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THE DAILY EXAMINER .

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they would deal fairly and justly with P.!

E. Island. (Applause.s 8 + Bowel! in his speech in the Senate, t Senators Prowse ant Macdovald had pre-

sented the case of P. If. Teland with reg ard

to these branch railways, also stated that! the Government would deal justly with P. EK. Isiand, and wou!'d carry out the promise that Mr. Haggart made in the Honse of Commons. I remember that time before this, we had pressed this matter of]

some

Railwars in this Province. My | friend, Mr Martin, hal been very atrenuous in his advocacy of the Belfast |

Railway in particular, and | recollect verv well that when we did a0, we were greeted with a storm of derision op the part of our opponents who said it was @ mere ele tion | dodge, that it was wrong and immoral to advocate railway branches so near an elec- | tion as we were thought to be. It was all | right they said, to advocate Raijl- wavs on the floor of Parliament, but it was not right to advocate them throughout the country. The election was not quite so near as these gentlemen thought it was. Butin covnection with that matier, I may say thatin 1890, my friend, Mr. Davies made a apeech in the House of Commons, in which he advocated

the building of a branch railway from Peake’s station to Wood Island: Break- water. This was in the session of 1590,

the lact session before the last general election, and the last opportunity that he had in Parliament of advocating a public work for this Province. A little befvre the campaign of 1891, a meeting was cal!- ed in Caledonia, which I was invited to attend, together with Mr. Davies. We were both present, and at that meeting the people criticized Mr. Davies’ plan fur a branch railway. They said we want a branch railway, but a line from Peake’s station to Wood Island Breakwater would be of no use to the great suuthera country. It waa too distant from Charlottetown, would not run lengthwise through the coun- try and would be useless. Mr. Davies frank- ly admitted that the road the people desired

namely, from Southpert to Murray Har- ber tapping the P. E. I Railway near

Peake’s or Cardigan station would be a preferable route. He aimitted that, and pledged himeelf at that meeting that, if re turned, he would advocate the construction of that railway as the people then desired it. I was then, or likely to be, a candi- date for Queen’s County; and I was asked to pledge myself in the same way, and I did so, I did not forget that pledge, and I took the very first opportuvity when I entered the Senate that presented itself of fulfilling the pledgeI had made to the people of Caledonia and Belfast, that .f I} were elected to Parliament I would deavor as far as I was able to support the | construction of that branch railway to that part of the country. (applause.) My frieod, Mr. Davies, was successful, andl was defeated. I did not reach the Senate until about three years later; but he spect four years in the House of Commons without ever saying a word, good, bad or indifferent about the Belfast railway. (applause.) And gentleman

