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L's 4 4 i¥ b ¢ 91 _ m Mr. Crosby--From the Townskip Council * e of Markbam to the same effect. |__ Mr, Williams (Durham)--Bill respecting | the separation of the county of Durham from | the county of Northaumberland. SALES OF L&NDS FOR TAXES, | _ My, SINCLAIR introduced a Bill to notify | the owners of lands sold for taxes of the | same, |__Attorney--General MACDONALD--*" Ex. plain," Mtr, SINCLATR said it was very well known that under the present system sales of lands for taxes took place without the | owners of lards knowing anything at all \ about it. Inthe viewof theintroduction of the Mr BOYD wished, before they procecded to other business, to call the attention of the House and of the (Government to a statement that had appeared in one of the city papers with reference to a breach of the rules of the House. It appeared thas there had beeu an uzdoubted interference with the rules of the House in regard to the matter of posting no-- *ices in the lobby before Bills were distrib-- uted. The facts, as alleged, were that two Roailway Bills were introduced into the House last Friday--the Air Line and the South Western Air Lize. The agent of one of these Bilis, it appeared, had vronoe to the Government Printing Office to see if his Bill was in course of being set up, and he found it almost complete, _ About an hour subse-- quently a clerk called at the printers, and ordered that the South Westsrn Bill should kave precedence, and in the refusal of the printer, to do so, he produced the written authority of the Clerk of the Private Bills® Committee to that effect. Now, he believel that it was a rule of the House that befora any Bill could be posted in the lobby that copies of it must be distributsd. Rule 59 was to that effcct. The charges, asalleged in the paper, contained an allezsation that this rule had been tampered with, Mr. CLARKE said it was against the rule of the House to debate what was contained zolely in the newspapers,. -- The hon. gentles-- man ought to have some personal knowled:e of the matter to previcus to bringing it before them,. Attorney Gereral MACDONALD, while confessing that he saw no grounds for the statementsmadeby thehon member, would not raise anobjection to the matter being reforred to a special Committee appointed for the purpose of erquiring into the allegations. Mr. BOYD said ho would then refert their votes and proceedings, of Friday, and from them they would find that the Bill had been ordered for Committee on the 4th De-- cember, and he was prepared to say that the Bill was not distributed till the following day. _ He bad been to his own box in the Post Office and there was no such Bill there, but it was placed thero subsequently. He wished to call attention to the matter on public grounds, and from no personal feeling in the matter whatever, T:x Titles' Bil} by the Government, he thought it was most important that the owners should be informed of the rale His Bill proposed that tho Treasurer should make it his duty immediately after the passage of the Act to make out a list of all lands in every municipality which had been soli for taxes, and should transmit these lists without delay to the different clerks, and that the clerks should then protify those owners of lands, whose names appeared on the assessment roll in the various municipalities, Mr. BOYD said he would propose such a Committee Mr, RYKERT said, as the person in charge of the Bill, he would like to sea the matier thoroughly investigated. He was porfectiy tatisfied that the House would sso that the course be had pursusd was a propsr course. He thought that when a Bill was in a fair VeRi elnmn® ds dsc t s3 1 l 0 state to be printed that it should bs printed,| and that position he was prepared to affirm. If in any of his scts ho had bsen gullsy of what was unparliamentary--if he had endear-- vored to force his Bill when it should not be forced--he would be prepared to bear the censure of the !iouse. I Mr. BOYD had no idea of. alluding to the hng."xn.ember for Welland in his remarks. Nir. Smith (Kent)--Bill to confirm cerkain rules of the Towrship of Tilbury East. Mr. Williams (Hamilton)--Bill to amend the Act incorporatiag the Wesleyan Female Ccollege of Hamilton. Nr. Williams (Hamilton)--Bill to author-- ise the construction cf a railway from the city of Hamilton to Caledonia, and for ex-- tending the same. bir. Ferriet--Bill to legalize a certain by-- law of the village of Elora to close certain streets in that village, and for other pur-- poses. Nr. Scott (Oiltawa)--Bill to enable the Ottawa Mechavies' Institution and the