progress of the State and the development of its

resources.

The Mining Fair was opened Jan. 29 by the President, who pressed the telegraph key at Washington which applied the force at San Francisco. The fair was open till March 5. Ores from all the principal mines were exhibited, and the successive

modes of separating the metal from the ore were illustrated, from the primitive method of fifty years ago to the improved methods of the present day. Public Lands.-The receipts of the Land Office in 1897 were nearly $16,000. This includes the fees on original entries as well as on final proof of claims. Most of the original entries in 1897 were from Monterey County. Mendocino was next in order, and San Luis Obispo third. There are in the San Francisco district about 4,000,000 acres of land as yet unclaimed and open to entry. Of the land open to entry nearly 1,000,000 acres lie in Monterey County. Mendocino County has about 800,000 acres, much of which is available for grazing, and some has valuable redwood timber.

The Yosemite Park.-Report was made to the Secretary of the Interior in July that special forest agents have ejected more than 85,000 sheep from the Yosemite Park, California. The Secretary has heretofore requested a detail of troops to the several national parks in California, but the soldiers so assigned were removed in order to accompany the Philippine expedition. The Secretary of War has detailed an officer and ten men of the Utah Volunteer Cavalry to patrol Yosemite, Sequoia, and General Grant National Parks.

Earthquakes.-San Francisco and the neighboring part of the State were shaken by an earthquake March 30. The water in the bay rose in a wave two feet high, but almost immediately subsided. The shock lasted thirty to forty seconds. The greatest damage was done at Mare Island Navy Yard, where it amounted to $340,000. That at Vallejo was estimated at $50,000. A series of shocks were felt at Mendocino and in its vicinity, April 14, and much damage was caused.

Court Decisions.-The primary election law, passed at the last session of the Legislature, providing for holding all primary elections on the same day, and for a special test for voters, and other safeguards, was declared unconstitutional by the State Supreme Court in March.

A case involving the enforcement of the Federal eight-hour law was decided in June, the court holding that the fact that the Government work on which the labor was done was upon land over which the State holds political jurisdiction does not set aside the application of the Federal law.

A decision of the Supreme Court in the appeal of a newspaper from the sentence for contempt passed upon its editor by a judge, affirmed the principle that a newspaper may criticise a judge without danger of a summons by him for such punishment as he is authorized to inflict upon a man who is disrespectful to him in court. The judge had pronounced the paper's report of testimony in a case before him as a fabrication." The newspaper defended it, and rebuked its accuser, whereupon the justice had the editor brought to the bar and sentenced him, without benefit of jury or of a defense, to a term in jail. The Supreme Court held, among other principles, that a person who is not a party or participant in a case on trial has a right to defend himself against the aspersions of the bench.

By a decision of the Supreme Court in August it was ruled that the nephews and nieces of Leland Stanford, legatees under his will and residents of States other than California, are entitled to the same exemption from collateral inheritance tax as the State Legislature conferred upon nephews and nieces of the millionaire living in California.

San Francisco.-A vote was taken in May on the adoption of the proposed new charter, resulting in 14,386 for and 12,025 against its adoption.

Political. The earliest State convention of the year was held by the People's party at Sacramento, July 12. Plans for fusion with the Democrats and

Silver Republicans had been proposed and met with favor from a majority of the delegates, who nominated James G. Maguire, a Democrat, for Governor, and agreed to divide the other offices with the other parties. The minority, consisting of those opposed to fusion, withdrew, repudiated the action of the convention, nominated a straight Populist ticket, with T. W. H. Shanahan as candidate for Governor, and issued an address in which they said: "When fusionists speak of success they can mean nothing, except that they may succeed in getting some offices and the emoluments thereof. The People's party was not born for such a purpose and can not survive by such methods. Fusion simply places the party in the hands of Democratic political opponents, and they gain complete control of the fusion organization."

At a meeting of the Democratic State Central Committee in April, a resolution had been adopted providing for a committee "to confer with representatives of the Populist and Silver Republican parties with a view to obtaining concert of action as to the time and place of holding the State conventions of said parties."

