millions! "Somebody in these 30 years has been active." Turning to the subject of Education he pointed out that there were now about one-half the examinations which Dr. Ryerson had and no one disputed the latter's great ability. There were now a dozen textbooks in the Public Schools and when he had assumed office as Minister of Education there were 30 of them. The Separate Schools were much better than formerly. "The Catholic child was entitled to as good an education as the Public School pupil." On October 31st, Mr. Ross was in Ottawa and the Toronto Globe correspondent described his movements at considerable length. He interviewed the Minister of the Interior" in regard to adopting an immigration policy that would attract more agricultural labourers to Canada." This was for the special benefit of New Ontario. He met the Minister of Agriculture regarding the matter of a permanent exhibit at the Imperial Institute and uged the importance of "presenting to the people of Great Britain in as striking a manner as possible the variety and extent of the natural resources of Ontario." For this purpose better quarters in London were desirable. In an interview with the Globe on the same day the Premier dealt at length with the desirability of more immigration into Northern Ontario; the necessity of making the Province better known and of keeping its people at home. We cannot spare to Manitoba and the Territories the best of our hardy sons. We need them to make the most of our home lands. We have in New Ontario the most fertile soil, well watered and in parts wooded. Let us make these facts known."

On November 11th, the Hon. Mr. Ross gave his party the watchword of the next year's campaign-"Build up Ontario." It was at a gathering of the Ross Liberal Club, of Toronto, held for the purpose of presenting its Hon. President with a protrait of himself in oils. Dr. E. Herbert Adams presided, and the Premier during his speech reviewed his own political career and the record of the Liberal party in Ontario. "They could point to the whole body of municipal law, the factory laws, mining laws, license laws-not a year had passed since the Liberals came into power in which there had not been passed legislation of the utmost importance." He attacked the Conservative policy, or want of policy, and concluded by appealing for a general acceptance of the principle that, whatever else is done, "a large view of politics" should be taken. "The policy of the Liberal party is a progressive policy. The watchword of the election is -build up Ontario."

Mr. J. P. Whitney

and Conservative Policy in Ontario

The Leader of the Ontario Opposition addressed several meetings during the Autumn-the first at Toronto, on September 3rd, being the most important. Mr. J. J. Foy, K.C., M.P.P., President of the Ontario Conservative Association, acted as Chairman, and there was a large attendance of prominent members of the party. Mr. Whitney reviewed at length the policy of his party in the Legislature, past and present; during the long leadership of Sir W. R. Meredith, the brief one of Mr. G. F. Marter and the present tenure by

himself. He spoke first of agricultural schools which had been proposed by Sir John Macdonald fifty years before and established, so far as Ontario was concerned, by Sir John Carling. Mr. Andrew Broder, a Conservative member of the Legislature, was, he said, the first to propose travelling dairies while, in 1889, he had himself urged the establishment of a general system of agricultural schools in addition to the College at Guelph. The statement that he had voted against the creation of a Ministry of Agriculture was "a direct, deliberate and absolute falsehood." Upon the sugar-beet question the Conservative party was on record as being in favour of doing something direct for the farmer in accordance with an amendment to the Government measure which was promptly voted down. Through a measure proposed by one of the Conservative members they had forced the Government to appoint a Standing Committee of the House in Agriculture.

Upon the question of Manhood Suffrage, Mr. Whitney quoted the Resolution proposed by Mr. Meredith, on March 24, 1885, which demanded the "necessary and expedient" extension of the suffrage to every male British subject, not disqualified by law, and of the age of 21 years. It was voted down by the Government's forces, and four years later made law by the same Government. As to the punishing of bribery and corruption he had, in 1889, introduced a Bill for the punishment of bribery by imprisonment and fines, but it was voted down. The next year he had introduced the measure again with the additional proviso of trial by jury, but this was also voted down. In 1899 he had presented similar proposals, but had not been allowed to bring them to a vote. Finally, after the West Elgin and North Waterloo occurrences, he again brought his Bill forward only to have its terms incorporated by the Hon. Mr. Gibson in a Government measure. In the matter of timber preservation and saw-log exportation he quoted speeches and motions by Mr. Meredith from 1886 onward to show the consistent policy of the Opposition. In 1888 the party in the Legislature had demanded a Select Committee to "inquire into the extent and nature of the timber and mineral resources of the Province." The Government acceded in regard to minerals, but refused to accept the proposal in regard to timber. He referred to Mr. Miscampbell's motion of May 18, 1893, looking to the safe-guarding of selling rights in the timber resources so as to keep the product for home manufacture. This was voted down as was a similar one in 1894 looking to protection against the mill-owners of Michigan. In 1897 the same member proposed a motion censuring the Government for not having taken steps to compel the manufacture in Canada of all saw-logs cut under Crown license. Shortly afterwards the Government embodied these proposals in legislation.

