Eee ee

denomination, Intion would meet the views of the hon momber for Strathalbyn whose enlightens ed remarks Le hud Loan glad to hear, and who-e mind would, he hoped, he. still further enlizgha,ned before the present di cussion was © oncluded, so that he might see that the resolution contained nothing but what was just and liberal All that was asked was that in schoo!s where the chil ren were all of one denomination. they should hive such religious instruction as their parents or guardians required. Was there anything unjust ia this? The statu ties of the Island toa certain exent auth. oriaed religions instruction in public schools. This wasthe Statute

“The mtroduction of the Bible to be read in all the public schools in this Is-

re

land of any grade receiving support from |

the public Treasury, is hereby authorized, and the teachers are hereby required to Open the school, each day, with the read- ing of the sacreé Scriptures, by those child. ren whose parents or guardians desire it without comment, explanation or remark

thereupon by the teachers, but no children |

shali be required to attend during such reading, as aforesaid, unless desired by the parents or guardians."’

This authorized the reading of the litle in the public schools. He did not think that the hon. member for Strathalbyn would consider the demand o! the resolution a grievance, for his constituents, if they were sound in their religious views, as be (Mr. Sullivan) believed they were, could, if they thought proper have the Bible read in their schools, and such form of prayer used by the teacher as they wished. ail the children attending any school were ef the same religious opinions as the hon. member for Strathalbyn, would their pa- rents consider it » grievance if they were

itted to have such form of prayer as |

they thought proper? This was all that was sought for by the resolution. In mix- ed communities the resolution did not

seek to have religions instruction in the |

public schools. The hon member for Strathalbya would see, when he considered

He hoped that the reso- |

eredit and an ornament to the city. In Pownal Street school, and in the Convent on Hillsborough Square females were edu- eated; at St. Patrick school males were taught, and the attendance at these insti tutions aggregated about 50 I ose child. ren had been, by the Bishop and the Ro- man Catholic population, taken off the streets and placed in these schools, which were furnished and provided with every~ thing requisite for first cass educational Nnstitutions, at no expense to the State. Ihe demand pow made that these schools should receive the same allowance from the State that other schools received. | No grant was asked on account of the reli- gious instruction only for the secular edu- cation. There was nothing unfair in this. if the Bishop, with the utmost charity and liberality, had taken 500 children off the | streets, and placed them in large and com- modious schools, why shoud he not re ceive for their secular education the same rate that was patd for schools which were pronounced a disgrace to the city by the Visitor of schools? Would any hon. mem- ber take upon himself to ignore these rights, which no man would deny, were | just and fair? {It was in the recollection of { hon. members, that before the school over | the way, (St. Patrick School) had been ess | | tabliched there was a school the majority | of the children attending which were Roman | Catholics, and which was taught by Mr. | Roche, and in connection with avhicl there | | was a female school. These schools, which had been abolished about five years ago, | had cost the country about £200 per an» jnum. For five years this expense had | | been saved, making a saving to the State ,of £1000. Would there be any injustice jin placing that sum at the disposal of the | | Bishop, to remunerate him in part for the | | expense to which he had been put. Lle | (Mr. Sullivan) did not know that anything | | which could be said would induce hon. }members to change their minds, which | were probably pretty well made up on both sides of the House. Simple justice only | was asked. [t might now be denied, but the

was

‘time would come when justice would be |

| dune. be

| and recieved state aid as others did.

ERIE TTT

(Mr. Stewart) had said that the Presbyteri- ans were also making a move in the same direction. schoels were satisfuctory? This was the strongest proof that the system, so far as the City was concerned did not work well, and it was necessary for the religious bodies to

establish schools after their own heart. We had been sometimes referred to the system of edueation which was ia force in the

United States ; after which, he believed our

system had been modelled by Mr Coles; |

but many complaints were made by eminent men of the manner in which the system had worked there. for the benefit of the hon. Strathalbyn the opinion of an eminent Pro-

testant gentleman, Principa! Elliot, of Hars |

vard College. He did not agree with all that gentleman's opinions, but with those on the subject under coo-ideration he did. Prin- cipal Elliot said :

“ Religion is the supreme human interest, government ts the supreme human organ-

| ization, therefore gove:nment ought to take

care of religion, and a christian government

should maintain distictively christian reli- | This is not theory alone, |

gious institutions. it is the practice of all christendom, except in America and Switzerland.”

