// FINANCIAL STATEMENT OK THE .ur Hon. R. Harcourt TREASURER OF THE PROVINCE OF ONTARIO, DELIVERED ON THE EIGHTEENTH DAY OF FEBRUARY. IN THE LEGISLATIVE ASSEMBLY OF THE PROVINCE OF ONTARIO, ON MOVING THE HOUSE INTO (M)MMITTEE OF SUPPLY. '4*f- TORONTO : WARWICK BRO'S A; RITTTKR, Printbhh, Etc., «8 and 70 Front St. Wkst. 1897. m'A FINANCIAL STATEMENT or THK Hon. R. Harcourt TREASURER OF THE PROVINCE OF ONTARIO, DELIVERED ON THE EIGHTEENTH DAY OF FEBRUARY. ISQT, IN THE LEGISLATIVE ASSEMBLY OF THE PROVINCE OF ONTARIO, ON MOVING THE HOUSE INTO COMMITTEE OF SUPPLY. TORONTO: WARWICK BRO'S & RUTTER, Puintbhs, Etc., 68 and 70 Fuont St. Wbht. 1897. INDEX. PAQB. Appendix 39> Assets 30 Analysis of succession duties . 10 Annuities, sale of 12 Arbitra^^irm prnceedinprs 27 Appeal by Dominion dismissed 28 Brewers' licenses 9 Common school fund 28 Defence of our rights 20 Dairying encouraged 24 Estimated receipts, 1897 32 " expenditure, 1897 32 Expenditures, 189G 14 Higher education 18 Indian claims 28 Liabilities presently payable 31 License receipts 9 Mineral wealth of Ontario 33 Ontario's appeal sustained 28 Public institutions' expenditure 18 Receipts, 189G 7 Reduction in yearly expenditures 19 Railways built since Confederation 21 Railway aid cert ificates 39 Sir Oliver Mowab 20 Satisfactory results re awards 28 Succe8sit of the previous year. We printed last year some re[)ort8 which were not piinted the year before, at an ex- pense of about $1 500. The total expenditures for the year for Legislation were $8,300 less than they were in 1895. For Admin- istration of Justice thn vote was nearly exh^U8ted. There was an over expenditure of $2,141 for criminal justice. Items such as this 17 are, of course, not controllable, and it is difficult to estimate closely concerning them. Our expenditures for Education keep growing apace. We spent last year $702,569, or more than one fifth of all our revenues. The previous year we spent $693,04-^, and in 1894 $684,559, and in 1893 $662,520. No one suggests that we can, consistently with growth, progress and improvement, curtail in thib direction. It is well argued that the great commercial advance made by Germany in recent years is to be largely attributed to her educational advantages on practical lines, and the most prominent men in England to-day accept this view. In this extremely practical age it is said that science ia the predominant partner in every branch of trade and manufacture. If we are, then, to develop trade, we must in every way possible en- courage science, applicable, as it is, ir one form or another, to every calling and profession. It would be talse economy to even think of lessening grants to schools. We may well bend our energies, how- ever, to devising plans by which these grants may be most wisely spent. If we can foster a spirit of scientific research in this young country, rich as it is in mighty possibilities, we may some day hope to win the material rewards which Germany is now so conspicuously reaping. For money thus spent we must certainly get a good re- turn, rich and ample, a free education for half a million of children, as well as a superior education for all who earnestly desire it. The educational rate in other countries is similarly advancing. A few years ago in Engl ind it was only eight pence and a fraction per pound. The shilling has been reached, and it is year by year advancing. We expended a little less than the educational vote last year. The over-expenditures were for departmental examinations and superan- nuated teachers. As the number of candidates increases the expense of the examination by way of printing, etc., must increase. Of course there is a corresponding increase on the other side of the account by way of the fees the candidates pay. The fees paid by the candidates for non-professional examinations amounted last year to $34,661, be- ing nearly $7,000 more than the receipt of the previous year. We paid last )ear to superannuated teachers $62,597. During the past twelve jears we have paid to them the very large sura of ^732,375, being an average of $61,031 a year. It is expected that chere will jBoon be a reduction in this annual payment. 18 A Comparison. We expended last year for the maintenance of our Public Institu- tions $796,567, which representa about one-fourth of the total annual revenue of the Province. This is nearly $40,000 more than we spent in 1893, There was an over-expenditure at the Brock ville Asylum of $6,500. This institution was but recently opened, and has aa yet a smaller insane population than the older institutions. A larger staflf, relatively speaking, is always necessary where the number of inmates is beiow the average. The per capita cost of maintenance in all new institutions here and elsewhere has been uniformly larger during their early years than afterwards. The per capita cost at Brockville was much lower in 1896 than in 1895, and we can expect a still further reduction. I will later on refer more fully to these reductions. The low per capita cost of maintenance, comparatively speakings in our asylums, is ample proof that we keep a vigilant watch over our expenditures. The cost per patient last year in our asylums was $134.55. In 1895 it was $142.65, in 1894 $127.22, and in 189S $135.71. The cost will vary year by year, inasmuch as it depends to a large extent on the ruling price of staple articles consumed. A few cents more or leas in the cost of articles of general consumption will affect the per capita cost to the extent of several dollars a year. The cost of coal, for example, varies considerably, and in some sea. sons much more of it is consumed than in others. Our cost per patient last year was, as I have said, ^134.55. What was it in similar institutions similarly controlled, officered and provided for in the States nearest to us? In the Buffalo Hospital for the Insane it was $183.56 per patient ; in Rochester, $233.44 ; in the St. Lawrence Hos- pital (New York), $219.85; in the Hudson River Hospital, $204.80j in Utica, $199.82, and in Pontiac, Michigan, $175.41. Our expenditure for Agriculture, although kept within our vote, was the largest we [have ever incurred. Last year it amounted to more than $189,000. The previous year it was $181,233. The gross expenditures for Repairs and Maintenance, for Public Works and for Public Buildings were in each case, it will be noticed, substantially less than the sums the House voted for these purposes* 19 Our