CIHM Microfiche Series ({Monographs) ICI\/IH Collection de microfiches (monographies) Canadian Institute for Historical Microraproductions / Institut Canadian da microraproductions historiquas Tactinical and Bibliographic Notts / Notts techniquas et bibliographiquas Tha Instituta has attamptad to obuin tha bast original copy availabia for filming. Faaturas of this copy which may ba bibliographically uniqua, which may altar any of tha images in tha raproduction, or which may significantly change tha usual method of filming, are checked below. L'Institut a microfilm^ la mailleur exemplaire qu'il lui a M possible da se procurer. Les d^ails da cet exemplaire qui sont peut-4tre uniques du point da «ue bibliographique, qui pauirent modifier uim image reproduite. ou qui pcuvent exiger une modification dam la mithode normale de f ilmage sont indiqufa ci-dessous. D D D n n n Coloured covers/ Couverture de couleur Covers damaged/ Couverture endommagie Covers restored and/or laminated/ Couverture restaurie et/ou pelliculte Cover title missing/ Le titre de couverture manque Coloured maps/ Cartas gtegraphiques en couleur Coloured ink (i.e. other than blue or Mack)/ Encre de couleur (i.e. autre que bleue ou noire) Coloured plates and/or illustrations/ Planches et/ou illustrations en couleur Bound with other meterial/ Ralii avec d'autres documents Tight binding may cause shadows or distortion along interior margin/ La reliure serrfe peut causer de I'ombre ou de la distonion le long de la marge intirieure Blank leaves added during restoration mey appear within the text. Whenever possible, these have been omitted from filming/ II se peut que certalnes pages blanches aioutfes lors d'une restauration apparaissent dans la texte, mais, lorsque cela itait possible, ces pages n'ont pas at* filmies. Additional comments:/ Commentaires lupplementaires: □ Coloured pages/ Pages de couleur Pages damaged/ Pages endommagi a s □ Pages restored and/or laminated/ Pages restauries et/ou pelliculAes Pages discoloured, stained or foxed/ Pages dicolories. tadieties ou piquies iti'-J \Z1Z. detached/ Pages d^tachies I /j Showthrough/ \Y—1 Transparence □ Quality of Qualite in4 print varies/ legale de I'impression I I Continuous pagination/ D Pagination continue Includes index(es)/ Comprend un (des) index Title on header taken from: / Le titre de I'entCte provient: □ Title page of issue/ Page de titre de la llvraison □ Caption of issue/ Titre de dipart de la I : depart de la livraison I I Masthead/ Generique (periodiques) de la livraison This item is filmed at tha reduction ratio checked below/ Ce document est filmi au taux de rMuction indiqui ci-dessous. 10X 14X 18X 12X MX 20X 22X z 26 X XX 24 X 2tX 32 X Th« copy filmed h«r« has to the ganarosity of : baan raproducad thanks Arehivw of Ontario Toronto L'axamplaira filmi fut raproduit grica k la g*n4rosit4 da: ArchivM publiquM eta I'Ontario Toronto Tha imagas appaaring hara ara tha bast quality possibia eonsidaring tha condition and lagibility of tha original copy and in kaaping with tha filming contract spacificationa. Original copios in printad papar covars ara fiimad baginning with tha front covor and anding on tha last paga with a printad or iliustratad impraa- sion. or tha back covar whan appropriata. All othar original copias ara fiimad baginning on tha first paga with a printad or iliustratad impraa- sion, and anding on tha last paga with a printad or iliustratad imprassion. Las imagas suivantas ont At* raproduitas avac la plus grand soin. compta tanu da la condition at da la nattat* da l'axamplaira filmi. at an eonformit* avac las conditions du contrat da filmaga. Laa axamplairas originaux dont la couvsrtura an papiar ast imprimia sont filmAs an commancant par la pramiar plat at an tarminant soit par la darniira paga qui comporta una amprainta d'imprassion ou d'illustration, soit par la sacond plat, salon la cas. Tous las autras axamplairas originaux sont filmis an commanpant par la pramitra paga qui comporta una amprainta d'impraasion ou d'illustration at an tarminant par la darniAra paga qui comporta una talla amprainta. Tha iaat racordad frama on aach microficha shall contain tha symbol —^ (maaning "CON- TINUED"), or tha symbol V (maaning "END"), whichavar appliaa. Un das symbolas suivants spparaitra sur la darni*ra imaga da chaqua microficha. talon la cas: la symbols ^•^' signifia "A SUIVRE", la symbols ▼ signifia "FIN". Maps, platas. charts, ate, may ba fiimad at diffarant reduction ratios. Thosa too larga to ba antiraly included in ona axposura ara fiimad baginning in tha uppar laft hand corner, left to right and top to bottom, as many frames as required. The following diagrams illustrate the method: Lea cartas, planches, tableaux, etc., peuvent itre filmte i des taux da riduction diffArents. Lorsqua le document est trop grand pour itra reproduit en un seul clich*, il est film* A partir da Tangle supirieur gauche, de gauche A droita. at da haut an bas. an prenant la nombra d'imagas nAcessaira. Las diagrammes suivants illustrant ia mAthoda. 