noe

ths same who criticized my friend Mr. Martia and Senator Prowse and others becau-e during the autumn of 1894 and the winter of 1825 tney advocated a branch railway to Belfast had advocated a road—not tne same exactly but nevertheless a road from Peake’s station to Wood Islands Breakwater,—and had solemnly promised the people of Cale- donia that if elected to Parliament it would have his support. But this pledge, I believe, he Sforgot to carry out. It was not gotten up before an election. If it was, it was Mr. Davies who brought it up in 1890. I was pledged in 1891 to advocate it, and I embraced the first opportunicy I had of doing so. Last year the Govern- ment were pledged at the very fir-t time they undertook to vote aid to Railways to deal fairly and justly with P. E. Island. They were prepared to do that at this last session, and would have done so hal they not been prevented by the «b-truact ve tactics of the Opposition in Parliament. I don’t intend, at this stage, to discuss this questioa of cbstruction, but a little later I may have something more to say about it. But I want to draw your attention, Sir, to @ Statement made on this platform, and which I r ad io the Patriot newspaper to- day—a statement made by my friend, Mr. Davies, to the effect that these branch rail- ways are only ELECTION DODGES and that there is no -incerity inthem. That the motion which was submitted to Parliament by the Hon. Mr Hagyast. (I am not sure that I am giving his exact words as I had bat a hasty glance at the paper) was not a bodafile motion from the fact that it had not obtained the sanction of the Governor Genera! before it was sub- mitted to the House. Now [ kave seen the letter written by Mr. Davies in which he explains this. He says that Mr. Haggart did not make any reference to the Governer General’s assent, and that * Hansard” does covtain this statement by Mr. Haggart. Well, Hansard miy nut contain it, and Mr. Haggart may not have used the exact formulain all respects, I think he did not; for I Lave only to look at the motion made before it in Hansard— @ motion with regard to railway subsidies —and in this as well as in the other there does not appear the statement that Mr. Haggart submitted the motion with the sanction and concur- rance of the Governcr General. But the fact remains that the official proceed- ings of the House, the document that is really binding, that forms the record, and determines the constitutionality of it, in this record the very words are used (ap- plause). Iam surprised that my friend Mr. Davies should have made so rash a statement on such very imperfect evidence when the records of the proceedings of Parliament were available, and when he could easily have corrected his mistake. Aad Iam also surprised that in this microscopic examination which he gave to every proceeding with regard to the P. E. I+land branch railways, be did not cast his eye a little further up on the page of Hansard aud discover that the same fur mula was missing in another motion that Mr. Haggart made as wellas in this. I am also greatly astouished that Mr. Davies should be so entire’y deficient (as he seems to be) in constitutional knowledge astoimag‘'ue for a moment that any swore minister under the Earl of Aberdeen would venture to go to Parliament with any proporition of this nature without the proper sanction. We know very well that Britieh statesmen stand upon the constita- tion, and Mr. Haggart would never dare to go to Parliament with any proposition for which be had not the sanction of the Governor-General as well as that of his colleagues. I think Mr. Davies also made the etatement that this motion was neglected and the Government passed it over. Why, gentlemen,—the Government pass itover! He might as well te!l us the Governent did not want to pass the main estimates of 1296-97. They were

placed on the order paperon the 2tth of January and ome it:m was parsed on the 3ist of January; aid

from that day uptothe prorogation of Parliament the Government were tever able te go into committee on the estimates. They were passed ovcr, not once, but a score of times, for the plain reason, which everyone here knows, that the Opposition caused such obstruction that it was im- possible to give that consideration to the

treated as a bribe

en-| |

-

business of the country which it deserved ' Laurier had written that letter tothe edit- Mackenzie , and the interests of the Dominion demand when | ed l | this proposition to build

notice the statement is made that branch railways I.laund should be received and} tothe people. It is that Mr. Davies, Qdid not look atit in that light in 189) when he made that speech* in favor of branch railways, in the House of Com-| It is singularly strange that it did any of his friends that that

in PLB

strange

mons. pot dawn on

| was an immoral kind of business for pub

iic med to be undertak'ng and carrying on. But, Me. Chairman, ladies end gentle- men, you remember tuat history repe its itself. In the vear 1836, my worthy col- league, the then Premier, now the Chicf Jusiice of this Province, and myself, were sent to England to present the claims of the Province with regard to winter com- munication; and as a result of the discus sions which we had with Sir Charles Tup per and the Earl of Granville on thir matter, in the summer of that year (1536) we secured for this Province $20,000 a year forall time, equivalent to half a mil- lion of dollars. (Applause.) Of course parliamentary sanction couid not be got. [he arrangement was made between Mr. Sullivan and mvself, acting for the Gov- ernment of P. E. Island, and the Govern- ment of Sir John Macdonall. The ar- rangement had been ma le. An order in itcoull not te

council was pas d. Bat carried into law until the sanction of the Parliament of Canada tiad been obtained

