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At the commencement. of the year we had at our credit in the banks $44,792. We re- ceived from all sourcea during the year 34,140,039. Our total ex enditure Wan 84,165,063, and at the end 0!? the year we had on hand in the banks $19,818. When it is remembered that we expended $620,- 591 in public buildings nioue,thus adding that large sum to our permanent capital invest. ments, that we gave $100,000 to the uni. versity. that we spent 898,312 on colon. isation roudl, that we loaned $62,887 to some municipalities for purpose: of drain. age and advanced 847,111 to other muni. oipalitios on account. of land improvement fund, that $511,000 went for railway aid, that our receipts exceeded our eatimate. and that we expended less than the House authorised no to expend. it will he admitted that the general result is exceedingly satis- factory. A fair summary of the your a transactions may begiven in " few words Our ordinary receipts were 83.321070. Add to this cash on hand at. the be inning of the year. vim, 844.729, and we have 'd's"/l)'lli. Uur ordinary lepclldl- ture. in which I do not include the $37,500 given to county houses of refuge. Watt 85.391131. Therefore our ordinary expenditure exceeded our ordinary receipts by the very small sum of $19,338. But we must remand-er that of this pie-culled ordinary expenditure n sum not Icss than "12.243 was spent on public buildingsutnd that no less than #160,536 mm spent dyeing the your on new built lugs at Mimieo and Uriiliu. i'reuting this Mimioo and orillia expenditure as capital and not mat rdinnry expenditure -and this in what is done by other Govornmuntr- we had asurplus on the year's transactions ot $141,217. Our railway expenditure is rapid. lrdeereps)nr. our expenditure on public build- ings will be much lens in the future than it has been in the unit: we have almost completed our now Parliament buildinga ; our eotttrolltxbleex, penditures are kert down to the lowest pns' sible tlguro; and t tereforo I my I hut we can all take " wry cheerful View of our tittanciu eul- look. No British colony. no other i'rovinee.enn previent a balance sheet one-huh as invertible. A word M to tho meets of tho Province. These are so well known and have been tho subject or such frequent debate that they require but little explanation. Wu. will have the llmniulnn 6 per cunt. bonds to the, mu'attttt of $00.0». These mnture in March, 189i. We lune guided during the. your pearly 37,000 tonur drainage .ostmentsu which now "alienate $524,155. out funds, the unture and origin ot which The rerarly reports clearly show that the per "pita cost. of maintenance is noticNsably less than that in limilar in- stitution- in the United States. T o speak in general terms of increased ex- penditures without any reference to their 'ell"" or necessity is misleading and un- IMP. From time to time new services have been demanded of the Province, and " has as- sumed new functions. -- The Legislature, urged on by public opinion, has imposed new and heavy obliga- tions on the Province, and thus weluve been coTpttlle!l to bear burdens which hitherto hid fallen on the municipalities! or private individuals. We all know that. each nation new rants are persistently and earnestly askeill for, and that it is at. times difficult to resist pressure in this direction. In leaving this branch of my subject I will remind the Hones that those increased grunts to education. hospitals and asylums, public institutions and agriculture are sub- etuntinlly grants to tho municipalities in relief of their local taxation. The widely beneficial results of this very liberal mens- ura of Provincial aid are mauiielt. It in: been a powerful factor in building up our school system, in origiuntiug and promoting better methods of agriculture, and in providing humane and intelligent treatment for the sick, the blind and the inane. 1831.; being an yelhrp. Conitderationg such " these explain in- creased expenditures and conwel every can- did men not only to justify them bun also to frankly admit. the the business affairs of the Province have been always conducted in a most economical manner. increane of $169,772 in live short A YEAR's TRhhic'ritt.Ntk 3550.744 ' 721,602 . 728.909 . 759.935 . 