IMAGE EVALUATION TEST TARGET (MT-3) k A {./ ,% .. / cv. ' > -"X-4..-.-.U-* THE E. & N. - AND - V THE LAND GRANT. To The Reader -.—No explanation is needed for tlie appearance of this pamphlet, for a subject so vital demands all ; the light that can be thrown on it. But is should be clearly '■■ understood that the writer speaks only for himself, and is not connected with any political party, ^t was only because no one else did that the writer first brought forward the subject (by re- cent letters to the press). It is only because no one else has (to ) his knowledge) taken up the matter that he has published this pamphlet. Throughout the writer will contend himself with I . doing what others leave undone ; but having now taken the """■ matter up he intends with the help of Providence to carry it through, and see justice done. L. H. FULLAGAR, Victoria, B. C, " <0 e4th, 189S. PROVINCIAL LIDRARY VICTORIA, B.C. The E. & N. and the Land Grant, KV L. II. FTLLAGAR. Victoria, June 4th, 1S98, Keep this by yon. Tlie principles and facts set fortli in this pamphlet are believed to be lasting and true. Whether we shall in the coming contest triunipth over greed and tvrannv, Providence alone can tell ; but if not, the struggle shall go o'n from year to year, till with the help of Providence the public right is. established, the poor protected, and the proud subdued. CHAPTERS. I. The -Measure. HI. On Compensation. V. Matters Excluded. II. The Public Right. IV. The Rights of the Company. \T. Conclusion. I. THE MEASURE. Let the Province take the management of the Land Grant out of the hands of the Company, and administer the property itself for the country's good, on the same terms as Crown lands, modified where necessary or just, all proceeds to be set aside. Bring the question as to how those proceeds should be disposed of, and as to the rights of the Company in the land, and of all other parties interested, to an impartial decision without delay ; and divide those proceeds accordingly. II. THE PL'KLIC RIGHTS. NO one has a right to injure the country. No one has a right to do, either with himself or his property, what "injures the nation. If he does, the nation has both the right and dnty to compel him to do, or to have done for liim, what the good of tlie conntry requires. Have the Esquiinak and Xanainio Railway Company man- aged their Land Grant for the country's good? Ask the farmer, v.-ho sees his children leaving the conntry in search of bread ; that conntr}- with thousands ou thousands of fertile acres — re- served ; stolen by private greed from the use of the people. Ask the poor prospector, who, after the r->onlhs of expense and toil, finds himself heldnp to the tune of $130 down and as much more in short order— or robbed of his hard won finds ; sheer wrong, for be it clearly known that so far as one can tell the K. & X. ha\-e no more right to demand that payment than any bully on the highwa>-. They rely on the high hand, and on the ignorance and helplessness of the poor people. Ask the dwellers in the towns whose natural growth is checked and every enterprise blighted through being backed, not by a thriv- ing and growing farm country, but by an encroaching waste. Ask the land itself. For eleven years the Company has had a full control, unhampered by interference, unbridled by law ; time enough to have made the country a network of thriving homes. And what is it now ? Go through the back districts of the Island, and you find cabin after cabin deserted and ruined ; the little 'earings relapsing into forest ; the wild beast prowling through ihe dwellings of men. How long will the country stand such wickedness ? How long shall we sit tamely by, and allow- this corporation to plunder our poor people and deso- late our homes ? The remedy is straightforward and clear. Have the Land Grant managed for the country's good, and give the E. S: N. Railway Company as much of the proceeds as they are entitled to. "•'e have a ready standard as to how the Land Grant should be dealt with, in the way the Crown lands are managed. The Crown lands are avowedly dealt with according to the best wisdom of the nation to raise the greatest revenue consistent with the development and with the best interests of the country. i269SG :\.:v':ncial library victoria, b.c. ■77^ f fV *<> '■% All Crown lands are open to any one to go and take up i6o acres at $1 an acre, and he gets no mere surface riglus, or supposed urface nghts ; he gets the whole land, coal, minerals and all r?;f TT' '''' ^^°'^ ''''^ ''^'-''^- ^^'''^'■^ tJ^e manage- ment of the h. & N. Land Grant differs from that of the Crown lands we are safe in taking it that the Company is injuring the country, unless, indeed, they could shew that the difference was an unse fish improvement for the country's good. Does the country lock up all the pick of the farming lands for a mink preserve? Does the country extort $3 an acre or more for mere surface nghts ? The nation has shewn by the example of its own Crown property that to offer only a divided ownership is aganist the public