1 2 3 1 2 3 4 5 6 1.0 I.I S as, 120 1.8 MICROCOPY RESOLUTION TEST CHART NATIONAL BUREAU OF STANDARDS STANDARD REFERENCE MATERIAL 1010a (ANSI and ISO TEST CHART No. 2) 7?o'A ^Tv^ ^ ji » BY THE HON. Q. W. ROSS TO THE ELECTORS In the Pending Bye-elections. Mi^^-.^ — Ab it is necessary to hold bye-elections at a period of the year when, owing to the usual condition of the weather, it is difficult for the electors to attend public meetings, and as it might be impossible either for myself or any of my colleagues to meet as many of the electors as we would like, I take thin method of addressing the electors in the Constituencies recently opened by the Courts. THE fiENERAL ELECTION At the General Election, which took p7ace on the 29th of May, the Government, accordirg to the official reports of the Returning Officers, carried 50 seats and the Opposition 48. The returns should really have been 51 seats for the Govern- ment and 47 for the Opposition, as the Judges at the tria; of tha petition in North Perth struck oft' one of Mr. Monteithi's votes on account of personation, and added to the vote of Mr. Brown, the Govemraent candidate, a tdndered ballot which could not have been counted by the C^aputy Returning officer. I e^lmit this majority was less than I expected, and were it not for the over-confidence that prevailed in a few constituencies, a good deal less than I would have obtained. OPrOSITION TACTICS I need not remind you that the Opposition, daring tho Election, did not attempt to discuss the policy of the Govern- ment or present an alternative policy. While the leaders of the Party were attempting to discredit the Government by a subtle criticism of some minor detail of QovemmeDt Measures, b .j*f>«^»^. whioh really did not affect their validity at all, their candidates in the different oonatitaeneieB were appealing to the electors on the groond that the Qoyemment was too long in power; that they would do as well for the country as the Liberal Party had been doii^, and perhaps better ; that it wonld be a great advan- tage to toe Party at Ottawa if the Opposition were in power here ; that the Government was not as efficient as we claimad it was ; that there was nothing to lear from a change and so on. In many cases, some local issue or the personal relationship of the candidate to the constituency, mrnicipal or otherwise, took the place of political issues. This with the cry of universal corruption everywhere, except among themselves, and of exag- gerated and untruthful statements as to irregularities that were alleged to have taken place in a few places, made up the impov- erished story of the campaign. COKBVPT PBACTICBS One would readily suppose from the vehemence with which the leaders of the Opposition denounce corrupt practicesHihat their Party had never lent itself, through any of its members or agents, in any corrupt way or s any time, to influence the electors. I do nc^ propose to pleat uhe offences of my opponents in justification of what may have happened within my own Party; I shall not, however, allow my opponents to shelter themselves behind a mask of political virtue to which thejr have no claim. "The evidence given in the Election Courts within the last few weeks proves that the agents of the Opposition did not pay the highest respect to the laws aj^nst illegal practices at elections, and I warn the electors against the deceit which is being practised by the Opposition in this respect. THE LAST ELECTION Previous iio the last election, Mr. Whitney advised his fol- lowers to appoint committees of able-bodied men to guard the polls and to watch the Deputy Returning Officers and others lest poll books should be tampered with and the election law placed at defiance by personators and heelers, etc., eta Well, the elec- tions have passed over and what has he to show by way of proof that there was any foundation for such outcry. Not a single case of corrupt practices, not a single suspicion of any irregularity, except in one case, and that was only a suspicion, declared by a Judge of the Court of Appeal to be unwarranted. A brief survey of the election machinery is the best way of showing how admirably and fairly the election has been con- ducted: (1) The writs for a General Election pass through the hands of 98 Returning Officers, with an equal number of election f\ "-*J|(W*» ■' Deputy Retnro the Liberal Fa^ them, except i St. Yincent in t clerks anl oonaUblee — total 294. Eaeh Ratnnung Officer haa to hold a puUie nomination of candidates for the riding. No complaint nae been made nor has there been a saq)ieion expressed chat one of the 98 Retominfi; Officers or their assistants imdaly favored the Government candidate to the slightest extent (2) The ballot boxes passed through the hands of 4,191 Deputy Returning Officers, with an equal number of p