Otta«-- wa Natural History Society to amalgamate, urder the name of the Obtawa Literary and Acientific Society. _ _ § A SUGAR REFINERY IN TORONTO. In the report of the Committese of Stand-- irg Order it was recommended that tha rules of the House should be suspended in the cage of the erection of a sugar refinery in Toronpto, by John Aldwell, and the roport was confirmed,. Subsequentiy, Mr. Rykerkt was confirmed,. Subsequentiy, Mr. Rykerk introduced a Bill to exempt from taxation the sugar refinery referrod to, The Biil was referred to the Committoc on Private Bills. FIRST READINGS. The following Bilis were read a first time and reterred to committees :-- : Attorney--Gereral Macdonald--Bill respoct» ing the holding of public fairs, Second read-- ing on Thursday Atty.--Gen. MACDONALD said that was & matter for after consideration, _ He contirued to explain the manner in which the municipal clerks should collect such rates and remit them to the Treasurer of Ontario. Hon. gentlemen would see that the Bill was intended for three or four locali-- ties, where the municipalities were unable to make the improvements themselves, He hoped the House would allow the Gov-- ernment to judge of the localities where such improvements were required, because it was impossible to state exactly where they should be made. Next session the Government could give a satisfactory report of t O Mannarw Mr. BLAKE--! cught to be a year. a weentnernntizlcs® . $ Ar'tarstabcant Therets later than a month after the receipt of the privted report,in order that the parties inter-- e:ted in it should be able to explain their ob-- jeetions, if any should exist. The arbitra-- to:is should then enter upon an examination of such objections made by parties who might imagine that their lo%s, or parcels of lard, bad been too bighly assessed. Then the arbitrators should correct any errors which might have been madeo, and afterwards report to the Department, andeuch examina tion should be consicered final to all par-- ties concerred. _ A copy of the final report should be sent to each registry in which the improved lands might be sitaated, and should form a par: of the public records of the Registrar's office. Copies of the final award should also be sent to every clerk of the municipalities within whose bounds any of the lots sold be situated, and the clerk of ary such municipality, or the Council of that municipality should be compelled to impose arate on the whole township for the pay-- ment of the sum which was to be payable by that locality towards the amount expended in that locality, and the interest shou?g form a suitable fund for the extinotion of the loan in twenty--two years _ It provided further that the municipality should be bound to pay every six months to the Ontario Treasury the interest of the rent charge on each lot which should be collected from the rate payers as other municipal rates, geiive acvantage from the improvemsnt, shou}? be made to pay their share of the ox. peoditure. and that should be allotted pro reia, according to tho bensfit derived by each lot in the whole locality. Then, it was proposed that the report of the arbitritors shou!d be printed, aud distributed to all parc ties concerned in it, and copies should also be lcit with the municipalitiecs ijuterested in the matter. A day should be appointed, uot later than a month after the récaint naf th.. works be given cut in 'coutracts. As sson as the works should becompleted, arbitrators appointed uncer the Bsard of W orks Depart ment, should visit the locality and sse for thimscives the adveantases which should arise from the improvements made by the drainage. Not only the lands immsdiately reclaimed, but the lasads borderieg on such _ swamps, which _ mighs _ also The matter then dropped, it being under-- stood that \Ur, Boyd would propose a Selesct Committes toenquire into the circumstances. INDEMNITY TO MEMBERS. Atty.--General _ MACDONALD -- moved the reception of the Report of the Com-- mittec of the Wholse on Resolutions as to Indemnity to Members, and the salary of the Spe:ker. The Report was concurred in, and Atty. General _ MACDONALD _ intro-- duced a Bill founded on the Rosolutions. The Bill was read a first time, and ordered for a second reading on Friday next. ')' member for Welland. The Houss ought not, however, to form an opinion with reference to the matter before ths Committee had met ard had heard the evidence. Nr. BLAKE also thought thore was ns doubt expressed as to the conduct of the hoa, Bje general cnurse in the aouao clearez him in which the money had been expended. He of all unlawful interference with the rules