CANADA GUARANTEE COMPANY'S BILL. THIRD READING. Hon. Mr. FERRIER moved the third reading of Bill (36) "An Act further to amend the Act incorporating the Canada Guarantee Company, and to change the name of the said Company to the Guarantee Company of North America." He asked permission of the House to correct a clerical error in the Bill by striking out the words "or authorized" in the 5th section. GOVERNMENT RAILWAY LAWS CON Hon. SOLIDATION BILL. SECOND READING. thing special that I need discuss on the second reading. Hon. Mr. SCOTT - The Bill seems to be, as my hon. friend has observed, a consolidation of the laws at present in force, but there are some changes made in that law, and the marginal references have failed to disclose the fact that the proposed law is not similar to the law from which it is assumed to be gathered, and it is extremely desirable in a bill of this sort if we could have pointed out to As an illus The amendment was allowed, and the us what the changes were. Bill was read the third time and passed.tration, take clause 27, sub-sec. 3, where it proposes to refer all matters between the people and the Government in reference to claims for compensation arising from one cause or other, to the official arbitrators, rather than to the courts of Sir ALEX. CAMPBELL moved the second reading of Bill (9.) under certain circumstances, to apply to law. At present it is open to parties, "An Act to amend and consolidate the the court by petition of right where a laws relating to Government Railways." personal injury has been sustained, for He said: The Government is owner instance. In such cases as that it does of railways running into different pro- not seem to me that the official arbitravinces of the Dominion, and the laws trators are a correct or proper tribunal which govern the administration of the to refer them to. It is a proper tribunal affairs of these railways are to be found for hearing of questions in relation to in very many volumes, often the enact- the appropriation of lands for railways, ments of different legislatures, and it has or to ascertain damages as between conbeen, on several occasions, found to be a tractors and the Government, but 1 do matter of uncertainty and difficulty, and not think it is the proper tribunal to embarrassing to those who are adminis- select in cases where nice points of law tering the Government railways, to be are involved. If the hon. gentleman obliged to consult a number of statutes, would have that in view in considering to be found in many different volumes, the proposed changes, as I have not had for the purpose of finding out what may a very good opportunity to thoroughly be the law affecting some particular point examine the Bill, he might ascertain or difficulty. The Bill which is under from the Minister of Justice or his consideration has been introduced for the deputy whether, in framing the clause, purpose of consolidating all the laws he had in view that all cases of comaffecting Government railways, and plac-plaint against the Government should ing them in one Act for the more convenient administration of such works, and so that the law may be clear, and may be found in one statute. There is very little that is new in this Bill. Hon. gentlemen will perceive marginal notes Hon. Sir ALEX. CAMPBELL — have been added to every clause showing There is nothing new in the clause which the origin of the different sections; they the hon. gentleman refers to. It is are to be found in the margin of the copied verbatim from 41 Vic., chap. 8, copy which has been distributed, and sec. 3. I do not think there is any new where a section is new, the word "new" provision on the subject of arbitration. will be found. This word will be found The statute referred to in the margin in but few places, comparatively, but was an act passed in reference to public where it occurs I shall be glad to submit works, and, of course, railways are pubexplanations to the House when in Com-lic works as well as canals are pubmittee. I do not think there is any-lic works. In fact, all public works necessarily go to the official arbitrators, or whether cases that have heretofore gone into the courts shall still be referred to the courts. come It Hon. Sir ALEX. CAMPBELL would be a question for the tribunals to which application might be made for redress. There is a clause here under which such claims can be referred to the Dominion arbitrators. There is no clause here increasing or diminishing the liability of the Government in any way. within the purview purview of this Act. This is an instance of what we are endeavoring to do by this Bill-to group together in this one Act a number of the provisions found in different statutes as applied to Government railways. In that particular case that provision was almost by itself. Then, if the hon. gentleman will refer to the last clause of the Bill, he will find that the sections which contain new provisions are there pointed out and NATURALIZATION AND ALIENS BILL. numbered. I shall, of course, be very glad, when the Bill goes to Committee, to make any explanations that may be necessary. The Bill was read the second time. SECOND READING. Hon. Sir ALEX. CAMPBELL moved the second reading of Bill (G) "An Act Respecting Naturalization and Aliens." He said: This Bill has been on the paper for some time, owing to the Hon. Mr. DICKEY - The new part of the Bill is not so unimportant as represented, because there are 24 new sec-difficulty of preparing it, this difficulty tions in it, and there is a section at the end to which I should like to call my hon. friend's attention. Section 131 contains a very sweeping provision. I have not had time to examine its bearings upon the other parts of the Bill, but it is to the effect that the 2nd and 4th sections of the Consolidated Railway Act, so far as they relate to Government railways, are repealed. The sections of that Act are very extensive. They apply