expenditare for Hospitals and Charities was the largest the Province has as yet incarred. Our grants last year amounted to $194,< 61 5, as against $190,221 in 1895, and $182,612 in 1894, Up to the present time we have given grants in aid to fourteen counties for their County Houses of Refuge, or Industrial Homes, amounting in all to $53,750. In leaving the question of our expenditures for the past year I wish especially to remind hon. members that although we have neglected no public service, although we have increased our grants in various directions and incurred special and exceptional expenditures from time to time, we have succeeded in e^eadily reducing our total annual expenditures year by year. I give the figures for the past six years : — Reduced AGORiaATB Yearly Expenditures. Our total expenditure in 1891 amounting to $1,158,159 ; in 1892, $4,008,257; in 1893, $3,907,145 ; in 1894, $3,842,505 ; in 1895, $3,758,595; in 1896, $3,703,379. This represents -x reduced annual expenditure of $455,000 in five years, or an average of nearly $100,000 a year. In the face of these figures, hon gentlemen opposite will be compelled to admit that we have earnestly sought to keep a vigilant watch over the expenditures of the Province, and that our efforts have been signally successful. I may at this point be allowed to say a word or two concerning our late leader in this House, Sir Oliver Mowat, now Minister of Justice at Ottawa. Were I to attempt, sir, to summarize the history of the Province almost since Confederation, his name would be found in written characters large and brighten its almost every page. What a conspicuous space he must continue to fill in such a history for all time to come, and, what is better, it is as honorable as it is conspicuous. With what consummate tact he ever guided our deliberations in this chamber ; how watchful he always was of the dignity of our proceedings. Earnest at all times and exhaus- tive and forceful in debate, he never indulged in recrimination, or for a moment even disregarded the amenities of public life. His untiring industry was a constant source of rebuke to much younger men. His affable manners disarmed his opponents and endeared to him his friends. On all occasions judicial in manner, exceptionally free from prejudice, 'ever tolerant of the opinions of others, he eagerly 20 grasped at auggeations from all quarters, and to this one fact, I doubt not, we must in no small degree attribute his -ohenoraenal success. But it ^ as not of considerations such as these i intended to speak. I wish rather, very hurriedly of course, to point to the growth and development of the Province in all directions under his exceptionally long and sagacious leadership. Sir Oliver Mowat. In October, 1872, Sir Oliver assumed office. In that same year Mr. Gladstone was First Minister in England, and since that date England hus had eight different Governments and as many Premiers. Lord Liggar was our Governor-General in 1872, and we have had in the interval five Governors of Canada, viz : Lord Dufferin, the Marquis of Lome, the Marouis of Lansdowne, Lord Stanley and Earl Aberdeen. When Sir Oliver first assumed office Sir William Rowland was our Lieutenant Governor. During his long Premier- ship we have had in all six Lieutenant Governors. From 1872 to 1896 the Province of Quebec has had eleven Premiers, Nova Scotia six, Prince Edward Island six, New Brunswick five, Manitoba five and Brirtish Columbia eleven. Sir Oliver was continuously Premier of Ontario during the successive Administrations of General Grant, Hayes, Gaifield, Arthur, Harrison and Cleveland. Do not these facts of themselves illustrate most forcibly how fortunate this Province has been in retaining for so long a period a leader who possessed in such a remarkable degree all the qualifications of highest statesmanship? From 1872 to 189G our Province has progressed safely and with great strides in all directions. During that period our population has increased by 000,000 souls. We have more than doubled our territory by adding to it over 118,000 square miles, an area larger than all Italy, larger than Austria, more than twice as large as New York State, larger than the Transvaal, more than twice as large as Switzerland, Greece and Denmark put together, and nearly as large as Great Britain and Ireland. Defence op Our Rights. ? Nor must we forget what a struggle we had both in this I ^gis- lature and in the courts to secure and hold our own in this regard, and we all agree that our victory was mainly due to the astuteness, the legal skill and adroitness and the indomitable energy of Sir Oliver Mowat. And we have heretofore failed to appreciate, Sir, the i mmense value of the victory, inasmuch as the great wealth of the added territory is only .'now being partially disclosed. We were then contending, be it remembered, not for useless barren wastes, such as the swamps of Venezuela, but for a vast possesiion, the mineral wealth of which alone bids fair to make it one of the richest and choicest in the world. In 1871, we had in Ontario nineten cities and towns havins; a population of over 5,000 ; now we have 24. In the interval the framework of a new and larger Ontario, our promising Northland, has been step by step constructed. In 1872 all the settlement north of Harrie was scattered and the population sparse. Orillia was then a straggling village of 231 people. It is now a to\va of considerable promise, with a population exceeding 5,000. You look in vain in the census of 1871 for either Bracebridgeor Gravenhnrst, while the country north of these localities was then a wilderness known only to the hunter and the lumberman. Neither Port Arthur nor Fort William had then a corporate existence. Between them they now have an enterprising and energetic population of about G.OOO. We now rr'tard Sudbury, Sault Ste. Marie, Gore Bay, Manito waning. North L /, Little Ourrent, Kat Portage, Thessalon, Huntsville, not to speaik of several others, as centres of much promise. When Sir Oliver first took ofiice they were all of them for the most part unheard of and unknown. Since Confederation. Prior to Confederation we had only 1,447 miles of railway in this Province. We have built since Confederation 5,095 miles. The total mileage constructed and in operation in the Province at the present date is 6,542 miles. The Province has given very substantial financial aid to 1,977 miles of road, amounting in the