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1306 hi s us 5 Lt Pakey, Toh a--PCaP h inw*t He pointed out the necessity of keep-- ing pace with the growth of the Pro-- vince, and, referring to the claim of the Opposition that the remedy lies in smaller expenditure, Hon. Mr. Davis | asked where the reduction could be made, and the only reduction suggest-- ed by Mr. Matheson was to cut off one or two officials. He called attention to the fact that if every official in the Parliament buildings was to be dis-- pensed with not one--half of the $400,000 | reduction which that hon. gentleman | said should be made in the expendl-- | ture would be effected. In illustration |Cf the sincerity of the cry of the Op-- | position for a reduction of the num-- \ ber of officials, Mr. Davis read from a 'y sheet issued during the last general election in advocacy of the election of Messrs. Miscampbell, Duff, Thompson and Little, in which supporters of those hon. gentlemen were advised to "pick out your offices, 'boys." He asked how the hon. gentléemen proposed to reduce the expenditure for officials when they had promised all the offices= to their supporters. Comparing the record of the ~Sandfield. Macdonald _ Govern-- ment< with that <of < the ~present Government in --the Department of the Provincial Secretary, he showed that salaries had not increased in the samse proportion as the work of the depart-- ment. The records showed that the ex-- penditure of the Province had for some years prior to and Ancluding 1896 been reduced every year, but in 1897 and 1898 owing .to exceptional expenditures on cunsolidation of 'statutes and elections there had been slight increases. One Oot the guiding principles of the Gov-- ernment had been economy--not false economy, but true economy in the ex-- penditure of the revenues of the Pro-- vince in the best interests of the peo-- ple. He agreed'in part with the asser-- tion of hon. gentlemen opposite that they ought not to be expected to show in detail where »they would: make the reduction in expenditure. The people and the country; however, would de-- mand that they show in a general way how it was propesed to make reduc-- tions. In passing he paid a high tri-- bute to the eifficiency and intesrity of the officials of the Province. There are two ways of meeting the exigencies of the occasion--to.draw upon the assets of the Province--or to open up new squrces of revenue. The Government could, he had no hesitation in saying, have drawn upon those assets, which now bear interest at 5 per cent., and for many years to come maintain the equilibrium between revenue and ex-- penditure. The Government had, how-- ever, decided, and wisely so, to sceek new sources of revenue, and had adopt-- ed the principle, the soundness of which hon. members had unanimously admit-- ted, of taxing public corporations. He denied that the City of Toronto had beon badly treated at the hands of the Legislature, and pointed out that the City of Toronto and County of York in 26 years has received from the Gov-- ernment of the Province the sum of $3,493,644 68, or an average of $131,000 per annum, of which the City of To-- ronto alone has received $107,000 per annum, and the amount is still grow-- ing. He appealed to Toronto and other munlclpalltles to look at the matter Jjustly and equitably in the interests of the Province. t _ The second reading was then declared I carried on the same division reversed. Mr. Pettyplece controverted the idea that the revenue bill was a blow at Toronto. The object was to reuch sov-- eral corporations having their head-- quarters hore, whith had hith>rto large-- ly escaped municipal taxation. Accord-- ing to the returns made to the Domin-- ion Government the forty--four life in-- surance compani¢s doing business . in this country held real estate uneneum-- boered to the value of $4.500,000, and the net income of their business over ex-- penditure amounted . to $5,335,004. in taxes, lMcense fees and so forth they only paid $55,000, or. less than 5 1--2 mills on the dollar. That did not include per-- sonal property. The Province now ask-- ed these companies to pay $44.000, or a total of $100,000. Those wealthy cor-- porations should have been taxed long ago, and when the psople realized how they escaped their obligations a de-- n;nand would go up for further taxa-- tion. + # the pron;lons of the bill, which closed the door to Toronto:in respect of fu-- ture legislation with regard to the tax-- ation of certain companiles. If it was proper to introduce a bill now, it was proper to have done so a year ago, when the deficit ought to have hbeen an-- ticipated. The Government carefuily abstained from going to the people with this measure of direct taxation, and ap-- pealed for popular support «on the ground that they had a large surplus. The people took the Government at their word, and supported them in mis-- apprehension of the true facts of the case. He moved the six months' hoist. Mr. Miscampbelldeclared that the Government was at the last resort, and was now seeking to relieve itself by direct taxation. 'The tax on life in-- surance companies would come out of the profits of these companies, and would be paid by th»> widows and or-- phans. It was an extrems measure. The Division. The House then divided on the amendment, which was negatived on the following division :-- Yeas--Allen, Barr, Beatty (Leeds), Boyd, Brower, Carnegie, Crawford, Dempsey, Duff, Eilber, Fallis, Foy, Fox, Gallagher, Hodgins, Hoyle, Jamieson, Jessop, Joynt, Kidd, Kribs, Little, Lucas, Marter, Matheson, Miscampbeil, Morrison, McDonald, McLaughlin, Powell, Pyne, Reid (Addington), Reid (Durham), Thompson, Tucker, White, Whitney--37. Nays -- Auld, Aylsworth, Beatty (Parry Sound), Blezard, Bowman, Bridgland, _ Brown, Burt, Caldwell, Campbell, Carpenter, Chariton, Clarke, Conmee, Davis, Dickenson, Douglas, Dryden, Farweil, Ferguson, (Gibson, Graham, Guibo:d, Harcourt, Hardy, Harty, Hill, Hislop, Holmes, Leys, Loughrin, Lumsden, Malcolm, Mutrie, Macnish, McKay, McKee, Pardee, Par-- do, Pattullo, Pettypiece, Richardson, Ross, Russell, SmitA, Stratton, Taylor, Truax--48. The pairs were Messrs. Garrow and Cargcallen, German and Wardell, Bar-- ber and Colquhoun. §