The learned Principal was thus firmly of

opinion that it was of the utmost import

ance to impart religious education in schools. The system in forve in the United States was the same as ours, but it had been

| found to work so badly in the city of New

York that they had been compelled, so he learned by reports, to make an exception in order to save the youth of the city, and religious instruction was there permitted in the schools. Why should the Protestant majority here refuse to grant whit was grant- edtin Prus-ia,in Switzerland,in Great Britain, in Ontario? {In Prussia the Jews even were permitted t ,teach their peculiar doctrines

He

Why was this done if the public |

He would quote | member for |

a ert

MEN AT OTTAWA.

Iv is greatly to be deplored that the electors of this Island, under the mis- guided patronage of his Lordship Bishop | MeIntyre, should have made such a grand mistake in the selection of their repre ‘sentatives to the Dominion Parliament.

We have good men in the Senate, but powerless to originate such

they are measures as are required by the exigen cies of this Province to save it from the | degrading position which the Bishop's nominees are likely to entail upon it.

The appointment of person thoroughly unfitted by position, manners,

a so

experience and business qualifications as

Mr. Laird, to fill such a responsible posi- ‘tion as that of Cabinet Minister, is, in- | deed, one of the greatest misfortunes that could have befallen this Island,

Once seated in power, with a large majority at his back, Mr. Mackenzie would doubtiess retain a lively remem— brance of the méans by which he had accomplished his object, and naturally conclude that a person who had contrived to be introduced to the Legislative Cham- ber of the Dominion by, and leaning on, the arm of, a distinguished chief, and on ‘the next day betraying him for a pecun- | iary consideration, was not a porson to be | trusted; and fearing lest he, too. might | some day be made the subject of a simi-

THE TARIFF.

Fortunately, the awoke to the critical position of their af- fairs, and the most incapable and unprin-

people of this Island

Tur tariff which Mr. Cartwright at- cipled Government that ever disgraced | tempted to foist upon the Dominion, was,

: in some respects, so very unfair, that this or any other country Was, after e even pe ee cia pill months’ trial, ignominiously dismissed. | the Geverument — om : r lhis brief and inglorious period includes | justify it. The on admitted t at the sll the parliamentary experience of the people of the Lower Provinces had great official life of the Minister of the Interior. reason to complain of the tax imposed

Driven from power in the Local Goy- upon shipbuilding materials. No taxa- tion could be imposed whici: would be so

ernment, he next tried what intrigue | exceptionally unfair to the Maritime Pro

through the Bishop of Charlottetown | would do. The Bishop, although an | vinces as this tax upon shipbuilding ma- amiable map, who hus done much to pro- | terials and outfits, beeause the sea-going mote education within his own circle,| ships are nearly all built in these Pro- unfortunately, it is alleged, has suffered | vinces, These ships are built principally himself to be influenced by several mis~| for sale in the mother country, The guided laymen and their strong—minded tariff imposed a tax equivalent to one dol- wives, and the result was that Laird, Sin- lar per ton on the cost of the ship, and clair, Davies and Yeo, (four of the most | although those vessels will be sold in the uacompromising opponents of the Roman | very market from which the iron, and all Catholic claims io former times) and | other duty paying materials have beea Perry and the Bishop’s nephew, were re- | imported, no drawback was to be allowed cegnized by the general voice of the coun-| on these materials, and the duty paid try as His Lordship’s nominees,—Mac- | would thus become a dead Joss to the ex- Kenzie having duped the Bishop into «| porter or builder. It is evident that the beliet that he would override the author- shipbuilding interests would have to suf- ity of the Local Parliament by Dominion | fer severely had the obnoxious duty been legislation in favor of the Catholic claims continued, There is no branch of com- on the School Question. Howlan and merce or manufactures in the Provinces Austin McDona'd, both Roman Catholics, which benefits such a large class of people —two of the most capable members who as this business does.

offered,—were denounced from the altar, Mr. Cartwright attempted to justify his and the Bishop’s threats to unmake every three millions of additional taxation, by

agreed with thohon. member for Tignish | j4y negotiation, no doubt sagaciously con-

| that the change asked for was intended to | | benetit the poor. ‘those who had means | | could send their children where they pleas- | ed, and beside, the poor,not having reciev-~ |

cluded to ignore the influence of this in- cubus his Government; and by treating the interests of this Islaud with

ou

: Th uestio i as we the question, that no injustice was asked. Ss oon Mages aa. wail

The other part of the resolution set forth that such persons could, in certain cases, be employed as teachers as should produce to the Board of Education satisfactory cer

grappled first as last, for it was impossible | that the present state of educational matters | could continue long.

