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4I.E(ZiSLI\'l'URE OF ONTARIO. o ~ys--~ l _ f'i Moxpay, Nov. 29. | _ M , The SPEAKER took the chair at three -- d9f _| o'clock,. ue | The following petitions wore presented ;-- | -- 3 . PETITIOXNS, \-- w e %,' ; Mr. Scott (Ottawa)--From the City Coun-- Pss ) cil of 9"'"". praying for a repeal of the | | cla.ue.e in the Assessment Act exempting the j ( s?lanes of Government employees from taxa-- ;;"v _ tior. (Laughter.,) F"or the Act to enable the Erie and N lagara | > Railway to extend their line:-- \ f ' Dr. Saxter--From Aaron Hobb and others |of Walpole; from H. C. Brackinread and others, of Walpole; from James Davis and * others, of Walpole. Mr. Oliver--From Thomas Hardy and others, of Dereham ; from the Township | Cguncil of South Norwich; from Geo. South-- ; | wich and others of South Norwich. | _ _For the establishment of a rchool for the blind:-- ' Hon, Mr, Macdorald--From the Township | _ Council of Cornwall. 4sw . Mr. Calvin--From the Township Council | of Kingston. Mr. Blake--From the County Council of | Huron, | ' For the erection of cortain townships into a Provisional County:-- o | Mr. Swinarton--From 8. Reauly and others, of Adjala. ' | _ Mr. Blake--From the County Council 0f | Huron, respecting an appropriation from the \ Lard Improvement Fund, respecting the con-- ' | struction of roads and bridges. ' FIR3T READINGS. The following Bills were soveraily intro-- ; duced and read a first time, and referred to varicus committees : 4 Mr. Rykert--To amend an acst of the o'd | Province of Canada, entituled, " An Act to | secure to the wives and childron the benefiss | of assurances on the lives of husbands and | parents." | ) _Mr, Smith (Leeds)--To loegalizo a survey of lands ; sud aiso to erable the Town of | Chatham to sell certain portion of its market l plCt. : Mr. Scott, (Obtawa)--To incorporate the | Ottawa Lagies College ; also to incorporate | the Ortario Peat Company ; also to incorpo-- | rate the Mississipi River Mining ani Nav.-- gation Company,. | CROWwWN LANDS. , Mr, LA UDER asked whethor the Govern-- | ment intended to introduce, during the pres-- ent session, a measure to enable the Comuis-- _ » sioner of Crown Lards to adopt more exps-- diticus measures to settle disputes as to ua-- paternted lands, and to reduce the purchase money, or throw off the interest upon the | purchase money of lands, wrore it appears that the purchasers have a just claim for such reCucticn or abatement. Hon, Mr. RICH ARDS, in reply, said the Government had no intention during the present session of introduciag any messure with a view of settling disputes In regard to the charges on lands, there was no doubt that there had beon a large amourt of arrears accumulating. in the Crown Land office in consequence of the | charges that had taken place from time to | time in the removal of offices, and from other | causes. Ro great had these arrears become that he had instructed the gentlemaa who bad charge of that office to work oif the arrears. A great portion had aiready been removed, and he thought that furthoer success would be ackieved. He mightstate that the j number of lettersreceived in the Crown Lands 4 office of the Province during one year was '16,000, while the whole number received by the same Department when the two Provinces _' were united was but little more, being only \ ; 17,000,. This showed that great efforts were 'being made to get rid of these arrears, and if, | 'during the coming summer, he held the office | : of Commissioner of Crown Lands, he contem-- | plated, when the arbitration was finished be-- tween the Provinces of Uppor and Lower | l Canada, that some further decided steps | might be taken. But until that arbitration had been held and had reported, it was not the intention of the Government to introduce any such measure as that alluded to. If such an Act was passed, he thought ~ it would greatly increase these claims, He _ would candidly say that his policy had been --, to oust these claims, for there was no doubt that the advantage lay with the applicants, , \ who got a surveyor to value their lands, and _ _\ then apply to the Government to reduce the _ 'purchasge money. _ He would admit that there were some cases in which these claims were . -- _ justifiable ; but they were not so generally. . _ If, as he had said, such an opinion got abroad | as was shadowed forth by the question, they | might expect to see these claims increased | © four fold. 'The Government would, after the ; report of the arbitration, have the lands in | question revalued, and then there would be a | rearrangement with reference to the disputed | lands ; but until that time, ho did not think g i ~| it advisable to projudice the question. Under ty i these circumstances, the Government did | .. \not intend to introduce such a messure as i . ! | refe:rred to in the question of the hon. mem-- _ ber. | 'I PROVINCIAL AUDITORS. f l Mr. BLAKE moved the following resolu-- | ) gions : ~| 1. That it is the undoubted right anl _| bounden duty of this House to control tha / _ administration of the Pablic Finances. * a _| _ 2. That in order tofthe exercise of an td s efficient control over Whe administration o | _ the Finances, it, is ne#essary, jirst, that the _ grants of public s made by this House _ ? should be by Act e Legislature spoecific-- | _ | ally appropriated to the particular services _ _ for which the grants aro made; second/y, _ _| that provision should be made to prevent _ _| the issue of public moneys except to the ex-- | _ _ tent, and for the services to which they kave | _ _ been appropriated ; and third'y, that provi-- ; ':2 --| gion should be made tor an efficient and in-- | . _ dependent audit of the appropriation of the ) moneys go issued, ang o of the amounts of i