The convention met at Sacramento, Aug. 16. The chairman of the "Fusion Committee " read a report, which was adopted, showing how the places on the ticket had been distributed-viz.: To the Silver Republicans, one justice of the Supreme Court and clerk of the Supreme Court; Populists, Lieutenant Governor, controller, Superintendent of Public Instruction, member of the Board of Railroad Commissioners from the Third District; Democrats, Governor, Secretary of State, Treasurer, Attorney-General, Surveyor General, State printer, one justice of the Supreme Court, Railroad Commissioners from the First and Second Districts, members of the Board of Equalization from all four districts. The Populists were given the nominations for Congress in the First, Sixth, and Seventh Districts, and the Democrats took these in the Second, Third, Fourth, and Fifth Districts. The platform declared in favor of free coinage, approved the war with Spain, rejoiced in the obliteration of sectional lines, condemned the war-revenue measure, and praised the war vessels built in California, "insisting that further similar work shall be done here." It favored the "immediate construction of the Nicaragua ship canal by the United States Government, and its ownership, operation, and permanent control by the Government"; urged the State's representatives in Congress to work for liberal appropriations for improving the water ways of the State, and said: "We denounce the persistent and long-continued efforts of the present Secretary of War to prevent the improvement of the public harbor of San Pedro and his persistent efforts to divert the sums of money appropriated by Congress for that purpose to the improvement of the private harbor of the Southern Pacific Company at Santa Monica.

An amendment to the Federal Constitution making Senators elective by the people was recommended, the revival of hydraulic mining when not detrimental to other interests was favored, unwarranted interference of the Federal judiciary was deprecated, the general use of the label of the Allied Printing Trades Council and other union labels was recommended, also the extension of the contract labor laws to Hawaii and all other annexed territory, road improvement, regulation of primary elections by the Australian law, pure food laws, continuance of the existing State text-book system, abolition of the State poll tax, and the constitutional amendment giving self-government to the counties. With reference to railroads the platform said: "We denounce the measure recently adopted by the Fifty-fifth Congress, providing for refunding the

debts of the Central Pacific Railroad Company to the United States Government as an unusual and vicious act of favoritism to a powerful corporation, the effect of which will be to extend for a long period the Southern Pacific Company's monopoly of railroad transportation in California. We also denounce the proposition to further extend the period of payment of said debts. We reiterate the position repeatedly asserted by the Democratic party that in the limitation of freight and fare charges by the State Railroad Commission no allow ance should be made for interest on any fictitious capitalization of any railroad companies."

The administration of Gov. Budd was approved, and it was declared that although the tax levies of the three last years of his administration aggregated over $1,300,000, under the pledges of the platform upon which he was elected the rate of taxation for 1896 was the lowest in the history of the State, and the rates for 1897 and 1898 would have been still lower, had not the assessed valuation of property been decreased."

Opposition was declared to the surrender of any territory acquired by the war, and to the assumption of any part of the Spanish-Cuban debt.

The ticket, on which the offices were distributed according to the plan given above, follows: For Governor, James G. Maguire; Lieutenant Governor, E. L. Hutchinson; Secretary of State, Robert A. Thompson; Treasurer, William S. Green; Controller, T. W. Maples; Attorney-General, H. P. Andrews; Surveyor General, Irving M. Mulholland; Clerk of the Supreme Court, H. A. McCraney; Justices of the Supreme Court, Walter S. Van Dyke, William M. Conley; Superintendent of Public Instruction, Christian Runckel; Superintendent of State Printing, Everett I. Woodman; Railroad Commissioners, First District, H. M. La Rue; Second District, W. M. Hinton; Third District, J. L. Dryden. Board of Equalization, First District, John P. Dunn; Second District, Thomas Scott; Third District, R. H. Beamer; Fourth District, Thomas O. Toland.

The Secretary of State refused to recognize the fusion of parties on the ballot, but the matter was carried to the Supreme Court, which decided against him. Mr. Shanahan then came out with an address to his party, advising them to vote for Mr. Gage, since, by the action of the fusionists and the decision of the court, the People's party had been put out of existence, for at the next State election it will be impossible to show that it polled as much as 3 per cent. of the vote at this election.

The State convention of Republicans met at Sacramento Aug. 23. The number of delegates apportioned by the call was 789, of whom 57 were to be at large. Among the measures advocated in the platform were the following: Increase of the American navy; the retention of Porto Rico and the Philippines; construction of the Nicaragua Canal; enforcement of the law for the collection of the indebtedness due from the Central and Western Pacific Railroads to the Government; amendment of the immigration laws so as to "prohibit absolutely the filling of the marts of labor in America with laborers from foreign lands" and "the enactment of such legislation regarding Hawaii, Porto Rico, and such other territory as may be acquired by the United States as will protect American workmen against contract Chinese, Japanese, and other contract labor found therein, and will prevent any further influx or extension thereof; and also an exclusion act prohibiting further Japanese and coolie immigration, that such exclusion act prohibit both the Japanese and Chinese now located in the Hawaiian islands from entering the United States"; economy in State government; generous