. --,. | concerned. A biil had been passed which tifieates from some colleze, or other insti- | would, he hoped, settle it forever. fle did

tuions of learning - Europe bayonet | not think it too much to ask that hon. mem, This, he presumed, was intended to apply | ».7, should sink differences tor a time, and

more particularly to the city. Several |p... un this au co . 2 sebools had been established here by the, p this question and set it at rest.

The land question | | had been settled so fur as this House was |

ed the advantages of education themselves, f : did not take so much much interest in edu~ | neglect and contempt, induce Mr. Laird

cation, were somewhat careless in that | go resign. If such was bis expectation,

|

respect. He did not think, when wis 1 a [the state was paying a large sum | Mr. Mackenzie will be disappointed. 'for education, that the poor people; The man who, as a just punishment for

should be prevented from receiving a certain | i. untruthful statements, and slander of portion even it it went to schools in which | ~~ : : religious education was imparted. As he | private character, has bad publicly in-

| would have another opportunity of speaks (flicted on him in this community the

Bishop, in which secular education fof a} highly satisfactory character was imparted, |

and where religious instruction was also imparted. that the State had no right to prescribe the religious instruction which should be im, parted to the rising generation. Such was not sought by the resolution. All that the Roman Catholic people asked was that tha State should pay for secular education in the schools. In those schools, where re ligious education was imparted, secular in. struction wis also given. |t was only ask~ | ed that the Government py for the secular | education which was afforded, and if pro- | 9 ignore the religious instruction entirely. t was not inconsistent with the duty of | the State when it took upon itself the} important duty of paying for education | to pay for secular education though i imstruction was given in the} same schools. fie trusted that this ex- | planation would be satisfactory to the hon. | member for Strathalbyn. The question had | been asked why had the Bishop established | his schoo's in this city—had we not here the | same free school system as in the country— did it not give general satisfaction—was it |

|

;

'

not a great and glorious system —was it not | the system established by the Liberal party, | and why ignore it? There was very great | reason for ignoring it. He would ask the | hon. member for Strathalbyn ‘o take up the | report of the visitors of schools for Queen's | County, and he would find that the schools | of the city were a di-grace to the colony. | No one knew this fact better than the hon. | member for Strathsibyn. 1 was not to be | r onderesd at that the Bishop being respon- | s:b.e for the education of those under his | esre wished to have them educated in other | imstitutions than the common schools of | this city. Heasked the hon. member to | bear with him while he brought to his notice | the School Vi.itors Report for ihe past year.

Speaking of the city schools the Visitor | ssid :-—

“The decrease, the past two years, in the number enrolled at the ‘ City Schools’ is $2. Instead of progressing they are re- trogreding, with a few honorable exceptions. The school-room accommodation is no better than itwas yearsago Were details to be given,they would be a mere repetition of my presented to your Board in April IST1, without any improvement to note, except iu the rooms in Kings Square, occupied by Miss Lawson and \ias Scantel- bury, one above and the other below stairs. They are comparatively comfortable. In Miss Lawson's room, however, there is a deficiency of light. The schools in the Temperance Hall and DesHrisays lane, should be closed immediately unless decent outride conveniencies be provided at once. The Pownal (city) school has been re-open- edina room in Sydney Street. It seems hard that the teacher of this «choo! shoud be obliged to find the desks seats, maps and blackboards, at his own expense.”

The Visitor next set forth the low ebb to | which the city «chools had fallen.

‘The very low ebb to which the common | achools of Charlottetown have fallen ought | w be cause of alarm to al who take any

He entirely agreed with the | hon. member for Strathalbyn, when he said |

| ions were rampant, all the domestic ties

| tended for was that the truths in the

It had been said by the hon. member for | Strathalbyn —who was the only Protestant | who had yet spoken, and to whose speech | he was therefore compelled to mase the most frequent reference—that there was a great difference of opinion among Protes tants regarding the desirability of impart | ing religious education in schools. He | would bring to the notice of that hon. member some utterances of very distin- guished Protestants on this subject. The tirst which he would quote was a resolution moved by the Earl of Shaftesbury, one of | the foremost Protestants of England, at a meeting held in London on the 6th Novem- ber last. The resolution was—

* That special exertions are required at the present ime to maintain Scriptural instruction in Board schools. and to coun- | teract the attempt to reduce our primary | schools to be places of mere secular train- | ing, by which Christianity would be dis- honored, and our national well being im- | paired.”