sections 5 to 78, both inclusive, to the Intercolonial Railway. Both those clauses are proposed to be repealed by this 131st clause. What the bearing of this may be I cannot say at the present moment, but it has a very sweeping effect, striking some 75 sections out of the first Act. Hon. Mr. HAYTHORNE- I should like to know if it is the intention of the Government to recognize in any part of this Bill the liability of the Government, in case of injury to passengers through accidents resulting from the condition of the Government railways. The road may be out of repair, the rolling stock may be inefficient, and in such case the laches would be on the part of the Govment. Is it the intention of the Government to make themselves liable, in such cases, for injuries sustained by passengers? being caused by correspondence between Hon. Sir ALEX. CAMPBELL There has been a convention between the Hon. Mr. MILLER So that a German citizen, to acquire full in charge how our legislation is to benaturalization as a British subject, come operative, in Germany for instance. not only here, but in the country Is there any condition of the law in Gerof his birth, would require to live in Can- many which would render our legislation ada five years, but, for all purposes in here operative upon the passage of this this country, he will become naturalized Bill? in three years. The provisions of the Bill are for the most part the same as those that obtain in this country and in England. We consider it a matter of very great moment to follow the laws of England as far as we can with reference to a subject which we require, in order to give effectual force to our legislation, the co-operation and aegis of the Government of the Empire to completely carry it out, and, therefore, we desire, as far as possible, that our legislation should run with the legislation of the mother country upon this subject. Provisions will be found in the Bill for a variety of cases which happen from time to time, such as that of persons desiring to change their allegiance, but these are matters of small interest. The main features of the Bill are the clauses providing for the naturalization of foreigners in this country. I do not think I need now give further explanations of the Bill. All will agree on the principle of the measure, and I shall be glad to avail myself, as far as possible, of any suggestion which may be made in Committee. I know there has been such a convention with reference to subjects of Germany settling in Great Britain, and subjects of Great Britain settling in Germany, but I do not think the terms of that convention extend to the colonies of the Empire. What I would like to know is, whether there has been any alteration of the terms of the convention which would include foreigners settling in Canada and becoming naturalized under this law, and enable them to stand in the same relation to the laws of their native country (say Germany) as if they had settled in England? Hon. Sir ALEX. CAMPBELL Yes. That precise difficulty has been raised by the ambassador representing Great Britain in Berlin, and the convention which has been made will include Canadians and other colonists of the British Empire, who conform in the several colonies to the five years' residence, in compliance with the laws of Germany, and it is that which has been brought about. For Hon. Mr. REESOR considered that it only applied to political elections; according to his reading, municipal elections might be held at the same time as in the original Act was based was that had beer. held that an election comelections under the Temperance Act menced on nomination day. should be, as far as possible, removed from all political complications. that reason it was made general, so that it should not apply to any election day; now the desire seemed to be to confine it to polling days, and permit such elec-elections under this Act. tions to take place on nomination days, when as much political excitement might prevail as there would be on a polling day. He would like his hon. friend to explain why it was that he had altered his views on this subject. Hon. Mr. DICKEY said it applied also to local and municipal elections. He thought his hon. friend was rather unjust to the father of this Bill when he spoke of it as having emanated from the Minister of Justice. He (Mr. Dickey) always understood that it was known and spoken of as the Scott Act, and he gave his hon. friend the leader of the Opposition the credit of an Act which, up to this time, had borne his name rather than that of "The Temperance Act." Hon. Mr. VIDAL said the clause was not prepared by himself. The Bill emanated from the Minister of Justice, and he (Mr. Vidal) had not presumed to make any alteration in the document. He would remind the House that this part of the Bill was precisely, word for word, the same as it was in the Bill that Hon. Hr. VIDAL said that he had had been introduced into the Senate last referred to the section which they were year by the Minister of Inland Revenue, now considering as having been drawn and no such objection had been made to up by the Minister of Justice, and introit as that now raised by the hon. gentle-duced into this House by a member of man from Amherst. Under the system of conducting elections there was no excitement on nomination day, and the only intention of the clause was to avoid having two pollings on the same day for different objects. That was the intention of Parliament passing that clause ; and it was to clear up any doubt on that point that this amendment was desired. present Hon. Mr. MILLER said he believed that he was responsible for the present condition of the law on that subject. It was he who had proposed the amendment to the Act introduced by his hon. friend from Ottawa, prohibiting the voting under this Act from taking place on the same day as a political election. It was his intention at that time, and he thought