aggregate to $6,449,864, Who can even pretend to estimate the varied results of this large expenditure, direct and indirect, as regards the prosperity of the Province and the timely development of its resources generally 1 In 1872 Ontario and Quebec together had only 2 716 post offices. Ontario alone has now 3,188. Last year in Ontario alone there were forwarded through these cffices 73,650,000 letters. The number for .22 Ontario and Quebec together in 1872 was only 25,500,000. The deposits in our banks during this period have incroased four times over, and the volume of fire and life insurance (I am now speaking of all Canada) has been multiplied approximately threefold and fivefold respectively. In 1872 we had 4,490 Public Schools, 5,222 Public School teachers, and 433,256 scholars a-tending them. In 1895 we had 5,660 Public Schools, 8,158 teachers, and 444778 scholars, or an increase of 1,170 schools, 2,936 teachers and 11,522 scholars. The Provincial grant to Public Schools in 1872 was 1212,991, while in 1895 it was $274,347, an increase of $51,366. The municipal grants and assessments for their support in 1872 amounted to $1,722,358, and in 1895 to $3,117,545, an increase of nearly a million and a half of dollars. The amount raised through local sources over and above these grants and assessments for their maintenance was in the former year 8526,111, and in the latter year more than double that amount, viz , $1,144,862. We had 25 more High Schools, 331 more High School teachers, and 16,694 more scholars attending them in 1895 than in 1872. The amount of Provincial aid to High Schools is now $100,000 a year or $21,000 more than it was in 1872. This grant, unlike the amount of annual aid to Public Schools, is stationary, and is not to be increased from year to year. The amount raised locally for High Schools was in 1895 $664,728, being more than four timas the amount thus raised in 1872. We did not establish Kindergarten schools until 1882. Now we have 90 Kindergarten schools, and 9,400 scholars attending them. The Ottawa Normal School was first opened in 1875, and since that year 3,370 teachers have been trained within its walls. We had no County Model Schools until 1877. Since that time they have given the professional training so long needed, and which still calls for improvement and extension, to 24,663 teachers. Higher Education. During these twenty-four years our higher institutions of learning also have broadened out and attracted to their halls a rapidly increas- ing roll call of students. These institutions, I need scarcely say, have done much to mould our history. In them have been trained thousands of our most successful High and Public School teachers. As was aptly said long ago, their high function conjointly with the Public Schools is here, as elsewhere, to make the people fittest to choose and the chosen fittest to govern. But I wish specially to speak of their expansion and growth during Sir Oliver's Pi^emiership. Take Toronto University for example. It had 70 mat/iculants in 1871 and 298 in 1895. Its graduates numbered 41 in 1871 and 376 in 1895. The total number of students in attendance was 244 in 1871 and G95 in 1895. There has been a similar steady growth in Queen's^ Victoria and the other sister institutions. Education in matters of agriculture, the vast importance of which we all recognize, has been systematically stimulated in every way possible, and especi- ally in recent years. Had this not been done earnestly and success- fully we must all admit that the stress of hard times would have been much more keenly felt throughout the Province. Our grants in aid of agriculture have been multiplied more than three and one-half times over since 1872. In that year our work was limited almost exclusively to votes in aid of the agricultural societies and similar associations, amounting in all to S73,577. Last year our total vote amounted to $192,000. In 1873 the College was opened at Guelph, involving an expenditure of $74,500. In 1877 $23,354 .vas spent for further buildings at Guelph and $17,366 for maintenance of the Col- lege, and again in 1880 $21,797 was spent for increased building accommodation, the cost of maintenance for the year having increased to $21,988. The important work, jo fruitful in good results, of the Agricultural Commission was commenced in 1880 and continued in 1881 and 1882 at a total cost of $89,875. The reports of thia Commission have been perhaps more eagerly sought for than any other reports ever printed by the Province. The Bureau of Industries was opened in 1882, and in 1885 the excellent work of Farmers' Institutes commenced. In 1888 we have a completely new departure, the wisdom of which after-events have more than justified. In that year the Department of Agriculture was created and a mem- ber of the Government placed at its head. This distinctively marks the commencement of a new era, and from this tiae a greatly increased interest has been manifested in the discussion and treat- ment of agricultural topics in thia House, in the Press and elsewhere. We spent $5,248 on Farmers' Inctitutes alone in 1889", and in the same year a further expenditure of $28,981 was incurred in connec- tion with the College buildings at Guelph. In 1890 we began to publish and distribute the reports of the Department on a large goale, and most useful information has in this was been widely dis- 24 . Beminated. We all know that these reports and bulletins, timely printed and opportunely circulated, are doing a valuable educational work. Encouraging Dairying. In 1891 dairy work was for the tirst time undertaken at Guelph, and the Travelling Dairy then commenced its useful operations. The Dairy School was opened the following year. We cannot possibly over estimate the great importar ^ of this branch of agricultural work to the Province, and we may well point with no small degree - of pride to the reputation our dairymen have won for themselves both at home and abroad. In 1892 was added 610,000 to our grant to Agricultural Societies, an increase of $100 a year for each Society. That the present Minister of Agriculture htxs intelligently and ener- getically prosecuted his allimportaut work no one pretends to ques- tion. Since 1895 a pioneer dairy farm has been pub in successful operation in Algoma. Dairy schools have been opened in Kingston and Strathroy, the School at Guelph has been widened and enlarged, the work of the Farmers' Institutes