interest. Does the Crown den,and $260 cash , half down, and half in a year, as soon as every mineral claim is located on Crown land ? If not, then, in so doing, the E. & N are abusing their position and wronging the country. The best way of ensuring that the Land Grant is rightly administered will be for the Province to administer it itself. Let us have the land managed by the Province on the same lines that Crown property is dealt with, and hand over to the E. i N. as much of ttie proceeds as belongs to them. I do not think the farmers on the Railroad lands are fully aware of the grave dangers they are under ; nor do the public know what au unheard of weapon of tyranny the E. & N. have endeavored to create. Iv, is commonly supposed that the farm- ers on these ands have ...V; surface rights, but that the right to the surface, he has. That is not so. He has the whole land, and the land is his ; but his deed reserves power to the Company to injure him to almost any extent at pleasure. It is a comparatively small thing that the Company reserve all coal and minerals, and the right to search for them and to mine them at pleasure, for they are bound to pay "reasonable compensation" for doing so ; though everyone can judge for himself how far between the Esquimalt and Nanaimo Railway Company and a poor, helpless farmer, the " reasonable compensation" mi-ht be whatever they chose to give him. But the E. & N. reserve the f right to lake all the land ihey want for their railway, and for all their stations and workshops, wilhoiit paying any compensation at all. Let every farmer realise that. There is no exception; they may take the whole clearing for a station and sidings; they may run their railway over the ashes of his home. And not a cent )f compensation. No matter if he have tuiUd on it for years, if he have spent his lifetime in making a good home and farm out of the forest; if it suits the K. cS: X. he and his will be turned out in their old age, penniless, to starve. And who knows where the railway may want to run, to mines in the mountains, or to the sea ? But the railway cannot run everywhere ; but the next clause elTccts every farmer on Railroad lands in the en- tire land belt. The K. & N. reserve the right to take, wit/wut any compensation, all the timber they require for railroad pui- poses. Think what this means. The Company can come down on any farmer, anywhere in the whole belt, and cut down every stick of limber on his land ; or, if whole trees don't suit their purpose, they can cut off tops and pieces of trees, and let the rest spoil. And so long as the timber is to be used any- where, along the whole line, he will have no redress whatever. And how is he to tell what the limber is used for ? Let no one think himself safe, once the elections are over. What though the Company's forests wave over two million acres ? Will they honestly buy the timber they require? They will take the poor man's lamb. They will come down on some poor, honest man who has the manliness and courage to resent their tyranny, arid cut and spoil every stick of timber that he has. And no dis- tance will make a man safe, when what is sought is not timber, but terror and revenge. To whom will the sufferer have recourse ? If he goes to the courts, his own deed meets him in the face. Not but what the Company's right might perhaps be questioned, even under the deeds that they now give to settlers, but how could a poor farmer maintain a long lawsuit against the E. & N. If he ap- peal to the Legislative Assembly, his own member, perchance, is the Company's hireling or slave. One last recourse remains. ' li v llie oppressed iu every nation can call npon his Kin- ; can ap- peal to that Pou-er ordained of Providence to set forth jnstice in the land, and to defend the poor. Put what will that avail, when the holy Majesty of our ancier.t Throne is in the hands of hire- lings who abet the oppressor, or of poltroons that cow before hnn. Xo, the people must save themselves ; and, what have yon to fear ? Thanks to Mr. Forster's Act, which, bv the help of Providence the Opposition forced throu-h the Hou.se la-^t Session m the teeth of the E. & X. yan^N a man's ballot paper absolutely <-/ d, tniccci, so th;it ever^• man can \-ote as he thinks right with perfect .safety. You have nothing to fear but vour own local cliques and jealousies, your own folly and meanness, on which your spoilers pla) Once return a good local man de- voted to enforcing the countiy's rights, and no matter how the general elections go, that district will have a champion in the House and count-y, and that di.strict will be protected. But that is nut enough. We must go on till everv farmer has absol- ute security with a good, clear title in his hand, his timber and his home. HI. ox COMPE.\S.