In supporting the Resolution Shaftesbury said thet he—

* Sympathized with the Roman Catholics on this matter; they must insist upon a}

Earl }

| distinctive teaching on religious matters. |

They desired something detinite and dis

tinctive; distinctive on the great truths of the Gospel on which the scripture teaching | rested. They did not want the morality | of Greece, Rome, Budhism, or the Koran. | They wanted the great and saving doctrines | of the Gospel, under which so large a pro~

portion of the world bad lived and died. | Otherwise they would be brought in the course of time to the morality of Strauss, Spinosa and John Stuart Mill. They must be earnest in their determination to resist this. They had come on a time unlike anything that had preceded it. Wild opin-

were loosened, filial obedience was very slight, and parental authority nothing at all In po'itics, in morals, in religion, all were convulsed. And was this a time to give up the Bible, our only guide, to east ballast overboard, and leaye the rudder to itself?”

The Bishop of London, who presided at the meeting in which the reso!utions quot- ed passed unanimously, said :

“This meeting was meant to be an as+ sertion that denominational schools — the schools where the consciences of all should be treated on fair and equitable terms— should be respected and maintained. (Cheers). He used the word ‘denomina, | tional’ and not ‘Church’ schools because the meeting was not held in support of creed or party, but of principle—(loud | cheers )—and was asserting the right of all schools enjoying distinct religious educa tion to be treated on an equality with | others in which no distinct religious educa-~ tion was given. As aChurchman he should be glad to have all the children taught Church principles; but, unfortunately, | partly by the faults of our forefathers, we | were divided ; and what the Church con- sible should be taught to the children of those who did not object to the teaching. (Cheers). The position he took was that

ing on this matter, he would say no more

Government that refused to grant his

Almost every influential member of the Roman Catholic religion in this Island disapproves of the advice under which Bishop has acted. Antagonism on the part of all the Protestant Ministers on the Island has been aroused ; the claims of the Bishop have been defeated in the Local Legislature by a division of 17 to

terms were thundered forth in a Pastoral, backed up by the authority of his Church. |

referring to the large expenditure of his | predecessors. This argument is a very poor one at best; for, if they proposed to /expend money on improper works, or for

unnecessary purposes, why do uot the present Government stop such works. Nor will the statement that the Revenue _would be short of the expenditure about $850,000 ; but this excess of expenditure ‘he took out of the $1,639,000 of sur- |plus revenue of the previous year.

| the people of Belfast put forward.

| would bring all his liberality to bear upon | this question, Mr Welsh was also an econo~ | mist of the first water andif he wished to save

aes aah ae “pl | now, but would ask the hon. member for | Steatest indignity of which ‘Shylock ’ com

| Belfast (Mr. Welsh) who had day after day | plained, will not be likely to relinquish

}and night after night stood upand asked | pis orasp u 8000 per annum. op

for justice, whether he would refuse this de | ia geep ape 6 ¥ : ae

mand. /account of any personal indignity that Mr. Weusa.-- Who refused | could be offered to him.

tice for which he had asked ?

the jus

Previous to Confederation, the salary

Hon Mx. Scutrvan had not refused it,} . ; ‘ : A r of the Lieut. Governor of this Province

and would support any just claim which | He was | a liberal of the liberals, and he trusted he

same as that of the Governors of Nova Seotia and New Brunswick ; and he had the privilege of importing his wines, ete., duty free. One of the first

was the

the expenditures upon Courts and Jails let

$; and Mackenzie’s promises are as near | Nor will it help Mr. Cartwright's state-

their fulfilment as they ever will be. ment to bring in Prince Edward Island as His Lordship’s nominees in the Dominion | the scapegoat; for it was not overlooked Parliament are powerless, Laird’s in— | by Mr. Tilley. The receipts from Cus fluence and, if were not, he ‘toms and Excise collected in the Island would not risk his personal iaterests for _ have gone into the general revenue of the all the Bishops in Christendom. Davies | Dominion, so that the deficit on this ac- and Sinelair are too insignificent to make ‘count for the year must be a very small The Pacific Railway, which the three prefer the society of Riel—and, no! present Government state was to entail doubt are looked upon with that contempt such a heavy burden upon the Dominion,

is

gone ;

themselves prominent; and the other | one.