Mr. Whitney declared that in the land concession to the Spanish River Company in connection with its proposed pulp-wood industry there were contract phrases which made the grants much more extensive than appeared on the surface. The Conservative policy was presented in an amendment to this proposal, and, in the next year,

to the Keewatin concession, which favoured the submission of all pulp-wood public lands to public competition and the regulation of all dues on Crown timber by the House. The Government, however, disapproved of the principle and opposed the motions. Turning to New Ontario, Mr. Whitney denied having ever minimized its importance, and quoted Mr. Ross as saying in the House of Commons, on January 10, 1881: "We have no evidence that the land is of great value; we know that the climate is unfavourable; we know the soil is somewhat barren." This was in opposition to the Canadian Pacific Railway. He also quoted Mr. Clergue's statement that" when he first came to Canada, he met with the difficulty that the Ministers in power had no great confidence in the country's resources," and did not know Northern Ontario as they should have done. In connection with the Algoma Central Railway the Opposition Leader was explanatory and explicit. This Line ran from certain mines belonging to Mr. Clergue through an uninhabitable country down to Mr. Clergue's mills for the refining of his ore. It had nothing of the colonization element in it. The Government gave to that Railway in fee simple, the title, the minerals and everything, with the exception of pulp-wood dues. What he had objected to was the deception surrounding this gift. In the preamble to the Bill a number of sweeping promises were made as to what Mr. Clergue would do in return for the grant. Nearly all these things had been already done or were on the road to completion. The stated provisions, or compensation, were falsehoods "made, uttered, printed and published with deliberation by the Ontario Government." The Manitoulin and North Shore Railway grant he and the Conservative party had supported and believed in. Education was the next subject dealt with. The Government considered the Public School a stepping stone to the High School, the latter to the College and the College to the University. It was the whole chain and its polish which Mr. Ross regarded, and not the individual merits of the links or systems. "We say the Public School of this Province, in which 95 per cent. of the pupils have to receive all their education, should be a substantive institution by itself, self-centred, so to speak." He did not think the education actually given was such as to best fit the pupils for their future life, and that much time was frittered away on subjects better suited to a High School. A radical revolution in the entire system was necessary, and he quoted a Resolution moved along these lines in the Legislature, by himself, on January 14, 1898.

The Government had opposed his motion as they did, also, his proposal for the appointment of a Consultative Council of Education to assist the Minister of that Department. Finally, Mr. Ross had gone so far as to suggest that he should appoint one-half of such a Council and Mr. Whitney the other half! "But my proposition was that the Public School teachers, the Separate School teachers, High School teachers, professors in Colleges and Universities, should, each class of them, elect or choose certain representatives and form this consultive body whose advice should be at the service of the Minister at all

times." He quoted Principal Grant's statement that written examinations were cramping the pupil's mind and destroying his vitality; while too much organization had resulted in disorganization. In the same way the University of Toronto had been too much governed from the Department. Turning to the financial position, Mr. Whitney pointed out that the ordinary expenditure of the Government upon services and apart from railways, public works and buildings had increased from $1,800,080 in 1874 to $2,900,000 in 1890 and $3,600,000 in 1900. At the same time they had imposed new taxes upon successions, licenses, distilleries and companies to the extent of $530,000 in 1900. Mr. Whitney concluded with a forcible arraignment of alleged corruption in the Government and politics of the Province. His proposed policy was summarized as follows:

1. Development of New Ontario and aid to the proposed Temiscamingue Railway.

2. Grants to railways to be for development purposes only; security to be taken for amount advanced; rates to be under Government control. If Dominion refunds bonuses given by other Provinces, Ontario to demand similar treatment.

3. Encouragement to the refining of Ontario ores within the Province.

4. Timber resources to be guarded and pulp-wood limits to be disposed of by public competition.

5. The early establishment of more Agricultural Schools.

6. Facilities to be promoted for transportation of food products, and improvement in the breed of cattle to be encouraged.