\'riOX. \'aiious suggestions have at times been made that the Province should buy out the E. & X. Railwav Coinpanv. But before doing any such thing we should first make the Companv do their duty, or have it done for them, and after we had tried that state of things a while, we could tell if we needed any fur- ther change; and secondly, if so, we ought to ascertain what rights the E. & X. really have in the lands to sell. As regards the first point, to go back to what was said at the beginning, the rule that no man has a right to injure the country, holds^good as well as regards to land and other property as toanvthing else. Our whole nation is founded on duty. Every man has his duty to do as well with regard to his property as to anything els( he' possesses. And again, as to property, there has never been such a thing in our nation as absolute, uncontrolled ownership of wl \ anvthin^^ Whatever it be that a man has, whether ands o. other propertv, or his own time and life, the thing itself is not his ; he has only the possession of it, or the right to possession, and he mnst nse it in accordance with the country s good. Where this dntv might appear uncertain, or the breach of it more than usnall^ serious, the nation in Parliament assemb ed has usuallv made laws to direct a man how to deal with his propertv, and to compel him to do it. Some other breaches of dutv are dealt with bv the law apart from statute, as nuisances, etc' To say that a man may do what he will with his own, simply means that within certain limits a man is_ left to his own_ dis- cretion as to what his duty requires, or is not actually punished if he neglects it. How wide those limits are depends on what the Legislature thinks fit. The owner of a lot in the outskirts of Vict;ria can put up pretty nearly any sort of shanty on it any- where he pleases, but if within the fire limits it must be ol brick or stone ; and if the lot were on a good street in a town m bcot- land or England, he would have to build his house exactly m line with the other houses iu the street, and of a design to harmonize with theirs. If we are not continually conscious of the dut^■ of emploving ourselves and all we have for the country s . cood, it is dnlv because most working people do so in the mam as a matter of course, and in the manner directed. Thus ever> tax is an instance where the nation has been fit to define, wheth- er' correctW or not, the amount and method in which the coun- trv's welfare requires the taxpayer to render up part of his pos- sessions. Sanitarv regulations, sewers, etc, are another every- day example. As' far as concerns doing with one s property what is for the country's good, there is no question of compen- sation. When the country's welfare requires a man to give up his propertv, his time, or his life, he is not parting with any rights, for he has no right to do otherwise. Take the case. of the Militia of Canada, for example, when called out for service ; do they sell their lives and wounds ? Or take the case of the taxpayer ? It is for us people of the Province, assembled with our Sovereign in our Legislature Assembly, to declare what the 8 E. & N. should do. So long as we simply compel the Company to dispose of the Land Grant , or have it disposed of, as is best for the country, and hand them over as much of the proceeds as their rights m the land will bring in when treated in this man- ner, no question of compensation can arise, for thev have no nght to deal with the land in any other wav ; but \i after en- forcing their duty, (which has never been done vet) it appears best for the country to deprive them of anv of thdr interests in regard to the lands, of course they should be compensated, and liberaLy. IV. THE RIGHTS OF THF E. & N. IX THE ISLAND R.^IUV.W LANDS. In all that has gone before it has been taken for granted that the Land Grant belonged wholly to the Esquimalt and -\ana,mo Railway Company. We will now examine what are the rights of the Company in the lands ; and shall find that, so tar from the Company owning them, they do not belong to the Company at all, but are merely held on trust to be settled and disposed of on the same principle as Crown property, except as to the timber. This matter is of quite a diflferent nature from what has gone before ; it is no question of right and wrong, but of examining the words of Statutes and legal decisions. But still It IS of great importance that the public should distinctly understand what rights the Company has in the Land Grant as near as can be determined, that they may defend both them- selves and the country in an intelligent and spirited manner, i he writer does not pretend to speak with authority ; but he has spared no pains to be correct, and will now endeavour to state his conclusions, with, some of his principal reasons, in a manner intelligible to the public. Of course, the Company's rights in the Crown lands of the Province depend on the Provincial Statutes. Their rights do- not depend at all on what the public thought at the time was being given them, nor on what the promoters of the Company /■ snipposed they were getting. The Province acts onlv l)v its Statutes, and the Company has no rights in the Crown" lands of t-ie Province beyond what tlie Acts of the Province give tliem ■V?ain, tlie fact of the E. & X. liolding the lands does not shew that they