,%. ^"V^ IMAGE EVALUATION TEST TARGET (MT-3) ^ 1.0 1.1 1.25 UiKA |2.5 ■^ IM 1 2.2 "" 1^ 112.0 u 1.4 1.6 6" Photographic Sciences Corporation ^ \ o ^^ .V ^^\ s ^^^. ^ ^. '^ '«k 23 WEST MAIN STREET WEBSTER, N.Y. 14S80 (716) 877-4503 5:/ 12X 16X 20X 24X 28X 32X Th« copy film«d h«r« has b««n r«produc«d thanks to tha ganarosity of: Legislature du Quibec QuMmc L'axamplaira filmA fut raproduit grica A la g^n^rositi da: L^islature du Qu (moaning "CON- TINUED"), or tha symbol y (moaning "END"), whichavar appiias. Un daa symbolaa suivants apparaltra sur la dami^ra ima^ da chaqua microficha, salon la cas: la symbols — »> signifia "A SUIVRE", la symbols ▼ signifia "FIN". Maps, platas, charts, ate, may ba filmad at diffarant raduction ratios. Thosa too larga to ba antiraly includad in ona axposui a ara filmad baginning in tha uppar laft hand cornar, laft to right and top to bottom, aa many framaa aa raquirad. Tha following diagrama ilkstrata tha mathod: Laa cartaa, planchas, tablaaux, ate, pauvant Atra filmte A daa taux da rMuction diffArants. Lorsqua la documant ast trop grand pour Atra raproduit an un saul ciichA, il ast film* A partir da I'angia supAriaur gaucha, da gaucha k droita, at da haut an bas, an pranant la nombra d'imagas nteaaaaira. Las dhgrammas suivants illustrant la mAthoda. 1 2 3 1 2 3 4 5 6 If u A. FEA^T FA.CTS ILLUSTRATING TUE MAISr^aEMElSTT OF TIIK CIVIC AFFAIRS OF 10th march, 1869. c^-^-^.^..*.^ d QUEBEC : I'RiXTHp AT THE " ^:0R.^•t^•a chkonicle" ori'tcr, root of mouxtaix hill. *^*. • i? ^9' 5' -^^ i - rt^ " J"^ ilr -T H) ■ »-flp-' >»p' >btt< ri a »• / * 1* (J, rl? ' ^> 5 I :• "c '% / 4 j!^, !*■ » _ -W. ''^ ^■' . ^ V '' 1 ••«■ t.'wf t FACTUM. 't ,' «■■ • About twelve months have elapsed since a number of citizens of Quebec presented a petition fo the Legislature of this Province, setting forth that the prayer of the Corpo- ration of Quebec, demanding at that time power to issue debentures and to impose fresh taxes upon the citizens, should not be granted ; but, on the contrary, the adminis- tration of the civic afiairs should be, for a certain period, taken from the Council, and vested in Commissioners. Although the permission to issue new debentures for the purpose of covering a further deficit and of incurring addi- tional expenditure was refused, the City Council, owing to the lateness of the Session, was not suspended. That this Body should be replaced by Commlssioncis is the deeply felt conviction of the great majority of those who have property at stake in this City, whom the Corporation have been heavily mulcting since their last appearance be- fore a Legislative Committee, and whom it is their openly avowed purpose to load with fresh imposts. 1. '' The administration of the Corporation has been so loose and so reckless, that they have repeatedly violated the City Charter. For instance, in 1869, having become completely involved, they obtained from the Legislature, by the Act of the 22nd Victoria, chapter 63, section 4, power to issue debentures to the amount of $300,000, to enable them to consolidate their debt ; but they were by the same Act pro- hibited from contracting new debts. Notwithstanding this prohibition, the Corporation was again in a state of insolvency only six years later, in 18G5, and had actually issued, contrary to laWy debentures to the extent of $54,696 for the purposes of the Corporation and $16,880 for the Water Works. •Application was again made to the Legislature, and authoriiy was granted to them to issue new debentures to the extent of $450,000, to cover the floating debt and the amount of c'cbentures illegally issued. On this occasion, by the Act 29 Victoria, chapter 57, section 37, the Legislature not only prohibited them from in any way increasing the amount of their debt, but made the Mayor and Councillors personally responsible for the same, and liable to be sued for misdemeanor if they sanctioned the expenditure of any sum of money beyond the amounts appropriated and the amount at their disposal. Again, in 1867, we have the same history of embarrass- ment and of debt. From the statement furnished by the City Treasurer, on the 16th January, 1868, it appears that, notwithstanding the penalties imposed in 1865, the Corpo- ration had contracted a further debt during the two years and four months ending SOlh April, 1868, of $145,662.07. In fact, since the year 1859, it is notorious that the debt of the City has been steadily augmenting without any pro- portionate increase in the collection