The Examiner,

interest whatever in the future welfare of | to endeavor to destroy or supersede suck

him in God’s name bring his good sense to bear upon the matter and give to the) Bishops schools in the city s sum for the education of children who would otherwise be running round the streets and every day entering upon a career of crime. The hon. member might say that he was the repre-

' sentative of Belfast and bound to’speak their

views, but he thought there was sufficient | liberality in the people of Belfast to grant | justice if the matter was fairly brought be- | fore them. He agreed with the hon: mem- ber for East Point, that there was not one code for the city and another for the couns | try, but he did not think it practicable to | have religious education where the schools were mixed, If there was in any school | one Protestont only, or one Catholic only, he would not have religious educ ition in-~ troduced. Let hon. members give this matter their serious consideration. If the question was Once setteled other questions would arrise, which would divide political parties. This question should not be made | a stalking horse by one party or the other. Insinuations regarding the conduct of office- | holders on this matter had been thrown out. | He happened to be one of these but he had never been influenced in his conduct by | that fact. He cared not what government was in power, What little property he had | he had made himself, and he was independ. | ent ofany gov't. office. He had never hesi- tated to express his opinions or to vote upon | a principal of right. He had pleasure in voting for the resolution, whatever was the | result, whether the government was defeat- | ed or not, because he believed it was a | right and just principle. He hoped the hon. member for Belfast would vote for the | resolution, for he had heard that outside | the House that gentlemen had not been | unilavish in declaring that he was in favor of settling the question so far at least as | regarded the city

EE&AAAAAARAAAAAAALDDwnnwwnwns9 Ch’town, May 4, 1874. Ns lL il Ml Ml ll Ml Rt Mel Nd OO aa,

THE BUDGET.

Mr. Carrwricut it not happy in his | allusions to Prince Edward Island. He | would fain make us responsible for a large |

acts of our Minister of the Interior, has been to fix the salary of our Lieutenant

Governor $2000 per annum below that of the Governors of Nova Scotia and New Brunswick, and to have: the exception from duties on wine, &c., withdrawn. Our Chief Justice’s salary has been fixed at $3000 below that of the Chiefs of Quebee and Ontario, and $2000 less than that of Nova Scotia, and New Brunswick, and Manitoba. Judges receive $1500 less.

Our Pusine

This is a downright insult to our Bench and Bar, perpetrated by a man who does not blush to receive $4000 a year more than our Chief Justice, besides Legislative allowance, pickings and postage stamps found him. No man of honor or princi- ple would retain a seat in a Government that would be guilty of such treatment towards a Province that he represented.

Surely a just retritution is overtaking the public men et this Colony; who, through their apathy and indifference, have allowed its destinies to be controlled by such an incapable and _ selfish person as the present Minister of the Interior. Without manifesting much sympathy with those who have not had discernment enough to note the means by which this hypocritical adventurer managed to foist himself upon this community, asa public man, it may not be amiss to reeall public attention to the subject.

Having denounced Confederation as ruinous to the Colony, and alarmed the inhabitants of a district through which

| the railway did not pass, by stating what | he knew to be wilful falsehood,—that the | construction of the proposed trunk rail- _way through the Island would entail an

additional amount of taxation of $27 hcad on every man, woman, and child

a in

the Colony and promising, if returned, to

this the cap tal of one of Provinces of the | great Dominion of Canada. The alarm must surely be increased to every consider ate mind when it is known that an army of | sbout 80 children, of school age within the , limits of tne city, or about one in three { never enter a schoolroom at all. The twelve er thirteen poor schoo'rooms now in use with difficulty accomodate the 53) children

emroiled but it the 500 children, who dont |

j

go to school at all, could be induced to | make their appearance, about sixteen ad- | ditional schoo. rooms will be required. These facts speak for themselves.”

Think of this. Eight hundred children | in this city never entered school at all, but | roamed a. large, acquiring vicious habits. | Surely, as the Visitor said ‘‘these facts speak for themselves.’’ In the quotation just read, reference was made to the report | of the same Visitor for 1371, and as some | hon. members might not recollect the | statements there mide, he would bring | them to their notice :

“ At the Kensington schooi the attend ance is very «mall indeed, yet numbers of | edildren: were to be ceen al! around at play, | igsteatl of coming to the school, which was only a few yards distant. The out- house here, which serves for al! the families around is in a pestilential state, and utterly beyond description.