7. Public School system to be reformed; a Consultative Council to be established; Toronto and Queen's Universities to be placed upon a better footing; School text-books to be improved and cheapened.

8. Municipal laws to be revised; legislation in favour of corporations to be

checked.

9. Ballot crimes and frauds to be checked and criminals punished.

On September 19th Mr. Whitney spoke at Caledon, in the County of Peel. He was preceded by Mr. J. J. Foy, M.P.P., and in his own speech reiterated the statement as to the Conservative policy in many directions having been stolen by the Government. Referring to the allegations against the "school-book ring," made by Mr. G. N. Morang, of Toronto, he spoke of a small number of publishers getting rich through possession of a monopoly and contributing money to the Liberal campaign fund. He denounced the proposed Municipal Council legislation of the past Session, giving power to exempt corporations from taxation. "The unworthy public man who dared to insult the intelligence of the Ontario Legislature by imposing such a scheme, withdrew it quietly and in the dark, and never dared to stand up in the House and say a word in defence of it." Speaking of the Premier's visit to England, and his letter of September 9th, in the London Times, he quoted that paper's editorial statement that the emigration statistics, used by Mr. Ross, were inaccurate-328,411 emigrants leaving for Canada between 1891 and 1900, instead of 90,000 On October 2nd the Opposition Leader addressed a gathering at Listowel, and, in referring to the oft-claimed Provincial surplus, stated that the Government had squandered the $3,800,000 left them by Sandfield Macdonald, and, in order to meet existing deficits, were now selling timber limits

which were Provincial capital, and calling the proceeds in excess of the deficit a surplus. At Havelock, on October 27th, Mr. Whitney was assisted by Mr. J. W. St. John, ex-M.P.P., who spoke first.

Mr. Whitney, in following, emphatically denied that he had ever called New Ontario "the land of the stunted poplar," and defied proof of the assertion that he had. He stated that the Hon. David Mills had declared the Government's measure extending the life of the Legislature to be unconstitutional and argued that, so far, all the projects of Mr. Ross-dressed beef industry, drainage legislation, remount depot establishment, good roads, cold storage, and the idea of using Ontario nickel for British warships-were suspended in air. He denounced the Mabee pamphlet as a "nauseous" thing. "A number of months ago this man attempted to induce me to allow him to issue a pamphlet as Conservative literature, something on the lines he has now issued against us. . . . I refused to have anything to do with this." On November 11th Mr. Whitney and Mr. R. L. Borden, the Dominion Conservative Leader, addressed a meeting in Toronto, under the auspices of Ward No. 2 Association. Mr. Borden expressed great interest in the coming Ontario elections and, in view of what he termed the undisguised alliance of the Dominion and Provincial Governments, believed every Conservative member of the House of Commons would give Mr. Whitney his active support. "You will have the power of both Governments against you, and you must not fail to regard the fact that the Dominion Liberal party look upon the result as very critical for themselves." The Provincial Leader followed in a speech which sketched slightly, though with darkly shaded colours, the alleged misdoings of the Government party. On November 22nd Mr. Whitney, accompanied by Mr. Foy, spoke at London, and in the evening at New Hamburg. The same gentlemen addressed a large meeting at Port Colborne on December 11th.

Prohibition

in Ontario and the

Privy

Council

Decision

The announcement of the decision as to the validity of the Manitoba Prohibition Act precipitated an acute political and popular discussion in Ontario. As much of what was said turned upon the deliverance of the Premier of the Province, on February 13th of the same year, a preliminary record of that occurrence may be given here. On the date mentioned some forty members of the Ontario Branch of the Dominion Alliance for the suppression of the Liquor Traffic waited upon the Hon. G. W. Ross and his Cabinet. Amongst the delegation were the Rev. Dr. Mackay of Woodstock, the Rev. Dr. Carman, Mrs. Rutherford, President of the W. C. T. U., Mr. F. S. Spence, the Rev. Dr. Chown, Dr. J. J. Maclaren, K.C., Mr. G. F. Marter, M.P.P., and the Rev. Dr. Courtice. The members of the Cabinet present, besides the Premier, were the Hon. Mr. Gibson and the Hon. Messrs. Harcourt, Stratton, Davis and Latchford. The Rev. Dr. Mackay was the first speaker and explained that the Alliance included, or was representative of, the Good Templars, the Royal Templars, the W.C.T.U., the Canadian Temperance League and various other Temperance or religious organizations. He said they