treatment of war veterans; improvement and protection of river navigation in the State; construction of storage reservoirs for purposes of irrigation by the General Government; laws for preservation of the forests; protection of the dairy interests by laws against imitations; good roads; State aid to district fairs; the use of the Allied Trades printing label on all printing as a guarantee that the work has been done by competent craftsmen under fair conditions; protection against competition by convict labor; the employment of convicts upon the public highways; and "the passage of a law by Congress confining the sale of goods, wares, and merchandise manufactured by convict labor to the State or Territory in which they are produced"; "a law regulating the primary elections of all political parties, to the end that the same protection that was extended by the Australian system to general elections be now extended to primary elections"; liberal support for the State University; legislation in behalf of the mining industry; and the creation of a national executive department of mines and mining. The soldiers and sailors were praised and thanked, the President's policy approved, the nation congratulated on the disappearance of sectional feeling, the Administration commended for its efforts to secure an international monetary agreement, and the refusal to consider the assumption of the Spanish-Cuban debt, the war revenue measure approved, and attention called to "the fact that since the return of the Republican party to power the balance of trade has changed from more than $400,000,000 against the United States to about $880,000,000 in our favor." The platform further opposed the doctrine of the single tax, deprecated "the attempt by the DemocraticPopulistic fusion party of California to stir up hatred of the judiciary and contempt of laws," condemned "the action of the Democratic Senator of this State, and the present Democratic nominee for Governor, then in Congress, for opposing the annexation of Hawaii and wholly failing to represent the interests or wishes of the people of this State in that regard"; and denounced "the action of the present Governor in vetoing the appropriation for the support of the State printing office as unwise, unnecessary, contrary to the spirit of the law, and injurious to the interests of the State," the inevitable result of which "has been to cripple our splendid State schoolbook system and the common schools themselves."

The ticket follows: Governor, Henry T. Gage: Lieutenant Governor, Jacob H. Neff; Secretary of State, Charles F. Curry; Controller, E. P. Colgan; Treasurer, Truman Reeves: Attorney-General, Tirey L. Ford; Clerk of the Supreme Court, George W. Root: Justices of the Supreme Court, W. C. Van Fleet, T. B. McFarland; Surveyor General, M. J. Wright; Superintendent of Public Instruction, Thomas J. Kirk; Superintendent of State Printing, A. J. Johnston; Railroad Commissioners-First District, F. B. Edson; Third District, N. Blackstock; Board of Equalization-Second District, Alexander Brown; Third District, II. O. Purington; Fourth District, George Arnold.

The following were candidates of the Prohibitionists: For Governor, J. E. McComas: Lieutenant Governor, Robert Summers; Secretary of State, J. W. Webb; Controller, T. L. Hierlihy; Treasurer, C. B. Williams; Attorney-General, J. H. Blanchard; Surveyor General, Green Spurrier; Clerk of the Supreme Court, W. P. Fassett; Superintendent of Instruction, Fanny M. Pugh; Superintendent of Printing, Leroy S. Atwood; Associate Justices of the Supreme Court, T. M. Stewart, Robert Thomp

Job Harriman; Lieutenant Governor, James Andrew; Secretary of State, Emil Liess; Controller, John Robertson; Treasurer, E. M. Dewey; Attorney-General, A. F. Strawn-Hamilton; Surveyor General, J. George Smith; Clerk of the Supreme Court, Lemuel D. Biddle; Superintendent of Instruction, Jane A. Roulston; Superintendent of Printing, A. Conte.

The election in November resulted in the success of almost the entire Republican ticket; but Walter Van Dyke, fusion, was elected Justice of the Supreme Court over Justice Van Fleet. All but one of the Republican candidates for Congress were .elected. The Senate will probably stand 27 to 13, and the Assembly 60 to 22 in favor of the Republicans.

Seven constitutional amendments were submitted, and also a proposition for calling a convention to revise the Constitution. The official figures are not at hand, but it appears as if the convention and the first proposed amendment were defeated. Amendment No. 1 was to exempt certain just claims against San Francisco from the operation of that provision of the Constitution requiring such claims to be paid from the revenue of the years in which they were incurred. Amendment No. 2 was intended to change the method of prescribing county governments by classification as at present. Amendment No. 3 was to establish a court of claims. Amendment No. 4 concerned San Francisco only and was designed to do away with the conflict in certain particulars between the new city charter and the State Constitution. Amendment No. 5 provided for the succession, in case of a vacancy in the office of Governor or his absence from the State, placing the president pro tempore of the Senate in the line of succession next to the Lieutenant Governor, and the Speaker of the Assembly next. Amendment No. 6 was to revise the school system of the State. Amendment No. 7 was to extend the session of the Legislature to seventy-five days and divide it into two parts. CANADA, DOMINION OF, a federated group of British provinces in North America.