it was the intention of the Legislature, when adopting that amendment, that it should refer to polling day only, and not to nomination day. As the hon. gentleman from Sarnia had very correctly observed, nomination day, under the present law, was a very different thing from what it used to be under the old system. He was not disposed to take any exception to the Bill before the House. Hon. Mr. VIDAL said the necessity for the clause arose from the fact that it the Government at the time. The clause was adopted. Hon. Mr. VIDAL moved the adoption of the third clause. Hon. Mr. DICKEY said that this third clause was still more surprising than the first one, because this Act was where licenses were granted in the varifounded upon the presumption that, into force on the expiry of those licenses. ous counties, the Act could only come As to that part of the section which provides that the Act should only go into force after the expiry of the last license in the county, it might be all very proper, his hon. friend had introduced a clause but he could not understand why to make this law apply to counties where and where the sale of liquor was wholly no licenses whatever had been issued, illegal. That was the case in a great many counties in Nova Scotia, and it was really the reason why this Temperance Act had never been taken hold of at all in those counties. There were where no licenses were granted, land some places in New Brunswick, also, where there was no authority to sell [iquor; yet the hon. gentleman wanted an amendment to this law to enable him to bring the Scott Act into force in those | The object, as he understood it, was to counties. In Nova Scotia they had a meet the case of those counties where no far more stringent law in reference to licenses were granted, and, although they the sale of intoxicating liquors than even had a very good license law in Nova Scotia the Scott Act. The license laws were if it were carried into execution and its still in force in those counties, and would provisions were put into operation, still be unless this Legislature should under-in no part of that province was the law take virtually to repeal them. At the same time, he was sorry to add that in many places they had just as much drinking as they had before the adoption of the Canada Temperance Act. Hon. Mr. VIDAL wished to remind the hon. gentleman that this section had emanated from the same source as the previous one, and when it was introduced last session the necessity of it was fully explained. He had pointed out very distinctly that the wording of the Act of 1878 was such as to cast a doubt as to when the Act could be brought into force in a county where no licenses were in force, and in which it had been adopted because of the want of some fixed day on which licenses had to expire. It had been found that there were no licenses issued in one of the counties of New Brunswick which adopted the Act; and the difficulty at once occurred as to what time the second part of the Act should be brought into force and take effect in such county. This clause was to declare that, where no licences were issued, the Act should come into force ninety days after the proclamation issued. It also made provision for cases where the licenses were not issued, and, consequently, did not expire at a uniform date, as they do in Ontario. In provinces where the licenses were issued at irregular intervals, the Act would come into force only after the expiration of sixty days from the day on which the Order in Council issued, and not to be before the day on which every license issued before the petition was adopted by the electors will have expired. Hon. Mr. MILLER said he understood very distinctly the object of this clause, and, if they were to have the Scott Act in operation at all, it was quite necessary to remove any doubt such as was said to exist in this respect. It did not exist in his mind, but, if it existed in the mind of a lawyer occupying the position of Minister of Justice, it was well that they should have some law to remove that doubt. more neglected than in the counties he referred to. In those counties where the municipal authorities refuses to grant licenses, two or three clerks of licenses were appoined, and, as there was salary attached to the office, they took very little trouble in executing the law. The no consequence was that, instead of having respectable taverns (if his hon. could be such a thing) where liqnor was sold, and having them few in number, they had, scattered all over those counties, low, disreputable dens, selling a poisonous kind of liquor, and doing an friend from Sarnia could admit there infinite amount of mischief. The clause was adopted. On the 6th clause, Hon. Mr. ODELL thought that this was an extraordinary section, and one that should receive very careful consideration before it was passed. A very stringent, and, in a great many of its provisions, an extraordinary Bill had passed, which had been in operation now for some little time, and it appeared to him that no difficulty had been discovered read this section aright, it interfered comin carrying it into operation. But, if he clauses of the Temperance Act of 1878. pletely with a great number of the By referring to the Act of 1878 it would heading was "Proceedings for bringing the second part of this Act into force," and these proceedings occupied from the 4th to the 96th section. Now, he desired to ascertain from the hon. member from Sarnia, who had charge of this Bill, why it was that these preliminaries were to be made merely directory, and that no Order in Council should be void or voidable on account of any irregularity or omission of any matter preliminary, so that the Temperance League might, by any means they chose to adopt, omit any portion of these preliminaries, and, by getting an Order in Council passed, bring the Act into operation, whether their be found that at the 4th section the |