of revenue. The evil day has been invariably staved off by the issue of fresh de- bentures, and the citizens lulled into supineness and secu- rity by constant assurances (such as are not sparingly put forth even at this day) that all was prosperous and encour- aging, until double taxes rudely awoke them to a sense oi imminent danger, and until the credit of the City has been so deeply impaired, that within the last twelve months a small .amount of debentures could not find a purchaser unless at a sacrifice of about ten per cent, discount, although yielding seven per cent, interest, and having only five years to run. Is it therefore surprising that the signers of the petition should openly express their apprehension of the probable re- sults of mismanagement of civic afiairs during the next eight years, when no less than $2,325,194 of debentures must be paid or otherwise provided for, of which $809,021 mature in 1870 ; i„nd this exclusive of a large amount for annual interest ? There is no doubt whatever, that, under the present lax system^ the City of Quebec will be bankrupt in a year. About the first of January last, the Mayor declared in public that he had a surplus of receipts over expenditure v)f $62,632.17, and that this had happened for the first time for the last fifteen years. Such a declaration was of course / I < (, {* calculated lu show in a very strong light the folly of those -who stated last year, (and who still assert) that the manage- ment of city afliiirs should be withdrawn for a time from the present City Council, and that it should be entrusted to Commissioners', who could at the very worst only emulate their predecessors. This assertion was backed up by the declaration in public, at a meeting of the City Council, by one of its oldest members, that the citizens who had signed the petition above alluded to were signing away their rights, and that they declared themselves fools deserving of interdiction and incapable of acting as men ; by lengthy newspaper articles and finally by the publication of a pamphlet in which it is broadly stated that our property and our torlunes are in the best possible keeping, and that the most disastrous consequences would result were the affdirs of the City entrusted to Commissioners. Having no other means of verifying the correctness of the Mayor's blateraont, we must look a little closely into the figures published or admitted by the Corporation. The Assessment Roll for 1867-1868, as printed by the Corporation, on 16th January, 1868, gives as the amount of revenue to be collected, apart from Markets, Licenses, Palace Harbour, Sundries and Water Works revenue. Drainage Tax, and leaving out of the question the amount of $18,386.34 to be levied through a business tax of 7 J per cent, (the legality of which was at first doubted, but now ernablished), the sum of |177,773.60 Of which was really collected (as admitted in the published accounts of that fiscal year, ai page 28). 107,979 86 Leaving still uncollected on 1st May, 1868.... ^69,793 74 Of ihpse arrears there were collected during the first eight months of the fiscal year of 1868-1869, say to 31st December, 1868, only 14,870 71 Leaving uncollected. $54,923 03 ^ So that on the 31st December, 1868, there remained still ouls-tanding arrears of the pre- vious fiscal year not collected to the ej^tenl of $54,923.03 i By the Assessment Roll for tlio fiscal year 18G8-1869 (which includes drainage and /':'*' business tax, the latter having been lega- ' ^ '' lised), the total amount to bo collected by ' **' ' ' the Corporation is |319,486 32 Of this amount, all that they had collected at the end of the first eight months, say on J'' 3 1st Decepiber, 1868, was , 100,555 60 The balance tc 'le collected is therefore $11 8,930 82 In the fiscal year of 18G8-1869, a special tax of 7^ per cent, was imposed, which was to yield, at the lowest estimate, as by the By-law of the sixth March, 1868 $69,000 00 Of this amount there has been collected during the first eight months of this fiscal year not more than 33,892 23 Leaving still to be collected $35,107 72 From the foregoing figures, which can be corrected by the Corporation, if wrong, it will be seen that the arrears allowed to accumulate in 1867-1868 and 1868-1869 alone (without reckoning those still due from previous fiscal years, which cannot be ascertained except perhaps by the Corporation and from other sources of revenue), are as fol- lows. on 31st December, 1868 : 1st. Arrears due from fiscal year 18671863. .. $ 54,923 74 2nd. Arrears due to be collected before final expiration of fiscal year 18G8-1869 118,930 82 3rd. Arrears of special tax for last mentioned period, as above stated 35,107 72 208,962 28 If the Water Works account for the fir.