has been increased, systematic, careful instruction in fruit-spraying has been imparted and experi- mental fruit stations established. What cauntry, I want to know, has made a more determined, systematic, persistent or successful attempt to promote the varied interests of agriculture that this brief outline reveals 1 In 1872 we spent $81,612 for the promotion of agriculture, while last year we spent $192,042. I Public Institutions. Our public institutions have trebled in their work, value and importance since 1872. Indeed, some of the most important of them have been erected and opened for their work of charity and benevolence since that date. For example, the Asylum at Ham- ilton which now ^ rovides a comfortable home for nearly 1,000 patients, and which costs us oach year for maintenance alone $114,- 000, was first opened in 1876, It has, oJ course, since that date been from time to time enlarged. The Asylum at Mimico, with its main building and twelve cottages, erected at a cost of $571,000, maintained at a yearly charge of $72,000, and caring for 60O patients, was opened in 1890, and the Brockville Asylum, with its 300 patients, also bo 't after the cottage system, and costing $433,- 25 000, was first opened in 1894. We spent last year for maintenance on the Brock ville Asylum $18,700. The new Orillia Asylum cost the Province $503,000. It has now more than GOO inmates, and their yearly keep costs us $61,950. The Central Prison was opened in 1874, and the Mercer Reformatory in 1880. The buildings in» connection with these two institutions cost us $1,029,000, and they impose a yearly charge upon the funds of the Province of $84,000. In 187G in our pul)lic institutions 1,812 inmates were cared for. In 1896 the number had increased to 4,749. The cost of maintenance in 187G was $368,046, and in 1896 $796,590. These institutions are, we all agree, highly creditable to the Province. We can confi- dently invite comparison in this regard with older countries, even the richest and most favored. You will find elsewhere, it is true, buildings more costly and in an architectual sense more ornate and imposing ; you will find lavish expenditures for equi{»ment and fur-' nishings, and in the great majority of cases, the number of inmates and volume of work done being considered, a much larger staff of ofiijials enjoying a higher scale of remuneration than here; but nowhere, Sir, I venture to say, will you fin< Me unfoitunate classes of the community more comfortably housed, more humanely treated, or better cared for professionally or otherwise. We have a grave responsibility in this regard. We would not shirk it if we could. Humanity compels us to care as best we can for all our dependent insane. This is the first consideration. The cost of the service is serious, and it is growing, but that is a secondary consideration, and whatever it is or whatever it may become with increasing numbers to be cared for, we will keep in mind the oft-quDted saying tiat " Nations are never impoverished by the munificence of their charities." The Commissioners ia Lunacy for England and Wales in their last report state that the total number of officially-known lunatics, idiots and persons of unsound mind was more than 96,000, an increase of over 2,400 over the previous year, the largest yearly increase as yet recorded. More than nine-tenths of these were located in what they call pauper asylums. The total number of insane and idiotic in the United States^is given as about 202,000. Everywhere public preju- dice against asylums and asylum treatment seems to be dying out,, and this necessitates much ampler accommodation for the treatment 26 of defective classes. Hereditary influence is assigaed as the most potent factor in causing insanity. A very large percentage is attribut- able to intemperance in drink. In England this last-named cause is charged in the last report with more than 20 per cent, of the male and more than 8 per cent, of the female cases. In all asylums a considerable percentage of the inmates, say, 5 or 6 per cent , are merely old age patients. It is worth considering whether we could not in some way more economically than now care for those of our patients whose condition is that of senile decay and nothing more, hav- ing the sane regard, of course, us we now have fr their every comfort. New York State, following our example, now cares for all its indi- gent insane, save those of two counties, and these two counties are asking to be relieved of the charge. When these two counties turn in their insane to the care of the State its annual appropriations for maintaining its indigent insane will exceed in amount the appropri- ations for any other single department of State government. In eightet^ States of the Union indigent lunatics are cared for by the municipalities, among them Iowa, Illinoi?, Massachusetts, Michigan and New Jersey. In only seven or eight of the United States has the principle of State care been fully adopted, among them Ohio, Minnesota and California. In thirteen of the States the insane are cared for in part by the municipality and in part by the State. In the Province of Quebec the local municipalities assume half the burden of their maintenance, and in Nova Scotia the counties pay four fifths of the coat, the Province mak- ing a contribution of $il2, 000 a year. Our asylum population at the close of 1893 was 4,240. It reached 4,40G in 1894, 4,614 in 1895 and 4,723 in 189G, an increase o. ' 20 a year. Year by year since 1871 there has been a steady increase in our asylum population. It has more than trebled since 1871. The -daily average population has also ste^.dily increased. It was 4,709 last year. In 1871 it was only 1,366. The admissions last year numbered 198 Uss than those of the previous year. The number last year was 850, and the number the previous year was 1,048. During, the five years ending Sept. 30tb, 1895, the average annual number admitted was 924. The constitution itself under which we have enjoyed quiet and prosperity has been to a great extent settled and defined in Sir Oliver 27 Mowat'a time and largely through his individual, untiring and per- sonal efforts. To recall all th« matters of litigation which put to rest first one disputed point of jurisdiction and then another would take much more time than I have at my command. I must content my- self at present with this hurried summary, meagre and partial as it is, of the progress a . advancement, substantial, steady and continuous, which we have made during the long, brilliant and distinguished term of Sir Oliver's Premiership. Were he with us this afternoon, he would, I know, eagerly be the first to bear witness that in all that he has been thus permitted to accomplish for his Province during the last nineteen years he was at all times and on all occasions ably aided and seconded by his tried and trusted lieutenant, the present Premier and Attorney- General, who now leads this House. Intkrprovincial Arbitration. In the session of 1891 I announced to the House that arrangements, as the result of a conference, had been made for an arbitration concern- ing matters of account in dispute between the Provinces and the Do- minion, that our Attorney-General had introduced a Bill providing for an arbitration and that the Quebec Legislature had passed an Act containing similar provisions. On that occasion I outlined, very briefiy of course, some of the leading questions in dispute and referred to the various attempts which had been made from time to time for their adjustment. In 1894 I referred again to the subject ard alluded to the first award of the arbitrators, dated November, 1893, which inter alia in effect restored to the Province as an interest-bear- ing asset the sum of $2,848,289, being the amount of additional subsidy granted to us by 47 Victoria, chapter IV. This sum appeared as one of our assets in our financial statements for the year 1884 to 1888 inclusive. That it did not appear in subse juent state- ments was due to an agreement entered into between the Dominion and the Province in October, 1888. The terms of this agreement ment and the circumstances leading up to the decision of the arbi- trators which set it aside and restored to us the additional subsidy referred to I have already explained in my statement of 1891 In 1895 I very briefl7 continued my references to the proceedings of the arbitration, and last year I gave a hurried summary of them And specially referred to the second award, dated August 31st, 1894, 2a which deals with what we call the interest (juestion, involving a^ large sum of money ; to the appeal to the Supreme Court by the Dominion against certain provisions of the first award ; to the fact that this appeal had been argued in November, 1894, and that a judgment dismissing it was given in May, 1895 I also alluded to the claim of the Dominion, involving a very large sum of money, against the late Province of Canada, and the Province of Ontario as well, on behalf of the Ojibway Indians for arrears of annuities and for increased annuities alleged to be payable under the Robinson treaties of 18^0. The award dealing with these Indian claims was made in February, 1895. In eome respects it was very satisfactory to the Province. I reminded the House also that we appealed to the Supreme Court from parts of this award, viz.. paragraph six, which fastens the ultimate burden of payment of the increased annuities after the union upon Ontario alone, on the ground that the ceded territory became the property of Ontario under section 109 of the B. N. A. Act, and that it was subject to a trust for the Indians ; and also to that part of paragraph nine which says that any payments of increased annuities properly made by the Dominion since the union are to be charged against Ontario as of the dates of payment. Hon. gentlemen will remember that this appeal was argued in May, 1895, and the judgment in our favor sustaining the appeal was given in December, 1895, and that the Dominion obtained leave ta appeal against this judgment to her Majesty's Privy Council, and that the Province of Quebec became also a party to the appeal. These appeals came on for hearing at London, England, on the 11th and 12th days of last November, and judgment was given on the 9tii 6f December following, dismissing them and confirming the judg- ment of our Supreme Court, whereby Ontario is wholly exonerated as regards the claim by the Dominion to fasten sole liability upon this Province. In our behalf it has always been contended that if there were any liability it was » joint liability with Quebec. It is understood that the Dominion intends to formulate a new claio* against the two Provinces as jointly liable. ' The Common School Fu«d. Several very important decisions have been given in regard to the Common School Fund. It will be remembered that the Act of 1849 and an Order in Council in pursuance of it set apart 1,000,000 29 of acres of land in Upper Canada for the purposes of this Fand, and iurther provided that all moneys which would be received from the sale of the lands should be set apart so that when invested it would yield a revenue of $400,000 per annum. The land has nearly all been sold, and the total aggregate resulting, or to result, from the sale of the 1,000,000 acres will not produce this sum. Quebec claimed that Ontario should make up this deficiency, the amount being $1,452,000. This matter was argued in July, 1895, and a unanimous judgment given by the Arbitrators on February 5, 1896, disallowing the claim. Then Quebec claimed that the transfer of $124,G85 from the Common School Fund to the Upper Canada Improvement Fund was contrary to law. Ontario contended that the transfer was expressly authorized by the old Award of 1870, and was valid. On this point the majority of the Arbitrators have decided in favor of Ontario. The findings by the Award of February 6th, 189G, have been the subject of appeals to the Supreme Court by the Province of Quebec and also the Province of Ontario. The questions raised by these appeals are briefly as follows : — Quebec complains that the award of February 6th, 1896, which recognizes the validity of the Ontario claim to the Uppsr Cinada Improvement Fund, for collections prior to Confederation, as well as collections after, as awarded by the first Arbitrators on the 3rd of September, 1870, is invalid, because the Arbitrators of 1870 had no power, as •Quebec always claimed, to deal with the Upper Canada Improvement Fund in the manner provided hy the A\^ard of 1870, inasmuch as the Award was in that respect in excess of the powers given the first Arbitrators under the B. N. A. Act, and therefore wholly void. The complaint of Ontario against the Award of the 6th of February, 1896, arises thus : — That if the Award of 1870 is now open to review, because the Arbitrators then exceeded their powers, it is open to Ontario to