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'_ The order paper shows that the House has had sixteen Sfiyu of actual sitting. _ There are now on the paper, as stated, two Government bills awaiting third reading, one at the com-- mittee stage and fourieen marked for the second reading. Of these only threc are not printed. These measures include all the edu-- cational consolidations and amendments pro-- mised by the Ministor of Education for this session, which taken altogether are not ex-- coeded in interest by any other measures the Government is to present this year. Notice has been given by the Commissioner of Crown Land sof f\is bills to amend the General Mining Act and the Mining Claims Act, very important measures in view of the great interest now centred upon the development of the mining industry of the Province. 'The Attorney--Gen-- eral also has a number of well--considered bills calculated to facilitate the administration of justice and otherwise improve the 'gtatutes of the Province in important respects. FPrivate members have 2 bills on the order paper exclusive of the private bills which (at tho second reading stage) number seven, All the public measures have been printed, pro-- paratory to their coming up for second reading, so that therogweed be no delay in doaling wigx them. There has been some dcilay in re.-llpect of private bills by reason of the illness of the chairman of the Private Biills Committee, Hon. J, M. Gibson, but time will be made up by fre-- quent sittings, in fact already rapid stczs have been made in overtaking the work. Theore are only thirteen motions for papers, etc., to be discussed, and of these feow are likely to give rise to long debate. The preliminary work of the session is fin-- ished and there seems to be a general and com-- mendable desire to finish up the business at the earliest date possible. Judging from present appearances, there is no reason why the House should be dotained in session after the end of May. ingt 'l'{ne House was a little late in opening bo-| day, but good progress was made mring the afternoon and the House adjourned carly, The Journals. Immediately on opening, W»fore even the formal business of presentingy petitions was entered upon, Mr. Fraser, rising to a question of privilege, called the attention of the Speaker, who is responsible for the keoping of the jour-- nals ¢f the House, to what he deemed an in-- awecuracy in those records,. 'The point to which he objected was the printing of four reports of the Comimittee on Standing Orders, presented on Thursday last, as if they were one report, so that if a member desired to take exception to ons of them there was no means of ijdentifying it. Mr. Fraser did not say that any actual dimcuh{ had arisen from the pre-- sent system, but unless there is some way of explaining it (and no explanation was Five") it is easy to see that grave difficulty might arise, The position is this:--The Committee on Stand-- ing 3rdcr< reviews private bills before their pfesexlt,:tti("ll »o as to seoe that the rules respect-- ing public notice, ctc., have been «-omPlied with. Where the rules have been followed the fact is stated, and the report go#: through as a matter of course. But where the rules have not been followed a special report is made upon each bili stating the fa--ts and recommending either that the informality be overlooked or that the bill be not considered. Mr. Fraser's contention was that, as recorded, there was no Governme to. The %" ggnunuou'fi%;i'i'}'.'v"\?'ficef $r. G. 8. Smith, Mr. arter and Mr. Davis.. Of the (wo Opposition members, Messrs. Wylie and Marter, the_ lt tor made decidedly the best impression. He is a fluent speaker and has an air of calmncss and fairness which, while it cannot cloak such Ppartisanship as IuLtecln from the old campaign-- ers who form the bulk of the _ membership of the House, must be v.rl, effective_ on the stump. 'Thetwo Yorks, East and North, re-- presentcd in the debate came out strong. Mr. Smith found even less ground to go over than Mr. Tait. He spoke bricfly, therefore, but when he had finished there was nothing that lad been advanced on the other side left un-- answered. Mr. Davis astonished even his friends by the forcible character of his address. He did not confine himself to making such a speech as would merely round 'off the debate, but he dealt ° with the | poli--. tical condition of the Province on broad . fl_uunds. and -- gave | ample reason . for 1is consistent and loyal support of the Ad-- ministration. 'Though he spoke late in the evening and when the members might haveo been expected to be impatient of further de-- bate, he was listened to throughout with the keenest attention and was frequently ap--| plauded. The matter of his speech, though dealing with oft--discussed guestions. had the ; force of original thought and original research. | The arguaments were arranged in logical order and _ marshalled in overwhelming array against every point to which the orator direct-- ed his attack. Mr. Davis' manner of delivery | is that of the {)mused platform speaker gifted © with the good sense and good taste to adapt | himself readily to the conditions of Purlin-l meuwr',v oratory. The speech was one of the feature of the debate and Mr. Davis has been deservedly complimented upon it.