Daring that time an came Oo, and from the ctuer we

for that purpose. election unfortunate'y one end of P. E. Island to found our Liberal friends denouncing us fur offering a bribe to the people, for rais— ieg an election dodge, an election cry. The truth is we thought we were two clear years away from an election when we took that matter up. We took it up in 1835, In 1886 we advanced it to aconclusion #0 far as our dealings with the Government were concerned. The elections, as you know, iadies and gentlemen, were sprung upon the country that year, at the end of the fourth vear, and uw year earlier than we expected. Our opponents declared, and they got the people from one end of the country to the other to believe, that they were being imposed on, and that we were only raising this matter as an elec- tion dodge. I believe the stand Mr. Sul- livan and myself took in 1830—represent- ing our colleagues in the government, representing the Conservative Party in the Province—the stand we took iu going to England to advocate the claims of the Province—had no small effect, ou account of the way it was viewed by our oppo- nents, in causing the Province to go for the Liberal Party at the election of 1¥87. I believe our act on that occasion, al- though we acted inthe truest and best interests of the Province, Owiog to the manver in which our opponents treated us, owing to the use they made of the advo- cacy we had presented in England and tu the half million dollar arrangement we made, actually resulted in a very large number of people believing we were focl- ing th m and not acting fairly with the people, and ended by the Province record- jing # vote againstus in 1887, You re- member, after the elections were over, that arrangemeut was CARRIED OUT TO THE LETTER,

and twenty thousand dollars a year has been paid to P. E. Island ever since on account of the arrange- ment madethen. (Applaase.) The Hon- orable Mr. Peters, finds that but as a drop in the bucket of his extravagance. He haa not even got the comwon gratitude to say on any occasion that he 1s indebted to Sullivan and Fergvson for that twenty thousand dollars a year, which he koows so we'l how to epend. (laughter and cLeers)

Asa resuit of our effurts in 1886 the steamer Stanley was built. It was due to the v:gorous protest which we made at that time. It was due tothe earnest efforts which we had put forth that the Dominion Government addressed itself so masfuliy to this question, and itis a credit to the Dominion Government which has done so much to remove the grievances of which the people of this province have so long and justly complained. (applause.)

A FEW WORDS ON THE TUNNEL.

Now, gentlemen, I want to say a few words on the subject of the tunnel before! undertake to discuss sume questions of grat concern and importance which may be in your minds on the prefent occasion. I understand that my friend Mr. Davies stated the other evening that the Liberal Conservative party had gone to the coun~ try in 1891 pledging that, if they were euecesstul, tuey would build the tunnel between the Island aud the mainland. My friend must have u very short memory. It he merely recalled what took place during the el ction of 1¢91 he would fiud that a man, for whom he has a high respect and veneration, the Hoaorable Wi'fred Laur- ier, and Mr. Davies himseif made very much stronger promises than Sir John MeDonald or his supporter’. In a meeting held in the hall on the llth of February, 1891, Mr.'Davies made a speech, and owiag to the limited time at his disposal he said: “I am ju-t going to take up two planks in the plat form of the Liberal party—the cons‘ruec- tion of the tunnel and unrestricted recip- rocity with the United Sta‘es.” These were two piaikes in the Liseral policy ou that occasion—the construction of the tannel and unrestricted reciprocity with the Un- ited States. I would ask you, gentlemen, where are these two great p'anks 1m the plat- form of the Liberal party :o-day? Mr. Davies me: * “T will show you that the Government are not in sympathy with the tunnel project. They will not go one dollar over $1,650.00. We have the promise of the Government tha’ they will incur an expense of $1650.00 and that they will not go one cent overthat. That is all the Government are willing t~ pay. I believe the Liberal party are coming into power on the 5th of March next, and I wrote Mr. Laurier and told him I was in full ac- cord with the project and asked him if he was ready to approve it, and received this reply:

**T am in favor of the tunnel providing the surveyors show the scheme is reason- able and practicable.

*W. Laurier.’ ”

He was not satisfied with this; but at the same time he wrote a letter to the editor of the Guardian, who had written asking for an expression of his opinion, In it he says:

“{ have your favor of the 2nd of February, inst. I hardly would have thought that an expression of opin- ion as to the construction of a tunne) be.ween the Island of Prince Edward and the mainland should be required of me. Every man who bas given any attention to the condition of things and the neces- sities involved by the entering of the Island into confederation must admit that such a tunnel must be constructed if the thing is reasonably practicable. The first requisite is to have an accurate survey and reliable estimates. | am only sorry that these were nut obtained long ago.”