of| proposed to explain the calculations on which the House. What he had referred to was ! the Government intended to recoup itself this, that in the memorandum of Friday ® An annpual rate of five per cout interest cortain Blll_was posted up in the lobby before should be imposed for twenty--two years; it was distributed to the House. and the rent charge would be $7 60 per annum Mr. FERGUSON defended the character 0n the $100, That was to say, five per cont, of the Clerk of the Private Bills Comumit-- was to be allowed' to cover the risk of tre, whom bo had known for many years and the money not being paid at the end who was a most efficiout officer. He was unog of the twenty--two years, or the Province not only an efficient officer, but he was also anxi-- being able to invest it satisfactorily when re-- ous and desirous to do his duty. He had, uo | turned. It was necessary always to make & joubt, an explanation could be given of the margin of one per cent. in order to moet con-- (LAbEL: tingencies, ;.bec.',?" t'hc'a object kwfihat 't'he wn . o o € on dE sAS nat Innsa in éha & DRAINAGE. Atty.--General MACDONALD -- moved *' Why six months? It : 'was to be allowed to cover the risk of I the money not being paid at the end ; of the twenty--two years, or the Province not -- | being able to invest it satisfactorily when re-- > -- turncd. It was necessary always to make & s margin of one per cent. in order to meet con-- tingencies, because the object was that the , Province should not losa in the end. If a charge of six per cent. were made for the ' ~money advanced, thers wou!d annually be , paid $8 30 per $100. Iif a charge of seven ; percent should be made (which was not very likely) it would require them to put $9 04 per anuum on the $1U0 to pay it back., ; At the rate ot tive per cent on the land there would be an annual payment of $7 60 per * $100, of which $1 60 should be applied to the sinking fund. He betioved this mode of ad-- I vancing from the public exchequer would . commend itself to the people at large. » They would know it was not a gift, but a ) generous outiay on the part of the Adminis-- tration to those who had not sufficient means to asccompiish what could only be done by 'an expenditure of the public funds, He be-- t lievea whet was calculated to benefit any one portion of Ontamio was a benefit to the (whole Province. (Hear, hear ) This was no gift ; it was a loan which would go to reclain a large tract of land now useless, and benefit a large portion of our population. He was | told, since he had anucunced the intention of t he Goverrment to introduce this measure, u that the Toronto, Grey and Bruce Rail way | Company, in laying out the route of this line, | were obliged to carry it round the edgs | of a swamp, whercas, if there had been a | little draimage made, the road could have | been taken: in a direct lino. It w | | provposed that whore Governmens bad | t lards of their own in locaiities thus i | improved, they should be charged precisely i the same rent as if the lands were held by | | private inrdividuals, The Department of ; i Crown Lands would have the benetit and | {: should pay for it, for Government lands now | not worth ten cents would, if drained, | readily sell at $5 per acre, Besides the ad:-- l vantages which he had set forth, he should | not omit to state the great benefit which | would accrue to the surrounding localities in ' regard to roads. It was well known that | there were large districts through which | swamps ran, which were more hopelassiy | separated than if a river or lake lay between 'them, for they could neither canoe nor boat these quagmires. If such swamps were drained, mscadamized roads could be run across them in places where no man would at present venture, He therefore moved that the sum of two hundred thousand dollars i be granted to Her Majesty for the making of ; drains and the construction of works con-- | | pectcd therewith in the Province of Ontario. | | Before sitiing down, he would mention that , His Excellsncy had given his assent to this | measure. Mr. BOYD wished to know if the hon. Attorney General had decided where these works should be constructed, and if so what was the esmmatcd cost. Atty. Gen, MACD 'NALD said there ap-- peared to be a cesire on the part of somse bon members to pin down the Government to certain Jccalities in constructing public works, If Goverpment should say where such works were to be undertaken, they would nrever he accomplished. If the Ad-- miristration was rot fit to be ontrusted to settle where the sum of $200,000 should be expendrd, they were not fit to hold office. He