830.516 On one occasion when this question was' under discussion in this House. when we " ere claiming that these assets were real and tangible. my hon. friend who leads the fMe.: ultionsaid, "Why don't you get a check for this t" A few weeks ago. acting for once, at least: on his nuggestion. We asked for and oromptlg received a check for 3300.000 of it. It should be, and doubtless is, a Hour. " of great 'rtttitstac" tion to all of an. regardless ot more party con- sidorationri, to know that the Province has this largo mutwltts upon which we can readily and at any time draw in cases of emergency. THF. QUESTION OF ASSETS. Were I to follow, in presenting a statement of the assets of the Province. tho practice of largo titttuteial corporations such as banks and insurance companies. a practice to which no 1nrsinesstnartover takes exception. then our assets would he more than double the sum I have named. Our large ti ancial corporations include lnthcir assets not only tho buildings they own, but even their olllce furniture. Our schools, colleges. asylums and other public buildings are irtdispcnsabio and as necessary to the Province as are the emcee they occupy to commercial corporations In connection with our public buildings we have more than 2.000 acres of land. some otit. especially that which is situate in this city. very valuable. A careful valuation of this land alone, recently made at my request, shows it to be worth more tluutatsiillion and a. quarter otdollar». Our public buildings have cost lnore than six and a half millions of dollars. Tho unpaid balances due to tho Province on sales of Crownlands amount. as l stated last year, to upwards of four and a quarter millions otdollars. If we Were then to present a strictly commercial statement we could reasonably claim that we have assets, and they are as good as those of any commercial corporation on the conti- nent. to the amount of at least millions ofdollars. and that our surplus " twice as large as we have ever claimed it to be. It we look about its. a glance at tho tiurutces of the sister Provinces will givo us additional cause for thanktulncss that we have pcrrist- antly adhered to a policy of rigid economy. The Treasurer of more than one of these Pro. vinces each year laments his inability to see a way of escape from the "gloomy groove of annual doticits." The, large and constantly in, creasimz debt of Quebec is from an Untario point ot view alarming. and all parties there seem .0 take it for granted that sooner or later the Federal Government must come to the rescue. Prince Edward Island has drawn upon capital account and is still behind. Nova Scotia and Now Brunswick have incurred lame debts. and they are once more agitating tor better terms. Nova Scotla urgently asks the Dominion to relieve her or liabilities to the amount of a million and a half of dollars. New Brunswick. with a population of onl 521,294. had at the close of last year a d'fdl'llht,'lri of 82,342,%'0. And where. sir. we may well ask, is this to end! i do not forget that these three smaller Provinces with an aggregate popula- tion of only 880,905,or twtrtirthkihrh of Untario alone. maintain separate Legislatures. each of them havinua IJeuntl chamber. and that because of this the tuirn'tnir,ttauvi, work is trebled. and the expenditures on educa- tion. administration of justice and public works " \cry lnuch larger than would otherwme be net-wanna At the same time we may well, nay. we must insist, that any settlement of thcso dillirultiee as cont-en" the future-t do not speak of existin' obliga- tions. whether by mean» of increased; annual grants to each ot the Provinces, having strict regard to population. or otlterwitso--rihGuhl be a cottsptihettsivo settlementarrn'ed ut alter a cart-till ctttdy ut the whole situation, altered as " is In so many regards since Contoderation: that it should be, an ah>olutely tinal settle: meat. made so by Imperial enactment; that, not another dollar ot the Federal [treasury should thereafter be spent in "special grants" or better 'te.rms," and that it should be in all regards fair, W0 ask no more. to our own Pro. "Uh $""""c""'" UL b".'" VA EVA-Ia v- vI-vu--- They have always fielded a rich return by way of interest. and t lore was no good reason why We should ask to have them handed over to us. And yet the suggestion came from the Finance Minister " Ut Lawn two years ago that the nsqttisito legislation should be had in order that the Dominion: might hand them, or In luwortunt part of them, over to Un, so that this contention can no longer be 1nrintaimy1. have boon so often axpminedwronttsW, Nttt. clmmzcd in amount. and the common school fund, the particulars of which We are all familiar with, is slightly increased because of the fact that it is this year divided on the bums or the recent cenuuu. 1'he amount of the bel- anee of unpaid subsidy and other crqdits.as appears in the schedule in our hands. v17... 81,b90,510, renioinaas it was last year. All told these assets amount to 85,303,077. From this sum We dcduccccutaln small balances due to the municipalities on account of the [and in provcmcnt fund, us also Quebec's share ot our collections on account of common school lands for two years past, in all817,560. We hadln hand bank balances to the amount, of 819,818, so that our aux-plus at tho end of the your. after deducting all liabilities now payable, amounted to 83.285915- Thu reality of this surplus can be no longer seriously qucationed. It was at one time con- tended that, while we could expect to f',',cf,'h',"r' interest from these trustfunds. we couldne er ge.rpost4crssiort of them yr, control them; ,