W. Lavrier.

Mr. Davies forgot to tell the people of this speecis of his in 189L on the tunnel qnestion. He forgot to tell the people of this telegram. He entirely forgo: that Mr.

}

or of the Guardian pledging himself to the covstruction of the tunnel, if at all reason-

able and practicable. What

were the sum I have

into the construction of a small toy tun- nel which several mem contend could be constructed atthe cost of one half the

mentioned, but when con—

expressions of opinion on the question on! structed would be of very little use. f i \ 5

that occasion ? The Patriot gays :

“We have the Honorable

newe®paper [

Mr. Laurier’s |

{dication of his

telegram signed by himeelf. It is clear | and without equivocation. It is stronger |

than auything from Sir John. Again on the 17th of February the Patriot says: “If the Conservative party are in earnes on the question, and Sir John McDonald’ Government are in sympathy with them, as they allege, let us have a statement to that eff-ct over Sir John’s signature, at least equally binding as that of the Honor - able Mr. Laurier.”

Sir John McDonald also wrote a lect er. I will read the letter, so that I may not be charged with keeping anything back. I daresay it has been presented to you be- fore :

My Dear Howiax,—

In respo1se to your pressing request with respect to the tunnel across the Straits, | desire to repeat that under the present circumstances the Cabinet are pot n a position to deal with that question. If, as | beleve, the country will continue to give us their contilence, the ministry will, under my guidance, take the matter up without delay. I understand that Sir Douglas Fox is of opinion that the scheme isaf-atible one. The chief thing stili ankaown is the cost of construction. I tuliy appreciate the nature and extent of the obligation incurred by the Dominion {0 «maintain continuous — connection between the Island and the main land. We have tried to carry this out by the Stanley, but of course she cannot fight against the elemeuts; so if the cost comes within a reasonable amount, such as Par- liament feels itself justified in incurring, I shall be prepared to submit the question for their favorable consideration.

Tam, Sincerely yours, Joux A. McDonaLn.

Here we find that Sir John McDonali and Mr. Laurier had placed themselves on record in, to some extent, the same way in L891. But we were told, and told on every platform in Queen’s County, that Sir John’s letter was so vaguely written that it amounted to nothing at all, while Mr. Laurier’s was a square and defiaite promise that the tunnel would be con- structed. Now, you would at least expect that the Liberal Party, through their re- presentatives from this Province, and through their Leader in the House of Com- mons, would have taken at least some in- terest in that question from that time for- ward. They were pledged more strong!s than we were, to take up that question. But se find, instead of doing that, that Mr. Davies especially commenced to throw diffizulties in the way from the very time he gained hiselection. In order to prover the statementI am making to you [ wil read some extracts from a speech made by

him in the House of Commons in the vears 1892 and 1894. Yeu may remember that, immedi-

ately afer the last election, the Guvern- meat of Sir John McDonald undertook to bave borings of the Strait made under tne direction of Sir Douglas Fox. The con- tract was let toa Mr. Palmer, who made a considerable number of boriugs, but who failed to fulfil his contract. He got inte auumber of difficulties, financial and otherwise, which preveated him from carrying on the work.