contest the legality of the Award of 1870 in respect of the Common School Fund, on the ground that the object for which the lands, now of Ontario, were set apart in 1849 for the Common School purposes of the late Province of Canada came to an end in 1867, and therefore Quebec can have no interest in the Common School Fund or Common School lands. This appeal is now ready for ai-gament before the Supreme Court, and will be heard in due course. I also stated last yi ar that the accountants named by the Arbi- trators had under examination the validity and verification of the 80 items stated in the accounts of the late Province of Canada from 1867 to 1892. An estimate of the change effected in the account as a result of the accountants' report and the Arbitrators' Award of the 20th of June, 1896, on the several items referred to the Board, arising on the accountants' report, has been to alter the state of the Province of Canada account as it existed on the 1st of July, 1873, from a debit balance of $6,561.76, as it then stood, to a credit balance estimated at $187,984, besides making material gains in favor of the Provinces of Ontario and Quebeo on items entering the account after the 1st of July, 1873. These are the most important, but by no means all of the questions which the Arbitrators have thus far had before them. Assets and Liabilities. 1. Direct Invtstmcnta :— Drainsge, dtbentures invested 3l8t December, 1896.. $170,132 88 Tile, do do do . . 129,070 16 Drainage works— municipal amounts 90,183.31 $ 389,386 3* 2. Capital held and Debts due hy the Dominion to Ontario, hearing Interest :— U. C. Grammar School Fund (2 Vict. cap. 10) 8 312,769 04 U. C. Building Fund (18 sect.. Act 1854) 1,472,391 41 Land Improvement Fund (see award).. 124,635 18 The Capital under Act 1884 (award "93) $2,848,289 52 Less estimated balance due ' the Dominion ^ipOO.OOO 00 — 848,289 52 2,758,135 16 Common School Fund :— Collections by Dominion 1,620,9JU 24 Collections by Ontario, paid over to the , . Dominion in 1889 and 1890, after de- ' ducting Land Lnprovement Fund and 6 per cent, for collections 936,729 10 $2 457,079 34 Ontario's share according to population, 1891 1,441,882 90 » „ . „ , ^ 4,200,018 05 3. Bank Balances '. — Current Accounts 204,320 63 Special Accounts 22 600 00 ! 226,820 68 14,816,224 92 81 •* Liabilities of thi Province at present Payablb. 1. Balance due to MunicipalitieB re Surplut Dittribution 8 1,291 30 2. Land Improvement Fund ;— Balance due to mun'cipalities under 46 Vict. cap. 3, and 49 Vict. cap. 6 $3,2o6 57 Balance due to municipalities under 64 Vict. cap. 9. 2,771 64 0,028 21 3. Quchec's Share of Cnllcctiom by Ontario on Account of Common School Landt'in- 1S90DI-92-93-94 95-06 1— Collection on lands Bold betvveen the 11 ih June, 1863, and 6th March, 1861 $63,968 83 Less 6 per cent, coat of management 3,838 13 00.130 7a Less one-quarter for Land Improvement Fund 15 032 67 $45,098 03; Ck)llections on lands sold since 6th March, 1861 19,780 56 Lesi 6 per cent, cost of management. . . . 1,186 83 18,593 IS $03,691 76 Quebec's proportion according to population, 1891 20,324 77 Total 33,044 28 Surplus of assets after deducliag liabilities presently payable . . .$4,782,680 64 I need not dwell on the subject of our assets and liabilities. The schedules in the hands of hon. gentlemen fully explain them, consisting as they do of items with which we have been long fami< liar. We have less money invested in drainage debentures than we had a year ago. The receipts exceeded the investments. The items of capital, consisting of trust and other funds, do not vary from last year. I have already said that I might reduce the unascer- tained balance due the Dominion, which in the schedule is fixed at $2,000,000, by at least $250,000, but inasmuch as a final settlement is, let us hope, not far distant, I will leave it as stated last year, {^referring always to understate rather than overstate my case. We hao^at the close of the year to our credit in the Banks $226,820. Our cVi§dit balance at the beginning of the year was $437,580, and to the e:8^ent of the diflerence between these two sums we have dur- ing the year drawn upon our B»nk deposits. But we spent for public buildings alone in 1896 $208,000, so that we have in that- way, not to speak of other ways, substantially increased our assetsk. During the lifetime of this Parliatncnt, say, the years 1894, 1895 and 1896, we have spent on public buildings ^875,000, and to that large extent we have added to our permanent assets. We have, it is true, less money on hand, but we have these valuable buildings v,hich we imperatively needed, in its stead. We have larj»ely increased also, as I have already stated, our annual votes in aid to education, to agriculture, to hospitals and for the maintenance of our puMic institutions. We have as heretofore omitted from our statement of assets, inter alia, very valuable properties, such as blocks of land in the heart of this city, all our public buildings, and the unpaid balances on Grown lands. All these represent a sum of money at least three times as much as the present value of all our iuture railway liability. We have no other lia' '.lity, {)resent or future, save the small sum of $33,000 given in the schedule. Our direct interest-bearing investments, such as the drainage debentures we hold, our trust and other interest-bearing funds, with our credit Bank balance, amounted at the close of 1896 to .$4,816,000. Deduct- ing from this sum the $33,000 just alluded to, we have the large surplus of more than $4,782,000. (Applause.) ' Estimated Receipts, 1897. ^^^^'^^y $1,1%,H72 80 Interest on Capital held, and Debts due by the Dominion to Ontario $214,000 00 Interest on Investments 40,000 00 ■Crow7i Lands Department .