own it ; indeed, the fact of their holding the land has nothing whatever to do with the question as to whom it belongs to. (Jne must know what purpose the\- hold it for. A man niay hold land and have it regi,stered in his name, although he has no interest in it whatever ; or he mav be entire owner, and have full control, of land that stands in someone else's name, ^^nppose, what happens every day, that a father, bv his will, leaves his land to his friend A in trust for his son B.' Tlien \ \vill hold the land, but he has no interest in it ; it does not be- long to him at all. It belongs altogether to B ; and B (when lie comes of age) can take the entire management of the property and can order A to do with it whatever B chooses. Or, instead ot leaving the land to A in trust for B, the late owner mav have left It to A' on trust to sell, either bv auction or m anv' other manner. In this case A will hold the land, and when he sells he will give the same kind of deed as if it were his own; but he will have no interest whatever in the land, and no right to do anything with it except sell it in the manner directed,' and if he hold on to the land and do not sell it as directed, especiallv if he IS doing so for his own private advantage, the Court will take the management of the property from him and arrange the sale, and will make him pay up any advantage he may have gain- ed, and punish him with costs and damages. The Province did not grant the land to the E. & N. direct The Province in 1S83 granted the land to the Dominion, and the. Dominion handed it over to the Companv. Now, as said before, the mere tiansferring the land round does not shew that either the Dominion or the Comj^any had anv interest in it whatever ; they might both be mere trustees. ' We must see what interest in the land, what actual value, the Dominion re- ceived to hand over the to E. & X. In 1883, then, the Dominion and British Columbia -:'-overn- 10 ment came to a final settlement of their long dispntcs about the transcontinental line. The Provincial (Government agreed to grant to the Dominion all the Crown lands within twentv miles of the Canadian Pacific Railway, and the Island railway' grant, besides 3,500.000 acres by the Peace River; and the Dominion, besides paying the Province $100,000 a year, and building the C. P. R., agreed to contribute $750,000 to the construction of the railway from Hsquimalt to Xanaimo, and to hand over to the contractors for the line the land which British Columbia might place in its hands for that purpose. Accordingly by Act of Legislature (47 Vic. C, 14) the Province, following'the agree- ment, granted to the Dominion Government, in identical'lan- guage the 40-mile belt on the Mainland, and the island railway grant./ The Act goes on to incorporate the Esquimalt and Xan- aimo Railway Company, in terms which will be referred to lat- er. The Dominion Government in due course handed over the Island railway grant to the Company. Xow it will be remembered that the mere holding of lands is quite distinct from the real ownership of them. Asfar as any substantial interest or real value was concerned, the Dominion Government could only give the Company what it had received from the Province to give. As both the Island railway grant and the 40-mile belt were granted together on the same footing, and in identical terms, the Dominion Government must have taken the same interest in both districts ; and therefore the Esq- uimalt and Xanaimo Railway has no larger right or interest in the Island Land Grant than the Dominion has in the 40-mile belt on the Mainland. What these rights and interests were was decided by the Privy Council in 1889, in what is generally known as the " Precious Metals Case." The question was whetlier the gold and silver in the 40-mile belt belonged to the Province or the Dominion. As is generally known, all gold and silver in all lands through the Province, to- gether with the free right to mine and get them,,belong to' the Crown in right of the Province ; in behalf of the Dominion, however, it was argued that the precious ores, after all, were P;->^t ..f the land, and that the Province liad transferred its whole nRlUs and intc rests in the land, precious ores included, to the l)onini,on. But the Privy Council decided that that was not the case. "Leaving' the precious metals out of view for the present It seems clear that the only 'conveyance' contemplated was a transfer to the Dominion of the Provincial right to manajre and settle the lands, and to appropriate their revenue. It was neith- er intended that tlie lands should he taken out of the Province nor that the Dominion Government should occupv the position of a freeholder within the Province. The object of the Domin- ion Government was to recoup the cost of constructing the rail waybvsellin-tlie land to settlers. Whenever land 'is so di.s- posedfof the interest of the Dominion comes to an end " ^i , App. Cas. p. 302.) ■ ^^ Likewise, therefore, it was never intended that the Esquim- au & Xanaimo Railway Company should occupy the position