were fint counted, no marks, except the ordinary cross used by the elector in indicating his vote, was noticed upon any of the ballots and they were accordingly counted for the respective candidates. When the full returns were received for the riding and the vote summed up Mr. MacKay was found to have a majority of nine. Believing t at this majority could be increas- ed, if the ballots were properly counted, Mr. MacKay called for a recount, which was held by Judge Morrison. Onuie recount, the ballots for this polling sub-division psieed the Judge's hands without his discovering any other mark upon them than the ordinary cross. Mr. Watson, counsel for' Mr. MaoEay, on ex- .&* amining them more closely, found two ballots marked for Boyd with a distinct croM opposite hia name, and a small obscure cross oppor \« MacKay's name in addition, and Mr. Da Vemet, coonael for Mr. Boyd, found two others similarly marked. On completing the examination the County Judge reported Mr. MaoKay wected Trith a majority of live. Against this, &pp^ was taken to Mr. Justice Madennan, of the Court of Appeal, who examined the ballots at Osgoode Hall in the presence of the representatives of both partiea The result of his examination was to give Mr. MacKay a majority of five, treating the four ballots thus marked as spoiled ballots, out even counting the so-called spoiled ballots for Mr. Boyd, Mr. MacKay would still have a majoritj of one. On the conclusion of the examination at Osgoode Hall, Mr. Justice Maclennan is reported as follows : — JWSTICE HACLEinrAII'S OPINION. " I am unable," said Mr. Justice Maclennan with great re- spect, "to agree with the learned Judge that there is any evidence that the MacKay crosses were made after the count at the close of the poll I think they were simply not observed in the hurry of counting, while the crosses for Boyd being conspicuous, caused them to be at once counted for him. The same thing exactly seems to have occurred on the recount, when the Judge, without observing the two crosses, handed all four ballots as Boyd ballots to Mr. MacKay's agent for examination, when two of thena escaped the notice of the agent also, and were not discovered until after the second examination by the agent of Mr. Boyd. Vnder these circumstances it appears to me that there is hardly room even for a suspicion that the marks complained of were made after the counting of the votes." If the opinion of a Justice of the Co\ti$ of Appeal, whose impartiality was never questioned, is of any use, then the con- tention of the Opposition that the ballots in North Grey were tampered with, faila ELECTION TRIAL— NORTH «KEY Further proof that the Opposition had no confidence in the charge that the ballots were tampered with was furnished at the Election trial, which took place on the 4th of November last, when it was proven that the conveyance of certain voters, on the day before the election, from Meaford to Owen Sound, where they were to vote, was paid for by an elector whose agency was admitted, and as this was an illegal act the election was accord- ingly voided. If the Opposition had any faith in the charge i£at the ballots were really tampered with, as they alleged daring the summer, why did the^ not proceed with the examina- tion iMfore the judges to estabhsh that charge ? Bat knowing that it was without foundation, and that it could not be 8a»- tained by any evidence that could be brought into court — evi- dence which they no doubt had sifted in the meantime — they abandoned the charge, as they abandoned all other ohrrges mad* against Mr. MacEay and the Liberal Party, except the one on which ha was unseated. It appears, therefore, that in the case of the only Liberal unseated so far there were no corrupt prac- tices proven nor any irregularity, except the payment for the conveyance of voters, which, by s«Atute, is an illegal, not a cor- rupt, act. Indeed, so hopeless was their case in North Qrey that not p single witness was put upon the stand to give evidence of corru^ 'on, and we are therefore obliged, even on their own showing, to assume that t! ey had no evidence to produce. WHITNEY'S FALSE ALABH In the Mail of the 18th July, }\r. Whitney is reported as having said at a Conservative gathering in North York : "He was in possession of information to show that in the ninety-eight ridings in this Province, an organized attempt had been made to steal one at least and sometimes two of the ballots in each sub-division in the respective constituencies. This was the reason that the returning officers had experienced SMch diffi- culty in summing up the results." Well, it is barely possible that so.