The Government, in the following vear, made acontract with the gentlemen who owned the diamond drill used by Mr. Palmer; but these men, though they labored hard and spent a large amount ot money, were not successful in borirg any holes. The next year they were stil allowed to goon. They were to be paid for the work actually done,and were no to receive any money unless they made a certain puinber of borings. They com- pletely failed in boring one hole. They spent $4,000. They never earned a cent, and never received a cent. The Govern- ment felt those men had made such strenn- ous efforts that they were entitled to fair consideration, but, having failed, they re- ceived nothing. The next year they made a contract with another company, after having called tendi rs from nine companie- owning diamond drills) They made 2 contract with a company who engaged tc work a certain period of time for $6,000, for, after the experience already acquired by the others, no company could he fiw!

to enter into a contracton the same basis. After working eighty-twe days, they received $6,000. They

worked all this time and sunk four holes very successfully. A few still remain to be sunk in the very exposed and deepest part of the strait, where the difficulties to be contended with in making the borings would be very great. While the Govern- ment was doing this they were continu- ously accused by the Opposition of ding nothing in the matter. I find no fault with that. It is the work ofan Opposition te pick flaws. But I do find fault with the representatives from this Province whe showed their usfaitufulnoess to this tanne] question altogether.

Sir Douglas Fox made a very elaborate report. He reported that a smali tunne. which would admit cars such a¢ would be possible to use on the railway, not such cars a3 are used now, but cars suitable for connection with the tunnel cou!d be con structed for five and a quarter millions, thata tunnel which would accommodate cars such as are used on the Intercolonial would cost nine millions, and a still larger one would cost eleven millions.

Mr. Prezident, Lad'es and Gentlemen, whenever I saw that report I made up my mind at onc? that it was a question of having a small tunnel er none at all. I knew that these engineers’ estimates al- ways have to have a margn allowed for contingencies, and I felt that we might talk about a five million tunnel, but when it came to anine, ten or eleven million dollar tunnel, with such reasonable addi- tions as have to be made for contingen-

cies, we would be advocating a work which would not be reasonable tor the people of P. E. I-land to expect from the Government, and I had partly made up my mind that it was worth our while to press for the small tunnel because if we got it we would have a very reasonable system of communication.

What did we find Mr. Davies doing in the House of Commons. In 1892, almost as soon as this report came out, he said: “T believe nothing short of the largest tunnel will b» of any particular benefit to the people. I do not think the sma'l tun- nel would be worth considering. If the cost of the tunnel istoo much,” be said, “in Heaven’s name let us know it. I don’t want to urge, year after year, a scheme which is impracticable. Will not the Government say it 1s impracticable and drop t! e matter forever.”

Again in 1894 Mr. Davies discussed it in thia way: “I think two or three things are pretty well established. A tunne’ to be of any feryice at all would require ao expenditure of fifteen or twenty millions at least’ (Here he was doubling the lar-

not think that any practical person outside ;

,

This attitude of Mr. Davies was an in- hostility to the tunnel ssheme. His view was hostile to the smaller tunnel, whose cost would be reasonable, and it was asking foran ex- penditure which the people of P. KE. Island would not feel justified in pressing on. the Dominion Government, at all events with the information we had at this time in regard to the question. I have made this statement somewhat fully, because we will hear a gool many statements on this question during the coming campaign that will be calculated to mislead the people with regard to the tunnel scheme.

Before leaving this question of public works for the province, I wish to say that Ido not deem thatthe p-ople of P. E. Islapd are going to be deprived, or have any right to be debarred trom presenting, either during the p-nlency of an election or atany Other time, their claims for prblic improvements such as the people of other parts are not slow in pressicg on the attention cf the Government. I do not see any rea-on why we should be, and { feel that the Dominion of Canada have aright, where publ.c works are needed in a province’, to take them u» and consider them either before, during or afier an election just ai atany other time. [ be- lieve, fur my part, that a number of