of a freeholder within the Province. The Company's onlv right IS to appropriate the revenue arising from the settlement 'of the ands In other words the Privy Council decided that the Main- and belt did not belong to the Dominion Government at all but that the Dominion simply hold it on tnist for sale to settlers on ordinary Crown property terms, and are onlv entitled to the incidental revenue arising from its settlement and development as Crown property. Both the Island Land Grant and the Main- land Belt were originally granted to the Dominion bv the Prov- ince m the same manner and on the same terms, so 'that if the Dominion had retained the Island lands in their own hands they would now be holding them on the same terms as they do the Mainland Belt. Instead of which, the Dominion transferred the Island lands, with all their rights in them, such as they were, to the Company ; so ttiat now the Company has just the same rights as to the Island Land Grant that the Dominidn has as regards the Mainland Belt, and no more ; that is, as said be- fore, to dispose of the land as Crown property and take the in- cidental revenue arising from the settlement and development of 1260S6 \i 13 otiur iiiineruls, tlitv I the I nil JLl, treated of as di.st coal and tla- iiiinc nianiier as cuill and *""• P*"t nf tiie laiKl '"It- In mhct \,t,rds the C \.s h yards the Caal and It ■•;il-^ '■].,, n trust for disposal in th ' """f'''''^"'! Crown i,iop.nyai.d and a'.v nowhere oinpany ht.kls the '"■Kin naturally be asked wh prcssly set out in tlif' I y siith a trust land '••auKd at the time that the C '■"\i'ieial Act. IVvmIjI iesanie;;eneral ispusc-d of. was uot e.\- y no one t\er fii any otlur terms >'troIiL;fst lle'Mti at all Take the t k'-itue evidence. ompany woul.l claim to hold tht nts thi.- Act does contain the e\c i-as tax free for ten ■'■\' c.vemptioi 1^. f'T iusl, nice. Gr it. One ca ant tax free for years, hut the c Olll vi'iV, SO loiij' as it The railway itself pain' holds thr' J^and n iiiiderstand \\\\ country should be tax free till hut why should ta.ves on its other lyfa railwav tl neither parts with it i^or uses not a railw tiafTic has had ik iiou.u;!! an unpeopled ;i\- Colli I)an\', time to dc elop, Land Grant is not tl property. Clearh' b. ikt' anyone else, pay R le property of the J i-caiise in this ca.se the ailway, but is held on trust onl Jiain, it is Me!l known that a public A those tl &E. I.and (jia 'iino-s that thev Railway Company 1 arc expressly formed to do. X "I'lmialt .S: Xanaimo company can doon.y ow, the E. be X lit was know ric h 111 little else, the C ow, can an>-one conceive that if it had b^ 'as no po.ver to mine. Although tl, ;lJ'-M-ichin minerals, and believed to ompany has no power to I^and Grant audit th« s 1 'ir own, thev would iiinerals should bel on property to account. If had ever dreamed of not ha\-e been mine at all. een intended that the g to the Company for they not have tak bea cl; even th .c^iven power to turn t! e pronioters of the Conipa en rs 1 11 mind that the Com "ling the property for th _ power to make u.se of it ? Of company with power to run local pail)- are merely a simple raihv hold the cir ny eir own, would course if one ay keep there land to sell, as explained befo steamers, and that they only or use any of it e: IS xcept for their rail re, and have no right to no reason why the)- should be empowered way and steamboats As regards I lie timber, both Pr to mine. •ovincial and Dominion Acts 13 enact in tliL- same words that "all kinds .... containing belts "ol" timber fit for milling jnirposes shall be sold at a price to be "hereafter fixed by the Govennnent of the Dominion or by the said Company."' The reader will see that, supposing no price// to be fixed by the Dominion C'lOvcrnment, this amounts to say-' ing that the Company shall sell the timber belts at their o-ni price. How could this be so imp>)rtant as to be put in two dis- tinct .\cts ? If the property belonged to the Company, there would have been no need to give them power to fix their own price for it. P.ut, as shewn before, it does not belong to the Company ; they only hold it to dispose of as Crown property ; therefore they had to be given special power to fix the price of the timber belts pn order that they might not have to part with them at the usual public give-away rate, but might make what they could of the timber lands, but of the timber lands alone. In conclusion; the Company holds the Land Grant for the purpose of settling it and developing it as is done with Crown property, and has no right to do anything else. The Company itself is entitled to make just as much of the land, and no more, as if the Province had never parted with the land, but kept and dealt with it like the other lands of the Crown, and had simply handed over to the Company the income from the districts con- tained in the railway belt. If the Company has made more out of any piece of land, the overplus does not belong to them and they must pay it up. Next, it is a breach of tru.st, and an abuse of their position, to use the .slighest pressure on holders of mineral claims to pur- chase mineral or surface rights ;' because that is not done on Crown lands, whose management the Company has to follow. Assuming that it it is beyond question that the Company have endeavoured to use such pressure far and wide, every holder of a mineral claim who has bought any rights of the Company is entitled, if he choose, to reconvey those rights to the Company and receive again his money with interest, unless the Company can shew beyond question that such j^ressure could not possibly have influenced him. ^" Next it is a breach of trust, and a thing the Company has not the slightest right to do, to reserve any lands from settle- ment. All reserves should be thrown down at once, and the lands thrown open, not necessarily for pre-emption, but on reas- onable tenns. And in regard to these reserves the Provincial Treasur>- must be considered. The reader will remember that though the railway was tax free for ten years only, the Land Grant is tax free forever. This is as it should be. It would be unjust to tax the Company on the Land Grant, because it does not belong to them. But by locking lup the land from settle- ment the Company have wrongfully deprived the Treasurv, that is. the other taxpayers of all the taxes that those lands would have produced if they had been taken up, and of all the taxes in years to come till the lands are sold. Of course it is impossible to reckon anything like the injury that the Companv has done, not only to the Treasury, but to the people of the Is- land and the country at large ; but where reserved land is worth, say, from $5 to $15 and $20 per acre and" upwards we may safe- ly assume that, if open to pre-emption (at $1 an acre) it would have been taken up, and the Company should pay the back taxes lost, and current taxes yearly until the land is sold. '^ ^ Before quitting the subject it should be observed that by section F of the agreement of 1S82 mentioned before between the Governments of the Dominion and British Columbia, the two Governments agreed that for four years the Island railway lands should, except as to coal and other minerals, be open to actual settlers at $1 an acre ; and that in any grants to settlers the right to cut timber for railway purposes and rights of way for the railway, stations and workshops shall be reserved. It will be observed that the whole provision is only in force for four years, which were up on Dec. 19th, 1887. As regards the reserving of rights of way, and of timber, that is not a clause to be inserted in the deeds or Crown Grants of the land, but is a very just stipulation between the two Gov- ernments, that the land and timber wanted for the railway should not be parted with ; else persons might have taken up 15 the very land and timber wanted for the line, and cinclied the contractors. One need hardly say that one's remarks on reserves, pre- emptions, etc. refer to the lands that will grow somethincr. The writer wonld not intimate that the reserving of townsites, in reason, is necessarliy either nnlawfiil for the Company or injuri- ous to the countr\-. V. KXCLUDED. The task in hand is to deal with the Land Grant, and with the Land Grant alone. Other question relating to the Esquim- alt 6t Xanaimo Railway Company are distinct, and should be kept so. Thus it may be that the charges on the railway are excessive, and the management obnoxious. It may be that the Company have departed from the strict impartiality of a public company to favour certain undertakings, such as coal mines, as against rival concerns. The writer does not mean to say that it is so, but to point out that such matters concern the Railway Company as such, and are distinct from the management of its lands. Similarly, the writer has been informed by old men and much esteemed, that Her Majesty's representative in Canada, the then Governor General, personally requested the late -Mr. Robert Dunsmuir to carry the line through, and that in consequence of that request IMr. Dunsmuir came forward and did it. Should that be clearly proved, as to which the writer expresses no opin- ion, it would well become the Province, if occasion were, not to allow his family to be the losers on the whole by loyal and worthy conduct ; but any consideration of such a subject is a matter of grace, not of right, and should come from political opponents. ^ f ,• i6 VI. I! ^i I F e e: r. •\ ^( u COXCLTSIOX. To return to onr beainnin.o;. Let tlit- Province awake to the duty and right of havin.t,^ the Island Railway Lands managed for the country's good. To that end let the Province manage and dispose of them, at tlie puhlic expence in the first place, (which would he trifling) setting aside the proceeds. So much the Province is entitled to do, whoever the land belongs to. As regards the rights of the Company and the claim of mineral claim holders, etc., and of the ProvincialTreasury, let all snch matters be promptly referred to an impartial decision ; for in- stance, to the Privy Council. Upon such la decision the rights of all parties will