promised the hon, gentlemen op-- posite, that in selecting the localities in which to expgerd this moncy Government should not be influenced by party considera-- ticons,. They would select the places where drainage was most required. Mr, McKELLAR wished to say that thare was no member in the House more alive to the importavnce of the swamp lands of the sountry properly drained, and, whenhe hsard of this drainage bill, he thought Govern ment would bring in some measure for some partic-- wlar locality. With the excsption of some mareh lands in Eesox aud Kent, and a couple , of other places, he krew of no place wherse it was beyond the power of the local munici-- © Ealities to effect the drsinage. At all evouts | e expected the Government would have | come down to the House, stating the particu-- ' lar lecalities where they intended to expend | the public monies; but on looking over their -- Bill, he found that thoy not only gave no | specified locality, but they announced their intention to go where they thought fit He admitted that wherse he came from himself the land was low, though it was not exactly . a swamp, and the local municipalities were | Graining it themselves. The Government | proposed to go on such lands, and do thes ! draining themselves, and, after the work | was done without any invitation from the | people who owned the land, to send Gov-- | 'ernment arbitrators (he did not know where they were to come from) to value the works built at the hands of the Department Thoese men _ Wwere to perambulate the country, going from one end of it to the other, gging to sections which they had never seen fore and with which they were totally un-- . acquainted. These men were to ascertain . the benetfit this lot, that lot, and the outher lot was to derive from the drainage. That wis the most objecticnable feature in the Bill He maintaized that the mon on the spot could do that work much cheaper and better than arbitrators from m distance, At | TL'L' prescnt time this system of drainage was | LOlvg ou,fand he was apprehonsive that this | Preposed system would prove an excsedingly <x}icsive cperation. 1t would be anothsr Mumijcipal Loan Fund affair, and he warnsed the fHouse against placing theee monigs in the harcs cf the Government before they shorld ttate where it was to be experded." It w:s truo the Government assumed the reupnn.{,. fasuty of the expenditure, but it was alter tie v«rey sbould bo expended, This evil had cauted fer fifteen years _ 'The Gov-- crnment -- were, of course, -- responsible _but they spent the money just as | 'h(--y % pif Sfifd, and with & m'jority : at their 1)zwks thuy managad to hold their feats _ Re did not say that hon gentlemen _ cpreosite would pursus such a courso: but rsuch things had been done in the pu't and | mfihs be done fiain in the future. _ (Hear ) to do themselves. He did not mean to ray such was the case or was not, but if. there were works of that magai-- tude which the public should undertake, it |, was desirable that they should be undertaken | b) Government. -- But that was not the prin-- | ciple of the Bill. It was based on a g--nera! principle, which, in his judgment, could 10 be too strongly condemned ; that the Govern-- | mert was itself to do the work, howeve'" | small it might be, by its own officers, its 0wn contractors ; it was to settle the price t9 -- be paid for that work, and to saddle t"* | municipalities with the expense, It was We 'M r,. BLAKE proposed that in [accorlauce with the view oi the fanctions of Governu.en taken b)' the !101). Attora« y-(}ene\_--a[' that the word "certain'"' in the resolution be struck out and the word © uscertain," substituted, for it was certain to no man in the House what was to boe done with this money (Laughter.) The customary rule of Parlia ment--that applications for grants of money should be preceded by a resolution was iound-- ed upon the wise view that there should be more numerous opportunities for discussins them than was the case with ordinary mea. sures, and it was for this reason that the ro-- rolution was considered in Committee, when more freedom of speech could be used than when the Speaker was in the chair. Although he quite agreed that this was hardly the time to enter into the minute details of the measure; still, he corsidered it was due to all parties, that it should be utilised so that at as early a stage of the Bill as possible, thos» objections which might occur to hon. gentle-- men respecting the details of the scheme might be set before the House and the coun-- try. -- He did not desire to enlarge on the cbjections to the Bill, but simply to show bow