USEFUL BRANCHES woud com-

adled to our railway system

jo a good deal to remedy that plaint which we hear so much of from the other provinces, that our railway is not paying. -Atsthe present time-oar railway runs through the centre of the Island. We have goud harbors’ on our coasts and good facilities for shipping, and the rail- way is pot inta position to compete with sailing craft; as it woull be if there were feeders runming out to the coast. An- other addition of 100 or 120 miles of rad- way to the rai‘'way mileage of our pro-

vince could’ be made with ut at all increasing the working ~ ex- penses of © our road in anything

like ‘the proportion required for — the miles already in existence. Some of these branches conld be operated without any additional hands and. w.thout an ad- ditional engine. Take, for instance, the Stanley branch. The engine that runs to Cape Traverse hea idle at Emeralt for the greater part of almost every day in the year. ‘Tnis engine could be run on the proposed branch without entailing the ex- pease of a simple allitional hand or an ad litionsl engine; and there would only need to be considered the eust of the few ton? of cval per year to run that engine. It is the same w.th some of the other branehes. A train to Rustico could be° run: ont from Charlottetown without very much increase of expendi- ture, and th: same with the Elmira branch aid some others. Bat I feel that while these all are important that great section of the country south of the Hills- borough is stili more to b+ considered, fo: for when our Railway was built i tapped every political district in the [slant ex- cept Belfast ani Murray Harbor, and while these people have contribu'ed their share to the buildmg of the P. E. Is and Railway, together with ali the other great railways, they have not participated in the benefits in any way. Thus ther claim is particularly sirong in this matier of ra |- way construction. (Cheers).

My friend, Mr. Davies, in speaking from this platform made a strong pdiat becaas- there were a large number, of branches proposed, and said this reduced it tu an absurdity. Has he forgotten that he leclared on the floor of the House of Com- mons that the Island was entitled to tw» millions on public works; and yet all these branches are only estimated to co-t a little over one millioa. If ne believes his own figures to be trae how then can he con- sider the matter to be a farce ? (applause)

To show the weakness of the a>zument of the hon. gentleman, I hive vnty to mention the fact that the very first thing he did was to saidle the Government with the expense of building a bridge across tbe Hillsborough River; and the men,who, in the advocacy of this question put this forward, are not trying to help the railway and are not working in the interests of the people. He is reported as saying that if the brilgs was pledged he would give his support, snd not without it, or something to that effect. Well, gentlemen, all I have to say in regard totha’ is that I do not think there is a rational or sensible man in the east riding of Queen’s, or any where else, who will say that the chances ofa bridge are going to be lessened by building a branch railway to Murray Harbor. I believe and believe strongly that if the railway i+ constructed it will be an impor- tant factor in pushing forward the con- struction of the bridge at an early date to a successful conclusion. Nor do I be ieve or agree with the man who will say that the Railway to Belfast and Murray Harbor is going to be no benefit at all without tLe bridge. (Cheers).

There are gentlemen in this meeting who know very,well that the railway came to the city of St. John «from the American side fur twenty or thirty years before a bridge was built. Did the pople hesitate about going on with the railway, and say “we will not build the railway antil we get abridge 2?” (Cheers.)° No, they got cheir railway, and the railway and other things forced the construction of the bridge ‘on the government and it was built. So it wonld be in the present case. (Applause.) We have a

DISTINCT ISSUE IN THI3 ELECTION.

The Premier of this Provinces, the Hon. Mr. Peters, in delivering his budget speech, a week or two age, having an- nounced hia uzual deficit, and a pretty big ene, too notwithstanding his old story. It is not so bad after all as itis not so big as the deficit he incurred in the year 1893, in which he was running his election, when he bad a deficit of S119,000. Not- withstanding the taxes, he still annonoces a defic't of Over $50,000 for the past year. But he wound up with hope. Mr. Laurier, he says, iS likly to get into power, and when he does there will be an increase ii the Provincial subsidics, anJ when when Mr. Laurier came in there would be plenty of money to keep his: machine ranuisy,

I would aay tothe people of P. E Is'and who are interest-d in the public welfare, make your choie* wietner you will seeure usefal public work-, or wh<ther you will Support a party whose every object is to geta large amount of money distributed anorg the pov nze: for increased Pro- vircial «ubs-dies, and which, as I said be- fore, some of them know sso well how to spend.