“At the Spring Park Schooj, the size of the room is not at all sufficient for the number attemling. On the day of my visit, | found the children closely packed in double rows. The out house in a bad state,"’

«Generally speaking, there is not one Gov- ernment schoolroom in the city fit, in all re repects for the purposes of teaching, with the exeeption. perhaps, of the ‘Normal and Mode! Schoolrooms, and even these are pow found to be too contrac’ed for the sumber in attendance. The steadily ins creasing attendance at the two last named

denominationsi schools by nonsreligious | State schools, or to place them, uninten- tionally it might be, at a disadvantage, was | @ violation of the rights of conscience.”

He (fr, Sullivan) did not wish to quote any authority belonging to the Church of | which he was a humble and unworthy mem- ber, but would cite another authority, — the Rev. 4. M. Grant of Halifax, who was well ‘nown to the people of this Island; and there was no one who knew him but would |

give him credit for the highest intelligence | asaclergyman. Mr. Grant said: —

“It is not a burning question now in No va Scotia, but it may become so at any mo- ment, because the present state of matters does not give satisfaction to either side in the long standing controversy. I content myself with saying that the solution come to in Ontario, after years of struggle ap- pears to me the fairest, and therefore the wisest —best for education and religton for Protestant and Romanist, for that peace | and mutual good will which are indispen- | sable to progress and patriotism.”

He did not know whether the opinion of | the Earl of Shaftesbury or that of the Bish- | op of London would have much weight with the hon member for Strathalbyn, but he trusted that the utterances of Mr. Grant | one of the ablest clergymen of the Church | in which the hon. member stood high | would have some effect upon him, The Roman Catholics asked no more than Mr

force in Ontario. He did not see why Pro testants here should be unwilling to grant what bad been by their co-religiorists

ted to the Roman Catholic minority in Ontario, which minority was much smaller, comparatively speaking, than the Catholic minority here. or why they should be loth to concede what had been by the Catholic majority conceded to the Protestant min~ ority in Quebec. They ;the Roman Cath-

schools is gratifyiug, and is certainly to be attributed to the superior accommodation ae well as to the superior teaching to be found there. Whereas, on the contrary, the attendance at many of the other city schools is decreasing, and the reasons are quite evident viz: want of respectable and

commodious school buildings, with decent |

surroundings, the generally low standard of teaching power exhibited, and the culpable indifference of those who do send their children to school, as to whether they at- tend regularly or uct.”

He would cal! the attention of the hon. member for the city .Dr. Jenkins) to the statements contained in these extracts. He was Health Officer for the city, and he eppesied to him to know if the state of things here described, was not seriously dangerotis to the health of the community ot large. There was no hon. member in the House, there was none within she sound of his voice who would deny the correct» ness of the statements made by the School Visitor. None who resided in the city, apd was acquainted with the fucts of the case, but would admit that the City Free

were a disgrace to the Colony. Was it 7 wonder that His Lordship the Bishop, being responsible in some respect for the education of those under his aaa, should have established schools where the

children might be taught? He had done

so, and been supported in it, and the sehools wh gi bad estblished were « i é ‘ .

olics) were willing to take either. They were in @ minority here to-day, but was that any reason why they should be denied , simple justice? was that any reason wh | they should be obliged to pay towards | the support of two sets of schools? They were compelied to pay the school assess. ment collected by law. He himself paid last year upwards of $28, though he had }no one to send to school, and if he }had he could not have availed him- | self of the public schools. The Roman

| Catholics asked that they be relieved from |

| paying this tax—that when they had ess | tablished schools of their own they should not be obliged to pay for schools of whose | advantages they could not avail themselves

| He did not think that this could be consid-_

ered as unfair, or as doing any violence to. | the conscience of any hon. member. The | | Roman Catholics did not ask for any of the |

taxes paid by others, they only asked that | the amount paid by themselves be handed back to them for the education of their chil- dren. It might be said that this was a mats ' ter with which they had nothing to do—that the state had taken upon itself the educa~ tion of the children, and if they thought pro- per not toavail themselves of the schools established they had noright to make this claim. But others besides the Roman Cath-~ olics had estaolished schools. The Wess leyans had done so also, and if the free schools were sufficient to impart proper secular education why had they gone to the expense they had’ And the hon. member

j allusions that we have to thank the late ‘

| He says in his Budget speech—

portion of the increased duty which he | sp the work, will it be credited that, no has placed upon the commerce of the | soofer was he returned, than he advocated Dominion; and so we receive “ honorable | the extension of branches at $1,000 per mention ” in his Budget speech. mile over the former contracts, —thus