— «254,000 00 Crown Lands $130,000 CO Clergy Lands 5,000 00 Comm< I School Landi 13 OOO 00 »<. Grammar School Lands 2 000 CO ,^ V Woods and Forests 7o 0,000 00 J^ubUc Institutions:-^ . ?900,COO CO Toronto Lunatic Asylum $42,000 00 I^on<^on " 18,000 00 Kingston •• 10,00000 Hamilton " 18,000 00 , ,1 M'm'co " 5,000 00 Brcckville " 2,000 00 ^""ia " 3,500 00 Reformatory for Females 2 400 00 " Boys 600 00 Central Piison 26,000 00 $127,500 00 33 , .. Estimated Receipts, 1897 —Continued. ' Education Department $65,000 00 Oanual Revenue 105,000 00 Succession Duties 175,000 00 Tavern and Brewers' Licenses 290,000 00 Law Stamps 70,000 00 Algoma Taxes 3,000 00 Assessments, Drainage Works 20,000 00 •* Insurance Oompanies 3,000 00 *♦ Removal of Patients 6,000 00 Totol 13,216,372 80 My estimate, as hon. gentlemen will notice, of the receipts of this year (1897) is $3,215,372. I am confident that the actual receipt will exceed my estimate. Such has been invariably the case in the past. The actual receipt for 1896 considerably exceeded the esti- mated receipt. I am safe in placing Crown lands at $900,000, and I have good reason to believe that the actual receipt in all the other important sources of revenue will more than make good my expec- tation. My estimate of the expenditure of this year is $3,516,068 This is only an estimate. We will, as hon. gentlemen well know, keep within this estimate. We spent last year, for example, $80,000 less than the House voted. We ask this year larger votes for Agriculture, for Education and for Maintenance of our Public Institutions. As the dependent insane in our care increase in num- ber, so must the cost of maintenance increase. We feel called upon to ask for several special votes, such as $6,000 for famine relief in India, $40,000 for st-itute consolidation (a work we undertake only once in ten years), $11,000 for colonization purposes, $10,000 for special surveys in raining districts, and $35,600 in aid of roads in mining districts. A Brioht Outloor. A word or two, Mr. Speoker, of a general character and I am done. It would seem, Sir, and we all rejoice because of it, that we are on the eve of better times, that the long period of depression, widespread and severe, is about spent, and that returning prosperity is at hand. I do not wish to be understood even to suggest that certain very important events which happened in this Dominion 3 last June of themselves led to this result. That kind of argament is to be heard much more frequently from hon. gentlemen opposite than from those who sit on the Speaker's right. We on this side of the House do not believe that prosperity can be summoned and grasped by the mere waving of a legislative wand. We do not believe in short cuts to the millennium through devices of legislation. How- ever this may be, Sir, we all believe that the steady and prudent development of our mineral resources would certainly prolong and hold a period of prosperity, should it come. Mineral Wealth of Ontario. We are no longer alone these days, though such was largely the case in the past, in believing that our mineral wealth h as varied and inexhaustible as it is rich. The work of development of the last year has attracted world-wide attention to our mineral fields. Everyone recognizes the fact that in the mines and mineral deposits of England reside the main sources of its industrial power. An Englishman thinks that by taking stock of the mineral resources and annual output and ratio of increase of the coal and iron raised in the kingdom, he can best form a correct idea of the probable course and term of its greatness as a commercial and industrial nation. His commercial rivals admit the truth of his reasoning, and place in the schedule of England's assets her coal and iron as very important funds of national capital. Under the Ontario Letters Patent Act, 29* mining companies were incorporated during last year. Only 24 such companies were incor- porated during the lour preceding years. Our production of gold bullion has increased rapidly. In 1893 it was 1,695 ounces, woioh $32,960; in 1894 it was 2,022 ounces, woith $32,776; in 1895 it was 3,030 ounces, worth $50,281, and in 1896 it was 7,154 ounces, worth $121,848. The product has been increased fourfold in amount and value in four yaars. Until the fall of 1895 only one mill of ten stamps was treating gold ores in this Province. Since then two mills of ten stamps each have been working regularly, and four others, with an aggregate of 45 stamps, at intervals, on ores of mines in process of development. A mill of twenty stamps at the Foley Mine, Seine River, was expected to commence work last week, and during the present year there is a good prospect for at least five ' 35 additional mills in the north- western and northern parts of the Pro- vince being built and completed, with an aggregate capacity of 95 stamps. Resides these, a mill for treating refractory gold ores by an entirely new process is nearly completed in Hastings County, which will have a capacity of 75 tots per day, the equivalent of a 40-8tamp mill. I have been speaking only of mines in actual operation. Out- side of these a great deal of developuient work has been done, which must soon lead to very important results. A Policy of Economy. To maintain a co. atant and vigorous check over all our expendi- tures, great and small, to avoid useless or wasteful outlay of every kind, is, wn all contend, a most important mr'''?r. To maintain the highest possible efficiency in every department of the public service, adequately and promptly to meet present wants and Judiciously to provide for future needs, is at the same time an equally important consideration. We have, therefore, a dual aim, a dual problem, so to speak, constantly before us if we are to deal in a wise and appreci- ative way with the finance} of the Province. That our critics in this House and out of it are not candid in their avowed desire to cur- tail expenditures I do not for a single moment contend. Nor do I wish to be undeistood even to suggest that they are unwilling loyally to sustain us in our firm and unalterable determination to provide adequately and in every possible way for the ceaselessly growing needs of a progressive Province. What I do say, however, is that in all their criticisms of our financial administration, if we keep this dual object in view, viz , closest economy and highest efliciency of service, they are invariably attempting to make bricks without straw. At any rate the supply of straw thus far on hand has been all too limited to admit of their being either seriously or profitably occupied for any considerable length of time. Nor do I say, Mr. Speaker, that their criticisms have not been at times of some assistance to the Government. I ask them, therefore, to allow me to remind them that any and all criticism which loses sight of the all-important fact that a constantly growing and progressive Province and a fixed and stationary expenditure are incompatible the one with the other, can neither be helpful to the Government nor of any public benefi ,. ■ '36 . ■ '■:'-'::>::■. I ask rather for suggestions pointing