Parliament and Politics.-The third session of the eighth Parliament of Canada was opened in state by Lord Aberdeen, the Governor General, on Feb. 3, 1898, with a speech from the throne, in which he said:

“I have observed with great pleasure the remarkable advance in the political importance and material prosperity of Canada during the year which has just closed. The loan recently effected has shown that the credit of Canada has never stood so high in European markets, and affords reasonable grounds for expecting that the burdens of the people will in the near future be materially reduced by the substitution of a much lower rate of interest on our indebtedness than that which now exists. The action of the Imperial Government in denouncing the treaties with Germany and Belgium affords most satisfactory evidence of their desire to facilitate your efforts to promote the closest possible commercial relations between Canada and the remainder of the empire, and will, I trust, contribute materially to the development of imperial trade. A contract has been entered into, subject to your approval, for the completion at the earliest possible moment of a system of rail and river communication through Canadian territory with the Klondike and principal gold fields, which it is expected will secure to Canada the larger portion of the lucrative traffic of that country. The bountiful harvest with which we have been favored by a benevolent Providence has contributed greatly to the increase of our prosperity, and I am glad to note that the trade and commerce of the Dominion, and more

especially the amount and values of her principal exports, have increased greatly during the past eighteen months. I observe with pleasure that certain Government contracts recently let contain provisions calculated to suppress the evils of the sweating system."

Three new members of the House, all Liberals, were formally introduced, and then the usual debate on the address in reply to the Governor's speech took place. By an act passed June 13 the following legislation regarding the new imperial preferential tariff came into operation on Aug. 1, in accordance with the Government's policy by which in 1897 a preference was given to British goods in the Canadian market of 124 per cent. and was to be increased in 1898 to 25 per cent.:

"1. That all articles except wines, malt liquors, spirits, spirituous liquors, liquid medicines and articles containing alcohol, tobacco, cigars, and cigarettes which are the growth, produce, or manufacture of any of the following countries, and are declared to be dutiable upon importation into Canada, may, when imported direct into Canada from any of such countries, be entered for duty or taken out of warehouse for consumption in Canada, on and after the 1st day of August, 1898, at a reduction of one fourth from the general tariff rates of duty: (a) The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland. (b) The British colony of Bermuda. (c) The British colonies commonly called the British West Indies, including the following: the Bahamas, Jamaica, Turk's island and the Caicos Islands, the Leeward Islands (Antigua, St. Christopher, Nevis, Dominica, Montserrat, and the Virgin Islands), the Windward Islands (Grenada, St. Vincent, and St. Lucia), Barbadoes, Trinidad, and Tobago. (d) British Guiana. (e) Any other British colony or possession the customs tariff of which, on the whole, is as favorable to Canada as the British preferential tariff is to such colony or possession.

"2. That manufactured articles to be admitted under such preferential tariff shall be bona fide the manufactures of a country or countries entitled to the benefits of such tariff, and that such benefits shall not extend to the importation of articles into the production of which there has not entered a substantial portion of the labor of such countries. Any question that may arise as to any articles being entitled to such benefits shall be decided by the Minister of Customs, whose decision shall be final.

“3. That raw sugar, including sugar drainings or pumpings drained in transit, melado or concentrated melado, tank bottoms, and sugar concrete, the produce of any British colony or possession, may, when imported direct from any British colony or possession, be entered for duty or taken out of warehouse for consumption in Canada at the reduced rate of duty provided in the British preferential tariff.

"4. That the reduction under the preferential tariff shall only apply to refined sugars when evidence satisfactory to the Minister of Customs is furnished that such refined sugar has been manufactured wholly from raw sugar produced in the British colonies or possessions.

"5. That the Minister of Customs, with the approval of the Governor in Council, shall determine what British colonies or possessions shall be entitled to the benefits of the said preferential tariff under clause e of paragraph 1 of this memorandum.

"6. That the Minister of Customs may, with the approval of the Governor in Council, make such regulations as may be deemed necessary for carrying out the intention of the act."