^t eight months of the fiscal year 1868-1869, say as on 3 1st December, 1868, were looked into, it would be found that the arrears of the previous fiscal year (1867-1868) coilrctod to that date amount to $37,762.61, (say $35,253 51 arrrp-s at 10c. and $2,509,10 for arrears of special rate of 3c ) V I 4 1 1 I I There arc no data (known to citizens outside of the Cor- poration), whcreb) lo uscortain the amount of the revenue which should be realised from water rates in the figeal year of 1868-1869, it should range between $70,000 and $80,000, but let it be assumed at $60,000 00 The amount collected of liiis sum being only — , Rates for 1868-1869 $13,326 16 Special rates for 1868-1809... 519 57 ' 13,815 73 There remains still outstanding $46,154 27 This last mentioned amount must be collected by 30th April, 1869. If, therefore, this sum of $ 46,154 27 Be added to the above amount of. 208,962 28 We have the sum of. $2 )5,116 55 Two hundred and fifty-five thousand one hundrca and six- teen dollars and fifty-tivc cents (!) for arrears of assessment and special tax uncollected on 3 1st December, 1868, for the fiscal years of 18G7-1868 and 1868-1869— four months only remaining from that date to first of May next, when they should be collected. How much of that sum has been got in, how much is lost, and how much will remain over as arrears on 1st May next, it is not easy to tell, but it would appear that this examination into the mode of collection of revenue is not without its use in showing how the ever re- curring periodical deficits of the Corporation are to be accounted for. It will also explain why special taxes are resorted to, and why an income tax is threatened. There are some citizens who can be reached without much trouble, no time is lost in collecting the ordinary taxes from them ; with regard to others, they are allowed to fall into arrears, either because the collection of money from them is more dilficult, or because (as is perhaps unjustly surmised) they are members of the Corporation or influential in working for them at the civic elections ; in some quarters, however, collections have been so vigorous, that summonses have ' been frequently served on citizens w^ho- had already paid their dues, and this even since the signing of the petition. The result of this system has been that when a deficiency of revenue was thus created, the fact was not (as it is now) brought home to the tax-payers by fresh imposts. (Would that it had been so ten years ago, by the refusal of the Legis- lature of that pcrioil lu sanction tlio ini.sinana^oiuent of the Corporation, by allowing a fresli issue of debentures.) It was reserved to the Legislature oC Quebce to inaugurate a wholesome repre8i*ion, which will culminate, it is humbly suggested, in a complete renovation of the whole system by ihc temporary substitation of three Commissioners. The 1>anacea of debentures liaving been checked by the Legis- ature last year, money was wanted to satisfy immediate and urgent demands. A special tax was the only remedy, and it was imposed ; but how was it collected ? exactly as all previous taxes had been got in — all those who had once honestly paid were compelled to pay again, and those who had not paid their ordinary assessments were neither forced to pay up those arrears nor to j)ay their share of the special tax. The taxes not coming in fast enough, and the arrears rapidly increasing, the right to impose the most hateful, oppressive and incjuisitorial of taxes, an income tax^ was unhesitatingly clamored for by the Corporation. To this clamor the signers of the Petition have no fear that the Le- gislature will yield, particularly as it is known that in the imposition of the income tax precisely those individuals will be exempted, who are always in arrears of all taxes, as it is the determination of the Corporation [at least such is the current rumour], that all incomes under a certain amount shall be free from tax. Such a measure might not be so injurious were those citizens declared disqualified from voting for the election of men who pretend to manage the affairs of the bond fide proprietors and rate payers. One word as to income taxes. Our properties, our liber- lies and our lives are under