to a possible and practicable diminished expenditure which would in no sense cripple the efficiency of the public service, for suggestions which, even though they involve wholly new expenditures, would result beneficially to the Province either by developing its resources or otherwise, as well as for sugges tions which would aid the Government in maintaining on proper, reasonable and judicious lines and increasing as well, if possible, the receipts and the income of the Province, I hope that my friends opposite to me will admit that this is a lair and reasonable statement of the case. The regular stereotyped and time-honored routine of a Leader of the Opposition is of course to suggest that the Govern- ment of the day has in some way or another mismanaged public busi- ness. I ask my hon. friends opposite to rise above this routine. I do not by any means complain of their being critical. On the other ha::^, I ask them to be more than critical. I ask them to be suggestive as well as critical. A well-known Englishman said: *We English are not very careful about the outlay of money, provided we are sure that we get twenty shillings' worth for our pound." The idea thus neatly expressed is as true of Canada as it is of England. Fair Criticism Invited. I wish again to remind those who, in discussing our finances, dilate upon our increasing expenditure as well as upon our inelastic and almost stationary revenue, and delight to draw dolef uL conclusions as to our future, that this Province has expended in aid of railways alone $6,449,000, and for the erection of hospitals or asylums in which we provide the necessaries and some of the comforts of life for over 4,000 of our afflicted classes, $4,010,000, not to speak of other millions ex- pended here and there in promoting divers equally deserving objects. And I would ask them now to point to even one line of railway to which, having regard to the wide general public interest, we could have justly or prudently refused financial aid, or to name a public building which was erected unnecess8.rily or one day too soon. The public interest loudly and urgently called for these railway grants, and the cause of common humanity as well as the honor and good name of our fair Province inexorably demanded the erect ioQ ot the variouB buildings and inatitutions to which I have referied. Mere general, vague deolamation or oniicism, X tepeat, oounta for nothing. We have as beat we could cut our coat according to our cloth. It is a truism to say that we must look not only at the money we have to spend, but also at the needs we have to meet. Easy-going indifference to cost is, of course, to be deprecated, and it ia by no means a characteristic of the Liberal party. In what country, let me ask, enjoying progressive self-government, is it ever seriously argued that expenditures can remain stationary and the work of progrc-^.a and development be at the same time successfully proeecuted-J Only last year in England, and it was a phenomenally bright financial year for the nation, be it remembered, a Tory Chan- cellor of the Exchequer warned the House of Commons that if the present plainly manifest disposition to widen and enlarge public ser- vices were to continue, they would soon find themselves face to face with the alternative of either imposing new taxation or stopping that 1 .duction of the public debt which is the sheet-anchor of their credit with the world. He forcibly reminded the House that in the last twenty years their population had increased 19 per cent., that the yield of the four great heads of taxation, outside of income tax, had gone up by a less percentage, viz., by 16| per cent., that the yield o . a penny in the pound in the income tax had also increased, but that the rate of increase was only 15| per cent., while the expenditure m the same period, viz., 1876 to 1896, a time of peace, let us not forge., had r'«enby 68 per cent. Population had increased 19 per cent., yield of taxation, say, 17 per cent , and the national expenditure four times as much, viz., 68 per cent. If we are in this Province to con- tinue to enlarge the action and sphere of government, grant aid in all directions and increase it from year to year, assume new obligations from time to time- and such is the tendency in all countries-then the cost of administration must of a certainty proportionately mciease. The people of this Province, like the people of England, wdl not be content to stand still and n:ark time, but will insist that advance, progress and development shall be the guiding watchwords of their Administration. All oriticistn such as that to which I have been re- ferring is therefore valueless and of no effect. I move, Mr. Speaker, that jrou do now leave the Chair. APPENDIX. Statement shewing amounts payable annually for Certificates issued by the Treasurer of the Province of Ontario, for " Aid to Rail- ways " and " Annuities." Year. 1897. . . 1898... 1899 . . . 1900 ... 1901 . . . 1902 . . . 1903 . . . 1904 . . . 1905 . . . 1906 . . 1907 . . . 1908 ... 1909 . . . 1910 . . . 1911 . . . 1912 . . . 1913 . . . 1914 . . 1915 . . . lf/16 . . Forward Railway Aid Certificates . 150,050 72 121,537 72 107,105 33 101,032 32 69,226 91 53,069 31 44,601 63 44,186 34 44,186 .^4 44,186 34 44,186 34 44,186 34 44,186 34 44,186 34 44,186 34 44,186 34 44,186 34 44,186 34 44,186 34 44,186 34 1,221,046 36 Annuities. » c. 90,200 00 90,200 00 90,200 00 90.200 00 0,200 00 90,200 00 90,200 00 90,200 00 90,200 00 90,200 00 90,200 00 90,200 00 90,200 00 90,200 00 90,200 00 90,200 00 00,200 00 90,200 00 90,200 00 90,200 00 Year. Forioard . . 1917 1918 1919 1920 1921 1922 1923 "... 1924 1925 1926 1927 1928 1929 1930 1931 1932 1933 1934 1935 1936 1,804,000 00 I Totals. Railway Aid Certificates . Annuities. $ c. I $ 0. 1,221,046 .% 1,804,003 00 44,1C6 34 44,18(5 34 •i4,188 H4 44,186 34 44,186 34 44,186 .34 44,186 34 44,186 34 44,186 34 44,186 34 44,186 34 44,186 34 44,186 34 43,486 74 39,988 74 32,992 74 30,194 34 28,095 64 16,202 .34 10,163 81 1,996,593 03 90,200 00 90,200 00 90,200 00 90,200 00 90,200 00 90,200 00 90,200 00 83.500 00 69,800 00 56,650 00 44,250 00 38,000 00 38,009 00 38,000 00 31,000 00 20,000 00 16,000 00 16,000 00 12,000 00 4,000 00 2,902,600 00 NoTH. —Present value of Railway Certificates -(interest 2j^ per cent. half yearly) $1,402,.362 86 Present value of AnBuities— (interest 2j^ per cent, ha'f- yearly) $1,566,248 40 a H. SPROULE, Provincial Auditor.