As I eaid before, the pe p'e of this Island are giving great attention to this matter, and the pecple who are c:yinag out against b anch railways taxe just the other side of the question as Mr. Peters presented it. Theone party says we go for the building of useful branch railways, The other party says we want to increase Provincial subsidies for all the - provinces;

of a few who seem to be tunnel mad, are | you get the claims of the . pu prepared to adviee the Government to go works considered and ‘entertained, it is so

and [ wayt you t> remember that when

gest estimates of Sir Douglas Fox.) I do} P. E. Island gets one dollar, forty-five

dollars go somewhere else. But, when Island to public

i

much to P. E Island, without necessarily one dollar going anywhere else. (applause)

My friend, Mr. Davies, did not forget to tell you that during the last hours of the las, sesaion of Parliament four and one-half million dollars was proposed to be voted for railway subsidies, and that this was submitted with tie sanction of the Governor-General. Although the formula was missing in this case, as well as in the other, he did not have the slighte t doubt about this—did not doubt it for one moment—and its enormity he tried to impress upon your minds, The fact is that not one dollar of that money is a new vote atall. It was only a pro- position to ratify something that had al- ready been yoted—amounts that had been previously voted and had lapsed, or were about to lapse, and which it was necessary for Parliament to retain. There was not submi:ted during the last session one dol- lar of an expenditure for new railways, except for the Province of P. E. Island.

I have seen some discussion Over an- other feature of this matter; that is the appropriation which it was proposed to make of $250,000 for the purpose of con- structing two of these branches during the present summer. In that connection I am ina position to read a letter from the the Honorable Mc. Hagyart in answer to a letter of mine:

My Dear Ferausox,—

In reply to your letter respecting the branch railways in P. E. Island I beg to remind yeu that on Saturday last [ moved that on Tuesday then*following the House should go into committee of the whole upon the resolution regarding these rail- ways, which under the instractions of the Government I had previousiy placed on the order paper. A* vou are aware the deliberate and svstematic obstraction of the Opposition readered it out of the ques- tion to proceed further with this resolu. tion, and made it entirely useless to bring down, aa had been determined, a sum of $250,000 towards the constructing during this year, of the Belfast and Elmira branches. The Opposition, therefore, have by their unwarrantable conduct been ab'e to thwart for the moment the poliey of the Gove-nment a3 to those branches. The Government, however, will be prepared to take the matter ud at the next session and submit the whole pro- position above referred to for the sanction of Parliament.

Iam, Yours faithfu lly, Joun Haccarr. (Applanse.) To authorize the construc- tion of these short branches one quarter of the amouat necessary for their construc- tion was to be voted in the first fiscal year and to goon year after year paving about an equal amouit until these branches were constructed. Asa member of the Government I come before you exp'aining its views and policies,and without any de- sire or without being fairly open to the charge in any way of bringing in this mat- ter as an election cry. Ii wae brought up years and years ago, and worked up when there was not an elec'ion imminent. I distinetly repeat this assertion that these branches a.e not raised or advocated as an election cry. They were pressed by our representatives year after year until the Government finally adopt-d them as its policy. Speaking for that Government, I pledge to rou itis the policy of the Gov- ernment to builithese branches. (Ap- plau-e ) MANITOBA SCIOOL QUESTION.

We have, in this contest, a question un- fortunately forced upon us which i3 cal culated to disturb the public mind toa cousiderable degree all over this Dominion. [tis most regrettable that this question should have been forced on the people of Canada I have no hesitation in saying, and I think I am not speaking too strongly whev [I say that a crime bas been commit- ted against the people of Canada by forcing thie question of Manitoba *schools into Dominion politics. The people of the Red River district entered the confederation in 1370 with asolemn treaty and compact by which their rights in the matter of edu- cation were to b2 preserved tothem. The solemn compact entered into in 1870 be- tween the Parliament of Canada and the Red River settlers was intended, as the Hon. Mr. McDougall said, to be on the same lines, but more comprehensive, than the compact made in 1865, concerning Ontario and Quebec. The very men who hal arranged these terms of union with Canada were, in many cases, the men who met in the Legislature of Manitoba and passing the first Manitoba School Act. That Act provided that there should be Catholic and Protestant schooi-, speci- fically carrying out the conditions of the union. Io ali the years which intervened from 1870 to 1890 the compact was faith- fuliy preserved. The school laws of the province were maintained up to the year 1899, a short time after the Liberal party of Manitoba got hold of the reins of power. Mr. Norquay, the Conservative Leader, resigned in 1888, and the admin- istration that followed bim was not a