be established. This can only be done by union and courage. All know- how for \-ears the interests connected with the R. & X. ha\-e overridden and defied the law. All know well that Ministers and members actually in the pay or under the influence of the Company can not be depended on even to have the Company's position, as set forth in Chapter I\^ fairly decided, much less to redress the country's wrongs. The first step towards honest government in British Columbia, the first requisite for any sound pro.siDerity on \'ancouver Island, is to destroy the political influ- ence of the K. Si X. Do we need awakening to the danger and disgrace of allowing a grasping corporation to feel itself abo\-e the law ? I do not mean to say that it has happened, but sup- pose a fat thing was offered in the way of an unlawful .supplying of coal to a belligerent power. What do forms and pretences count for in war ? Shall we trust it to their honour, indeed, their unselfishness, their loyalty, to decline the offered job ? Or shall we do onr duty by ourselves and the whole nation, and hold these people in terror of doing what might both disgrace the Province and embarrass the enjtire Empire? On the E. & X. question there is no room for three parties. Whoever is not against the Company is against the country. Xo issue now before the people of the Island, perhaps no task e,i, a,,d bn-jtyonr ,R.i„l,|„„ ' " ' ' «" »"'! vote for hi,,, ■o pel::;;,; r,:7- »•■- .Air :::i°" :;'; -^"^ ">'""• «■' Co,;:„t ■ ' ■" '""^" - "»uio„ ■ * " -'"-folders -■^■■«";ec;:t;;rrt--»"er.:^:J::^::^^:;:: '° destroy the ,„„ i^,,' ;,''"' •» «d.«s i,,, ,„i,„„' ^,°""'""^ '^ d-nora,^ y , : ■^-i ol.™s, and e„deavoS"";f,'^':^"f. -'forcing nnf^,, [ ">■ 'h'" does not belong to° hZ ^ '^"' ""■" " "« P'op- "cccss ■. their ill deeds bya.Jdn 7- '''""'"S safety and '^>' """'^rs, ,„e,„bers and vo.ert ' "' '"'"="« °" -divid ■ -pa:;tit:x;r;^,;,:-'VT'^"^--°p-"c ■'■""---• --foth,;g-XTL1^^^^^^^^^^^^ iS Let iiic ai^ciin express the earnest hope that all \vell\vishei of their coniury, whatever tluir views, will keep carefully freu s from the unworthy envy at those to whose stewardship Provid- ence has entrusted .(greater wealth than to ourselves, for they are, or should be, the .\'<>/Vi-j of our land. In all Aryan races, it is believed, and (wm the earliest ages, but especially in our own nation and more or less in every epoch of our liistory, the found- ation and essential of nobility '^ not Inrth nor brains, but wealth 1[)ure and simple. All oui ation are all on a level, man for man, whatever they be called, (not speaking of the Blood Royal); but the principle is, that those families whom Provid- ence has removed from the necessity of daily toil for daily bread should devote themselves, as occasion offers, to the couiitrv's service and quiet unselfish work— in higher politics when need be, but more especially in the important but unconspicuous de- tails of local and municipal matters ; and they should train up their children to the public affairs. So far from cavilling, we should make our richer neighbors feel that we expect them per- sonally to take their share in local affairs, and to set an example of honour, of unselfishness, and of doing good work for its own sake without thought of reward. The public should bear in mind that we in British Colum- bia are subject to grave and exceptional perils. There is, per- haps, no part of the Empire that offers such prey to the spoiler; and across the line are boundless masses of wealth wielded by perfectly unscrupulous hands. With Ministers on the make, with a House credulous, blind and divided, with a country sunk in apathy or engrossed with local interests and jealousies, what is there to hinder the foreigner from acquiring a domination in our countr)- that may have the gravest consequences for every home in our land, and for the entire Empire ? For the country's safety let us unite to form a real party throughout the Province; a body of men, not necessarily unanimous all round, or called by one name, but sincerely bent on attaining some common public aim, and led to that aim by leaders personally trusted by the country and supported by an intelligent body of public opinion .^-•i.^^^ r 19 throughout the ProNince. I'.ut, to l)e a bkssiiiy to the country, a Party must have continually clear and lofty aims, and the leaders must be ready with practical measures to attain them. To unite men, one must accustom them to act toj^cllicr ; and thus one may hope that a j^cntral union of all, whatever thtir former position as tu jjublic affairs, to enforce the public rights in regard to the Island Railway Lands may be a first step to a formotion of a united Provincial party that shall set foreign in- fluence at defiance, shall teach local claims to bow to the inter- ests of the Province and of the empire, shall carry through the great measures that the circumstances of the Province demand, and, above all, shall form and maintain a standard of honour and unselfishness in public affairs that shall make our Province an example to the nations. A