the protection of the Legisla- ture of the country. When these are imperilled Govern- ment has an undoubted right to impose an income tax, for all are exposed to danger in exact proportion to their stake in the country, no matter in what City or District of it their property may be situated ; but, to take a familiar instance, when a citizen happens to own in this City, property yield- ing a revenue of ^400 per annum, and other property in Toronto, Montreal, Thiee Rivers, perhaps in more than one of those Cities, which yields in the aggregate a further in- come of $600, it is preposterous to maintain that the City improvements which benefit his property here, or the City extravagance which entails taxes of all kinds upon it here, should entitle this Corporation to dive into his pocket and extract therefrom an integral portion of means derived from property alrendy taxed elsewhere. But such a proposal need astonish no one who learns from what quarter it proceeds'. Is it not however singular, to say the least of it, that with arrears of uncollected taxes amounting to $255,116.55, this Corporation should not pause before making application to tax the citizens in the most odious manner that can be de- vised ? Are they even legally justified in imposing special taxeSy while there remain an immense amount of uncollect- ed taxes 7 This year they have imposed a special tax of 7 J cents in the dollar, they have been allowed to collect the water rates three months in advance, they have availed themselves of the enactment which cut oil' all appeal against decisions of the Recorder, and yet t!io uncollected arrears, apart from arrears from markets and other sources, have frightfully in- creased. The last sentence of tlie inaugural address of the Mayor on assuming oilice on the 13lh January, 1868, was as follows : " I consider that with strict economy and the employment " of such proper measures to levy the taxes fairly as the " law gives us, and with the strict collection of our debts- ■ '* an imperative duly — we have ample means to meet our " current expenses." These words embodied without doubt, the true intentions of the Mayor, but have these promises been realised ? They HAVE NOT NOR CAN THEY BE WITH THE PRESENT CcUNCTL, (aliough good and well meaning men may be found there) A tree is known by its fruiis — a system by its results, and what are the fruits and the results of their management even under the superintcndancc of one who gives expi ^sion to statements such as are quoted above ? The Corporation, or rather the Council, is nominally composed of 8 Aldermen and 16 Councillors, a goodly array of advisers, but it is a notorious fact that very few of these really know anything of the aflairs of the City, be- yond the information vouchsafed to them by the four or five who assume the perpetual management and control of all the committees. It is from the latter that proceeds the cry that the citizens will lose their franchise should they be relieved from Ihoir civic duties. That the appointment of Commissioners would be a commission of Bankrupty, &c. As civic elections are now managed, and as they will continue to be controlled until Commissioners have swept away the whole net work of intrigue, no citizen dare ap- proach the Polls to support a candidate hostile to the present system. Men will certainly press forward to the Polls when their liberty or their religion is at stake, but when the ques- tion is a mere choice between a loss of a certain sum of money and the fracture of a limb, the decision is soon made. If four or five of the Council pretend that they can conduct the affairs of the City, devoting only portions of their lime to the work, why should not three men devoting their un- divided attention to the business of the Corporation meet with success at least equal to theirs — a greater failure can- not surely await them. The City of Quebec is the capital of the Province of Quebec, and the ancient capital of the country ; within its venerable walls are assembled the Delegates from every county — the able and the true of the Province of Quebec. When a Petition numerously signed by our most influential citizens, is presented to them to approve of the appointment of Commissioners to retrieve our affairs, is it to be supposed that these Delegates are less inclined to protect the franchises of their fellow citizens, then the few individuals who govern the Corporation of this City ? Is the suspension of the Council, and the substitution