The Minister of Customs, under the power vested in him by the said act, and with the approval of the Governor in Council, has determined that the

following British colonies and possessions are entitled to the benefits of the preferential tariff, viz., British India, Ceylon, Straits Settlements, New South Wales.

Unless these regulations be complied with in every respect, the articles will be subject to payment of the general tariff rates of duty upon importations

into Canada.

Sir Wilfrid Laurier, the Premier, in one of the most eloquent speeches ever made in the House of Commons, submitted the following resolution regarding the death of Mr. Gladstone:

"Resolved, That the House of Commons of Canada desire to record their profound sense of the loss the empire has sustained in the death of the Right Hon. William Ewart Gladstone. For a period of more than half a century Mr. Gladstone has been one of the most conspicuous figures in the Parliament of Great Britain. Four times Premier for the United Kingdom, his tenure of office was distinguished by the inauguration of sound fiscal and political reforms, of the greatest and most farreaching character, and he passes away full of years and honor, among a nation's tears, the most illustrious man of his generation. The people of the empire are his mourners, and the House of Commons of Canada lays reverently on his bier this tribute in testimony of the respect and affection with which they regard the great statesman who has departed."

The motion was seconded in a short speech by Sir Charles Tupper, and was passed unanimously. The franchise bill, by which it was proposed to make the Dominion or Federal franchise similar in each province to that of the local provincial franchise, was vigorously opposed by the Conservatives, mainly on the ground that it would complicate an already complex matter and would place the practical control of the Federal franchise in the hands of the provincial legislatures. The measure passed by a party vote, and, after long discussion in the Senate, where there is a Conservative majority, finally passed there also. So with the bill for a plebiscite or national ballot on the question of prohibition. On June 13 the House adjourned after the Governor General had formally assented, in behalf of the Queen, to a large number of bills, of which the following were the most important: Respecting the Lake Erie and Detroit River Railway Company.

Respecting the Hudson's Bay and Pacific Railway Company.

Respecting the Ontario and Rainy River Railway Company.

To incorporate the Victoria-Montreal Fire Insurance Company.

Respecting the Columbia and Western Railway Company.

Respecting the British Columbia Southern Railway Company.

Respecting the Queenston Heights Bridge Com

pany.

Respecting the Hamilton and Lake Erie Power Company.

To incorporate the Klondike and Peace River Gold Mining Land and Transportation Company (Limited).

To incorporate the Central Canada Loan and Savings Company. To incorporate the Montreal and James Bay Railway Company.

Respecting the Lake Manitoba Railway and Canal Company.

To incorporate the Miles Cañon and White Horse Tramway Company.

Respecting the Ottawa and New York Railway Company.

To incorporate the London and Lake Huron Railway Company.

Respecting the Vancouver, Victoria and Eastern Railway and Navigation Company.

Respecting the Canada Atlantic Railway Company.

To incorporate the Timagami Railway Company. To incorporate the Canada Atlantic Transit Company.

To incorporate the Canadian Mining Institute. Respecting the Nakusp and Slocan Railway Company.

Respecting the Kingston and Pembroke Railway Company.

To incorporate the Windsor and Detroit Union Bridge Company.

Respecting the harbor of the city of St. John, New Brunswick.

To amend the act respecting the protection of navigable waters.

To incorporate the British American Light and Power Company.

Respecting the Montreal American Light and Power Company.

To incorporate the Klondike and Dawson City Bank.

To incorporate the Toronto and Hudson Bay Railway Company.

Further to amend the militia act.

To incorporate the subsidiary high court of the Ancient Order of Foresters.

To provide for the government of the Yukon district.

To incorporate the Dawson City and Victoria Telegraph Company (Limited).

To amend the Indian act.

To amend the acts respecting the Northwest Territories.

To incorporate the Lake Bennett and Klondike Railway and Tramway Company.

To amend the Dominion lands act.
To amend the post-office act.

Respecting the identification of criminals.

To amend chapter xi of the Statutes of 1897, entitled "An Act to restrict the importation and employment of aliens."

To authorize certain contracts with steamship companies for cold-storage accommodation.

Respecting the Saskatchewan Railway and Mining Company.

Respecting the Intercolonial Radial Railway Company.

Respecting the transport contract between her Majesty and the Winnipeg Great Northern Railway Company.

To amend the act to provide for bounties on iron and steel made in Canada.

To provide for abolition of the civil-service superannuation act, and for the retirement of

members of the civil service.

To incorporate the Dawson City Electric Lighting and Tramway Company (Limited).