strong one. Greenway and Mariin were vigorously fighting to drive them from power. The Provincial Secretary,

tue Hon. Mr. Burke, went back for elee- tion, and was opposed by Dr. Francis, a gentleman in the interests of the Liberal party. The French people were getting disaffected to the Harrison administra- tion, but feared that if the Liberais ob- tained power their schools and language would be taken from them. On _ this account, Mr. Martin and Mr. Greenway were not receiving favor in the constitnency and stood a ;oor chance of electing their candidate. It was on that occasion that the Hon. Mr. Fishe-, now a member of the Manitoba Legislature, and at tnat time the President of the Liberal party in Man- itoba, Mr. Joseph Martin, and some other geatlemen went down to this St. Francis Xavicr district, and speaking on the platform in the pre- sence of Mr. Burke the Conservative can- didate, Mr. Martin, sclemnly pledged Mr. Greenway and the Liberal Party to retain for the people their schools if they would but support the Liberal candidate. It was on these pledges that the people gave Dr. Francis their support, and his election led to the fall of the Harrison administration. This is proved by the affidavits of Mr. Burke, the Conservative candidate, it is proved by the affidavit of Dr. Francis, the Liberal candidate, and hy the affilavit of Mr. Alpkonse Martin, all of whom have left the Liberal Party on this question. Put they have made their affidavits that Mr. Joseph Martin made this pledge, and it was on the strength of this pledgs that the people supported his candidate. I am going ivto these details because it is im- portant thet you should understahd tiem, that you should understand that it was the Literal Party in Manitoba that introduced this question, and that they did it by a GROSS BREACH OF FAITH,

by the violation of a solemn promise that these men made binding the Liberai Party, but which they afterwards treacherously broke, deceiving the people. In speaking in the House of Commons last year Mr. Weldon, the representative ef Albert County, N. B,—ani you knew he has not been in sympathy with the Govern- ment on this question—said he was bound

to say that at the bar of history these men who had made these promises and violated

_— eS ge

. WEDNESDAY, MAY 6,

tn nnenerpenerne

1 896.

them would be held guilty of a gross breach of faith and honor.a dle said that “The Manithba acts of 1899 was born in pertidy, and in breach of faith and honor.” (Applause).

My friend, Mr. Davies, epeaking the other evening from this platform, made a very strong reference to the publication in the official blue books of those affi- davits to which I have referred, and with regard to this I want to say tnat Mr. Davies is very incorrect in some of these statements. It is quite trae, I believe, these affidavits were submitted before the Privy Council, that they were submitted and afterwards withdrawn and were sub- sequently published in the biue books. I believe that their publication in the blue books wa3 not exactly regular, and it would have been better if they bad not appeared in that form at ail; but as far as their appearance is concerned, as far as the publication of any statements in these affidavits is concerned, there is really no room = for complaint at all. Years before similar affidavits were used before the Supreme Court of Manitoba anJ they were never contradict- ed or proved to be untrue. They have been referred to from time to time on the floor of the House of Commons, and the men whose honor has heen affeeted by the al legations contained in these affidavits have never said anything about them with the exception of Mr. Martin. I believe he did deny them. Hedid on one occasien say they were not true, but he did net go inte any statement or give any substantial rea- son for his declaration. Mr. Fisher, who made the most important of these aflidav- its, is a man standing a3 high as any man in Manitoba. He is a Presbyterian and a Liberal. He is not a believer in separate schools, but he believes that this is a