| both by friends and by opponents. The ad journment of the debate was moved by Mr. Bolé White of Essex, by whom it was resumed io--day. w X P hok § COs ue ooo c o en afn n BGree C t --Ge is Ne w ucss 18 29e PEAF @pportunity for & member to take formal ex. cepiion {to the report of the committce. In his speoch Mr. Krasor explicitly stated that the Wresent system had been in vogue for Province, and to answer them he read a letter from Mr.Courteney, Deputy Finance Minister of the Dominion, in which he declared that for the amount of the $4,827,640 the Dominion acted meérely as the trustee to invest and_ nay out to the Province the interest thereon. Mr. Balfour went on to show that it would be quite a reas-- onable thing to count in the asscets the value of the prescntfi'arlinment buildings and Frounds, liespecting the relacion of the Crown lands to the surplus he quoted the statement of Mr. H. E. ClarKc that (t.lho timber was a good asset, and showed that at the e timated value of that asset it might be sold at the rate now current, and yet tso timber would last for over a cen-- lury. (Cheers.) On the same basis, rot only the forests but the mincrals and lands owned by the Province might be counted as an asset, and he believed they were value to--day for two hundred millions of dollars. The member for South Essex then took up the rather tangl-- 64 criticisms by Mr. H, E. Clarko with regard to the subsidies and the opinions set forth by the Inter--Provincial Conference, and he placuci the matter so clearly and plainly that it is hardly . s l 37 C / ';? eyer :/ ¥ v/ I' R y a " DP flM ":' ,1 / /M*/&j};/}%?}, l / / Mr. Balfour's Address. There was a rattling round of a'pplause from the Ministerial side when Mr. Balfour of South Essex rose to reply to the member for North Essex. He struck into w ottews, the discussion with the se y vigor and dash that, ® makes him a Rugcrtv of £ R debate. It was the cus-- p tom of the honorable ';fi F f members opposite, he & diges b t said, to devote much PCs ) time to the *"*mythical 'F h' surplus," as they term-- uM tA & od it. He referred ta0m it V»' v * to the public accounts * MAE Ror * é", of the Dominion. There "L'":"}" < e . f they would find a lia-- i @M m ATAJ bility to the Province ."l//z; P ,/'-,,/ / of Ontario of $4,827,640 /Lf!& MMY N /'/' / / acknowledsed. T h e /'/j,/,'/// / ( amount claimed by the P L2 w Provincial _ Treasurer was only $118,000 more than the amount acknowledgod by the Domin-- ion (Government. Some members even ques-- tioned the liability of the Dominion to the zes Cils, Dut no ~CBSemeste ovs C l P owb o ilhore' should be a change. When Mr. H. E. Clarke asked why the matter was brought to the attention of the House instead of to the attention of th-- clerk, Mr. Fraser's reply was that he had already spoken about the matter nnrfi.flm"a. and as no change had been made hnfi no recourse save to speak of it in his place. Nothing was done in the matter and the !-loufe went on with the receiving of potitions. ollovinfi the ?etltions wore a number of bills, mainly relating to railway, municipal and other corporations. The Budget. Mr. Sol. White resumed the debate on the budifct)'})oginning his sgoooh at ten minutes to 4 o'cloe The places of a considerable num-- bor of members were vacated soon after the _hon. member for North Essex bega.n his exor-- dium and other hon. members began indus-- triously to write letters. HMe first essayed to show that because of ex-- + q travagance the Govern-- /o E}ent. t.nlud been &linable u; wo*? cop the expenditures o ' B the year wfi(l:\iu the in-- [ 8. come of the Province-- PS although the receipts had been larger than had / \ been cstimated. He con-- , t P tended that the affairs @ No m« *¥ m of the Province could be MWd t,S y\ NV 'conducted within | its hCX q k s) *) revenues and that there Whiyy af#®"" °" was no need for the Troasuryto continue run-- ning behind. He made an attack on the Ad-- ministration on the ground that money had been expendcd beyond the a@ppropriation. It mattered little, he said, whether the amount was great or small,it was the violation of a prin-- ciple to which he called attention; it was illegal, the oxf»cndlture of money without the consent of the House. On the question of the expenditure of money on education he held that the Pro-- vince was going beyond what a State may be rightly called upon to do. It was going too far for the State to undertakecducation in high-- er branches and classics. All that the State might be looked to to do was the placing with-- in the reach of every child a good Public School education, With reference to the tem-- perance question he said that claims made for . the Government were unfounded ; the Local . Option Law, of wh#ich so much was bcini;mudc to delude temperance people, really did noth-- ing but remove the obstructions in the way _ of local prohibition, which the l'louso itself had set in the way since Confederation. 