It would, however, appear from his | nearly doubling the charge upon the coun- ry ; and atter denouncing the contractors

Government for any crumbs that may fall | and the Government as having eonspired

| to our share from the rich man’s table. | to defraud the public, actually selected

|the same contractors to construet the “ For light-bouses and coast service they } work. were compelled to ask for a small ta , The eleven moaths Government, of appropriation—chiefly owing, he was inform- . ea . » se ed, to the excessive liberality with which which he was a member, next sent to the their hon. predecessors were willing to pro- | United States for competent engineers to vide for > j » COE PP ne l-; » . vide for the lighting of the coast of Princ inspect the work; and, fearing that the opinion of these gentlemen would not

Edward Isiand.” So it appears that we have to thank our

which such a preference would naturally inspire.

The majority of the Ontarians is suffi eiently large to enable them to dispense with Mr. Laird’s special qualification, viz: that of slandering and maligning the public or private reputation of those who differ from him on public questions. This is manifest in his inability to resist the

ducts to the British market. sion of Mr. Laird. To those who are aware of Mr. Luird’s want of practical business knowledge, his failure asa Min- ister will not be a surprise. His rude and uncultivated manner must, of itself, have been felt as an infliction by all those members of the Government who are endowed with the feelings, and who practice the habits, of gentlemen.

They, evidently, have found that they can do without this bravo, and that with his distinguished following he is not like- ly again either to make or break a Min- istry, to suit his own corrupt ends, at the expense of this Island.

What has he done for our lighthouses 7 That part of our railway now nearly ready to be opened, is without « telegraph or any trained staff to work the road, while thou- sands of tons of lumber are deposited along the line waiting to be conveyed for shipment; no arrangements are made for dredging our harbors,—and the other numerous iocal improvements for which the foresight of Sir John Macdonald's Government would have provided, but which never entered the mind of the ob- A day of retribution awaits this dishonest politician

tuse Minister of the L[uterior.

when he will be called upon to account for his sins of omission, as well as for those he has wilfully eommitted.

= 20 ea - A DISGRACEFUL FAILURE. | Latrb’s first attempt at Dominion Legislation has not been a very brilliant

Sa.

our trade that gives a cash market to our |

to our mechanics and artizans, whilst it | supplies the means of shipping our pro—| But such | considerations are beyond the comprehen- | $10,186,466.67. Upwards of ten mil- lions of surplus revenue in six years! !

/has been abandoned, and, according to | their statement, a new route is to sub-

| stituted which only cost one-third the | money,

It is, therefore, evident that no _real necessity existed for this enormous increase of taxation.

Under the Government of Sir John

|A. Macdonald, the revenue always ex- ceeded the expenditure, notwithstanding imposition of duties on materials used in | the reductions which he made in the the construction of ships,—a branch of)

tariff. In 1868 the surplus revenue was

| $201,835.53 ; 1869, $241,090.52 ; 1870, farmers and highly remunerative wages | $1,168,716.07 ;

1871, $3,712,479.09; 1872, $3,125,344.88 ; 1873, $1,639,000, —making an aggregate for six years of Confederation under his leadership of

And this with duties reduced on all ar- ticles of general consumption — latterly without any duty on tea—without any duty on shipbuilding materials and out- fits,—speaks volumes for the financial ability of the late Government.

(moe

A PROTEST.

A Resolution, involving a protest against the imposition of a tax upon materials used in the construction of ships, was submitted to the Legislature by the Leader ofthe Government, on Tuesday morning last. Owing to a heavy press of distracting busi, ness, Mr, Owen forgot to give the usual nos tice of his motion. Will it be believed that the Leader of the Opposition, Mr. L. H. Davies, took advantage of this cireum- stance, and objected to its introduction? When the Colonial Secretary made a mo- tion to the effect that the rule respecting notices of motion be suspended in order to allow an expression of the opinion of the Legislature upon such an important sub. ject as the proposed tax on ship materials —a motion which requires a unanimous vote—Mr. Davies was the man to oppose it. For the present, we make no comment —comment is needless, We publish the draft resolution, as submitted :—