for a very few years of Com- missioners named by the Lieutenant-Governor, an infliction so greatly to be dreaded ? It may be dreaded, it is true, but not by the tax payers who have been shorn long enough and who desire equal rights and equal sacrifices — neither fear, favor, nor aftection — no pillaging by bailiffs, dishonest clerks or collectors of the city revenues whether of markets, wharves or other city property — in one word, a revolution in the whole corporate system. The Petition is silent on the subject of expenditure — one great grievance must be remedied at a time, that is the non collection of revenue and the heaping on of tax upon tax — the present Corporation have been for years on their trial — the result is known. 1, I The nominalion of the Commissioners by the Lieutenant- Governor, would not be an exercise of a function foreign to his high office, and his deep personal interest in real estate io this City, would be an additional guarntee of a judicious selection of Commissioners regardless of political considera- tions. The law has already appointed him to be the con- servator of civic affairs, and ex officio, he can prevent the continuance in force of any by-law if he signify his pleasure within ninety days from its adoption by the Council, [see 29 Victoria, chapter 67, section 30, No. 5.] Not only will the three Commissioners be liable at any moment to render an account to the Lieutenant-Governor, should he think fit to order an enquiry into their conduct at the request of the citizens, but they will have to publish periodical statements, to encounter fhe strict scrutiny of those whom we trust that they will replace, and the not less searching comments and enquiries of the Press, now thoroughly alive to the critical state of civic afFairs. The signers of the Petition, although stigmatised as fools by the Council, do not desire to attack the chaiacter of any individual composing it. It is the system which they de- nounce as utterly valueless and worse than useless, and which they have aright to petition the L^gis'ature to break up through the temporary appointment of three Commis- sioners to carry on the business of the Corporation, or, to speak more clearly, an effective Council of three instead of a useless and dangerous incumbrance of twenty-five. Time was when the Council might again and again bpg for a fresh trial of their skill in taxing, financiering and spending of the City funds. After every disgraceful break down and direct violation of the law, the Council have applied to the Legislature for amnesty for the past and new powers for the future, and never failed to plunge the Ciiy still more deeply into debt. Now, the immense majority of those who really pay the taxes respectfully but firmly pray the Legislature that this Council be at once suspended, so that what remains of their property be saved, not from reasonable taxation, but from grinding and vexatious imposts or insolvency. The Corporation pamphlet declares that all Commission- ers have been failures. The reply is simple — had any of 10 these Commissioners have fallen under the control of the Cily Council, the failure would have been ten-fold worse for, unlike the Corporation, all Commissioners heretofore existing have never neglected to collect their revenue, how- ever they may have erred in their investments. The Cor- poration of Quebec are helpless to collect theirs — hence this petition. ^ - - ; ..... ■; . -. > - The citizens of Quebec who have signed the Petition above referred to are persuaded that in applying to the Le- gislature for the appointment of Commissioners to replace the present City Council, they have adopted a course which is fully justified by the imminent danger of civic bankrupt- cy ; by the reckless disregard and contempt of all Legisla- tive enactments shown for years by the Council ; by their utter incapacity or persistent and ruinous neglect to collect the revenue of the City; by their continually recurring ap- plicaiioas to Parliament for additional powers of taxation ; by the evidences of gross departmental mismanagement, which are periodically coming to light ; and. finally, by the absolute necessity of confiding the management and control of civic affairs, for a few years, to the undivided attention of men not only of integrity, but of financial ability, pru- dence and experience, and three men of such a character they believe it possible to find in this City. 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