the presect policy of the Government was opposed to the principles they professed last seesion. The Pablic Works Act gave the Commissioner authority, in the con-- struction of Public Works, of his own power to make the necessary investigations in or der to arrive at a conclusion, and proceeded to ray that the Commissioner shall report to the Governor, and that that report shail he raid before this Legislature for its cousidera-- tion. This was for the purpose of iaforming the House of the policy of the Goverrment, as to what works they proposed to carry out unrder this Act; and that the Legislature might have an opportunity before it was asked for a grant of money, of knowing for what purpose that money was required. It was not necessary to refor to the past policy cof his hon. friend the leader of the House; but the principle of the Public Works Act brought forward by that hon. gertleman was recogmized last session by the Government and adopted by the House. Last sossion this was the policy of the House, and now they were asked to reverse that policy ard to come to a conclusion more favourable to the notions of the hou Attorney--General at the presont time. Con-- sletact with that Act it was the duty of the Government, baving obtained the informsa-- tion which the Act required, and coms to the corclusion which the Act pointed to, and baving made the report which the Act de-- mande?, to ask for money to carry on the works. According to the preseat pro-- posal of the Government--he called the at-- tention of the Government to this in particu-- lar--although they only asked for $200,00, the House had no assurance that the works which the Government proposed to commence would be fivished with that amoant. (Hear, hear.) An expenditure might be commenced on works known to involve a much larger sum, and the House might be practically com-- mitted to an indetinite experditure, unless they should say after the $200,000 had been expended, that the work was a bad one and «boulid te left uncompleted. They would nct do that. They would feel obliged to +y, **We cannot throw swa¥ that $2(0,000. We will be obliged to let the work go on." Although upon the ground of principle he objected to the proposal of his bon. friend, yet his uneasiness with reference to it would be much legsened if he roceived ary assurance that it was not intended to commence works with $200,000 which $200 -- GOQ would not finish. He desired to know the intention of the Government on that point. Atty --Gen. MACDONALD.--No. Every work which will be commenced, will be fin-- ished with the appropriation. Mr. BLAKE. --So far so good ; but it d\ not get rid of the principle to which he o jectcd; but it was well known that the Hous was not committed to a larger expenditur than was now asked for. Notwithstandin:, the want of information remained, and was as copyent as it was before. He admitted that there might be works required in this coun try which municipalities might not be able Hen, Mz. McMURRICH said it was uns just for the Government to withhold exola. naticns from the House. It was unjast chat the House should be called on to vyo-- away Euch & Iorge sum without knowing som:t}:~, if the Bouse would do their duty }, ;h..-. soives and the country, they would nop ,, ject to granting money for the purpose ; uraining places which local munisipalit., could not drain themselves; bDut before prang. ing that money, they would require to know where cvery dollar of it was to be expended (Eear, hear.) It was their duty as reprosop. tativer of the people, who were responsible to them, to insist on this before granting the large sum which the Hon. Attorncy--General Cesired them to place in the hands of the Gover: ment, -- There was not an hon. gentle. msn on cither side of the House who objecteq to the draining of places which required it ; Int each member felt it was but right that the Goverpment should say where every dollsr was to be expended. The Hon, Aitorcey General stood up in his Cctiant masner, and said the Govsrnment wero reeponsible. Was that proper languaze ior the Leader of the Government to use towsrds the House? He hoped the House would acsort its dignity ard demand the fuliest explanatior, and if that were nos uiveDp, not an hon. gentloman on the floor of the House should give his support t> the wessure, --(Applause. ) nl<ut bhow and where it was to be cx p.,a,t{.?;('j"' He did not ask for details that it would be inconvenient to givo, but he desire 4 to inow semething more shout the mattcr than the Goverr:ment bas furnished the Houss (ile;, known bow difficult it was to recover mone}® tz OveTI khear ) L Fg