^ e hysterical organizers in the Conservative interest had conveyed to Mn Whitney informa- tion such as he alleges to have had. Sut no / that the elections are over and no evidence of the truth of this statement haa been given,. I expect Mr. Whitney at the earliest moment to say thah he was misinformed, otherwise his statements will have to be regarded as slanderous beyond precedent. He has already had ample proof that in no case were the ballots tampered with in constitu<«ncies where recounts were made, and so far from pro- ceeding against the party in all the constituencies, as his threat implied, when put to the test his supporters and agents had the courage to investigate the ballots in only fourteen constituencies. KECOVNTS AND HOW THET ENDED The following statement shows the constituencies and the number of ballots cast where recounts were made by the county judge:— Bruce, South 3,800 ballots cast Middlesex, East 4,936 " " Lennox 3,129 " Norfolk, South 8,371 6 • Htwtiiun, 'Stmt 4,970 ballots OMt GreyTNorth 6^6 " Welland 8.590 " " Perth, North 6.581 " Hdton ♦.714 " « Hnron, West 4,895 « Simcoe, Centre 3,670 " Wentworth. North 2,772 " Prince Edward 4.430 " Muakoka 4,092 " " Total 62,805 " At no previous elections, either for the Legislature or the House of Commons, were the ballots in so many constituencies examined before a county judge. If the Liberal had intended to take undue advaD^ *ge of their control of the ballot-boxes, or if they were tainted with corruption, as Mr. Whitney alleges they are, surely in the scrutiny of 62,305 ballots, some proof of their evil purposes would have been found. No party ever passed through an election with a cleaner record. In Halton the judge expressed his surprise at the icicuracy and intelligence shown m marking the ballots. Other judges used :n89rvative Party never made the slightest movement to bring to justice any of the persons guilty m these irregularities. HBHBBBS VNSEATBA At the Conservative Convention held in Toronto, as reported in the Mail cf September 11th, Mr. Whitney said : — " I do not believe they will unseat one of our men wl o have been elected. I am bound to eay that if they do succeed at ull it will be>to the extent of one only." Mr. V7hitney should take to heart the saying o^ '. ) AmericEi humorist— " Never prophesy aless you know." So far from being unable to unseat one man, the Courts have already unseated two Conservatives (and there are probably more to follow) and only one Liberal. In North Perth the seat was vacated on a scrutiny of the vote. The majority reported by the Returning Officer for the Conservauve Party was two. On a scrutiny of the vote, it was found that one Fraser personated an elector of the same name and in this way voted for the Conservative candidate. It was also shown that a tendered ballot, which could not have been counted by the Depaty Returning Officer, contained a good ^ote for the Liberal candidatb. The changiuflr of these two votes made the result a tie and the Judses accordingly declared the seat vacant without proceeding furtner with the scrutiny. The irregitlarity shown in this case was personation by a Conserva- tive elector. In North Norfolk it was shown that five voters had received trapsportation in order to vote for the Conservative candidate, Dr. Snider. As the majority in this case was only twenty-six, the Judges deemed the act sufficient to void the election. To pay for transportation is an illegal act and exposes the oflending party to a penalty of $100. In ported, •ay. East Middlesex the Judges have not yet re- What their decision nuy ultimately be, I am unable to ■ n 8 I^ North Qrey, the Liberal Member-elect was unseated because an agent paid for the> transportation of voters from Meaford to Owen ^und the d^ before the election. The case is in law similar to the North Norfolk case, and the offending party is liable to a penalty. Th<> Election Court has not, therefore disclosed any corrupt practices whatsoever on the part of any Liberal candidate, and only one case of personation on the part of the Conservative candidates. In the examination of the candidates prior to the election trial, however, certain important facts were brought out which are somewhat significant. DK. SNIDER— NORTH NORFOLK In the case of Dr. Snider of North Norfolk, we have his own testimony, taken under oath by the Court examiner in Toronto, that he received $500 from a Central Fund, the cheque being signed by E. B. Ryekman and endorsed by E. B. Osier. It wotda appear, that Mr. Ryekman was the Treasurer of some fund and tnat Mr. E. B. Osier, Member of Parliament for one of the Divi- sions of Toronto, was aware of such a fund. Dr. Snider swore, however, that he did not spend all the money placed at his dis- posal. BOTD-NORTH GREY Mr. Boyd, the elected candidate in North Grey, in his sworn testimony taken before the election trial, stated that he received $700 from Mr. Ryekman. CAR8CALLEN— LENNOX Mr. Carscallen, the Conservative Member-elect for Lennox, in his sworn testimony also stated that he received S500 from the Central Fund and $100 from his cousin, the member for the House of Commons for North Hastings, and another $100 from Uriah Wilson, the member of the House of Commons for Lennox. LENNOX— NORTH YORK Mr. Lennox, the Conservative candidate in North York, swore that he, too, received $500 from the Central Fund for election expenses, which he admitted to have spent. Here, then, we have, on the sworn testimony of four Con- servative candidates, evidence of a Central Fund, or what Mr. Whitney would call a Reptile Fund for election pur- poses. Who contributed to this fund ? Was it the corpor- ations that Mr. Whitney said he would relieve from taxation if he were returned to power, or was it the promoter of some enterprise to which assistance might be granted if the Opposi- MHH :s- tion carried the elections ? The sum of $500 for each constit- nency would mean about $50,000 for the whole Province, assuming that this amount of money was equally distributed. Mr. Boyd, however, said that he received $700. What was the limit ? Did larger sums go into closer constituencies ? Did the candidates receiving this money apply part of it to their own use, Hs Mr. Carscallen and Dr. Snider swore they did? What was done with the unaccounted balance — will Mr. Whitney explain ? Did the other members of the Executive Committee, of which Mr. Ryckman appears to have been the Treasurer, know of this expenditure ? We were to have extraordinary re'*-'ationH of the corrupt practices of the Liberal Party, and instead of that, we have been furnished with extraordinary revelations of the doings of the Conservative Party. Mr. Whitney has denounced the Govern- ment for having robbed him of seats by corrupt and illegal practices, and now he and his Party have been caught red- handed in robbing the Liberals of two seats, with others to be heard from, which, rightly belong to us. It is for the electors to say how such shameless conduct should be treated. SOUTH OXFORD In South Oxford and Lennox the Conservative members- elect hold their seats. The judges differed in regard to some of the evidence. One of the judges would have gone so far as to disqualify them both for personal bribery. Until the judgment of the Court of Appeal is obtained it cannot be said whether or not these ridings will be opened. It also appears that improper methods were adopted for obtaining evidence in regard to some of the charges in South Oxford. Progress Since the General Election At the General Election held on the 29th May, the reeg^ of the Liberal Party daring the past thirty years waa discussed and explained as fully as circumstances would permit In these discussions it was shown that the administration of every de- partment of the public service was progressive, efficient and economical It was also shown that the Attorney-Qeneral's De- partment, under three successive Attorneys-General, had protect- ed the interests of the Province against wanton attacks made by the Dominion Government, and were it not for that defence, what is now known as New Ontario would have passed from i"ider the jurisdiction of the Province. Since the General Elections of May last three cases have been decided by the Privy Council in favor of the Province, which shows the continued vigilance of the Attorney-General's Department over the inter- ests of the Province. The first of these referred to the COMMON SCHOOL FVNDS Under the Confederation Act, the Province of Ontario is re- quired to pay into the Dominion Treasury, in trust for its own use and for the use of the Province of Quebec, all moneys col- lected from the sale of what are known as Common School Lands; that is, of lands set apart by the old Parliament of Canada as the basis of a fund lor the maintenance of common schools in the two Provinces of Ontario and Quebec, then united under one Legislative Assembly. The Province of Quebec held that the unpaid balances on the sale of these lands should at once be placed in the hands of the Dominion Government To this Ontario objected, on the ground that the Province was not liable for this money until after it was actually collected. The amount involved was $485,000, of which two-fifths properly be- longed to Quebec and the remainder to Ontario. If the conten- tion of Quebec was held valid, the Treasury of Ontario would be required to advance this money. This view was resisted by the Government and carried before the Privy Council, the Attorney- General of the Province, the Hon. Mr. Gibson, being present at the argument Judgment was given on 12th November in favor of the Province, thus rendering the payment of this money un- necessarv until it is actually collected from the sale of the land. A less vigilant Government might have allowed the case to go by default The second case is known as '1^'^ i\^ 11 TUS 8BTBOI«B CASK This ease arose oat of the contention by the Ontario Mining Ca, that a lease for the sale of mining lancu in the Thunder Bay District, in regard to which the Indian title was not extinguish- ed, should be issued by the Domini