'The surplus which takes necessarily so {)rumincnt a place in the budget speech of the Treasurer is the target of most of the Opposition marksmen, and the hon. mem-- ber for North Essex did not omitringing the chan;ies upon it. . Me followed the example of Mr, H. E. Clarke in declaring the surplus to be made up of assets. _ In his opinion the railway certificates and annuitioes which the Treasurer l in his speech had not classed as immediate lia-- bilities were in fact of the nature of promis-- sory notes and should, therefore, be deducted from the amount claimed as a surplus. _ Mr. White concluded his speech after having been talking balf an hour. e * & £2 id ho .A & w2 .':'\ «C '_ & . ,z,l r mA "\"',QY" ~fegC qX | e es ge -- "" but He the less, that Mr. McCleary Speaks. Mr. McCleary was the next speaker, and the Legislature heard him for the frst time. He made an excellent impression. He . spoke long N.P.!" remarked Mr. Balfour amidst ap-- plause, * where were you .when that sentiment was uttered?" HMe said he was not surprised at theremarks made by Mr. White, he being a propagandist of anncxation, but to hear such remarks from thoe loyal senior member from Toronto was strange indeed. Mr. Balfour bad some fun with Mr, Clarke over the election iigures, by which thatgentleman proved to the satisfaction of such of his friends as have been content to take the result without examining the calculation that the Government is in a minority in the couutr{. He showed how Mr. Clarke adopted a variety of contradictory principles, the result in each case being against the Government, and, taking the rule he himself laid down in the majority of cases, proved that there was & popular majority for the Government of over 10,000. The speaker tollowed Mr. Marter through some of the finan-- cial mazes trod by that gentleman, and, by ad-- mitting frankly that the Government had spent a part of the surplus piled up by Jo in Sandfield Macdonald, deprived the memper for Muskoka _ of his princoigal argument. The Opposition have renewed their charges that _ supplies for the public institu-- tions are bought of Government favor-- ites and without tender, but up to this time they have not given any proof of their as-- sertions,. Mr. Balfour quoted the report of the Public Accounts Committee last session as adopted by the House, declaring that the principle of public tender was adopted wher-- ever possible. Mr. Clancy interrupted to ask who had voted for this report, and when told ' that it was adopted by majority vote of the comimittce he answered. " Aha!" as if no further answer were needed. Mr. Balfour re-- minded him that if the Opposition members had voted against it in commi:tee or in the House they had done so without being able to give a single fact in support of their contention, although they had the wholo civil service at their dis{;\ésal from whom to get evidence under oath fore the Public Kc- counts Committeec. The ha&bit of Opposition speakers, latest examplified by Mr. W hite, of charging the whole expenditure made in & year against the revenues of the year, was dealt with briefly, and it was shown that neith»r in the Dominion nor in any other Province was | such a principle recognised, there being some expenditures charged ugmnsgcapit,al. fn con-- clusion, Mr. Balfour pointed out in forcible style that no detinite charga of corruption or even of extravagance was made agafimt ie Government, and that the only naliew «en m bef it stytnrntnict t ritidinty ce s achad ngulllbgcfl.pl[,a!. in con-- clusion, Mr. Balfour pointed out in forcible style that no detinite charga of corruption or even of extravagance was made ngafixst t ie Government, and that the only policy which could be inferred from the sveeches o{ the Op-- position was to deprive the P rovince of revenue from the Dominion subsidy and the liquor licenses and resort to direct laXation,. Taken in license fees by the Pro-- ; vIHCC .. .. /. :« :st»125s**s»* + i1+» -- $ ©000,000 Returned to municipalities in main-- 4 tenance of public institutions, | §4018, CLC. .:.« :¥+.«+++++++++++s :» ©1,000,000 1 He drew a dpam.llel bet ween the remarks of Mr. White and Mr. Clarke, one declaring that -- to the United States Canadians must look for , a market for minerals, and from the United States must they expect the ente{rriso and I capital to develop the mines, while Mr. Clarke | declared that the policy of the Government | was "educating citizens for a loreifgn State," ; that "there is not room in Canada for all the | professionals we are turning out." this being a *'sparsely settled country." "Shade of the _ Aha!" as if no ed. Mr. Balfour re-- Opposition members commiitee or in the 80 without being