bribery and intimidation, which was very common under the old system of “open voting.” It is very doubtful whether the Act has had all the effect on bribery it was expected to have. Another and a later law bearing on elections was the Dominion Franchise Act, which made the right to vote for members of the Dominion Parliament the same throughout the Dominion. Previous to this act the franchises for the Dominion elections were the same as the franchise in the several Provinces. This Act was passed in 1885, and besides making the franchise uniform, it greatly increased the number of voters, so much so, that now nearly every man twenty-one years of age, and over, has a vote. Before this was passed another measure which created a great deal of ill-feeling, became law. This was the Redistribution Bill of 1882, which seriously changed the boundaries of nearly every constituency in Ontario, for the purpose, it was said by the Government, of equalizing the number of electors in the different constituencies. The Liberals complained that the change was made so as to give their Conservative opponents an unfair advantage in the coming elections.
Among other political measures since Confederation we must notice the increase in the number of representatives in Parliament—there being now ninety-two from Ontario, sixty-five from Quebec, sixteen from New Brunswick, twenty-one from Nova Scotia, six from Prince Edward Island, five from Manitoba, six from British Columbia, and four from the North-West Territories. A Supreme Court of Appeal was established in 1875, to avoid the expense of taking appeals from Canada to the British Privy Council; although appeals are yet allowed to the Privy Council, and are frequently taken there. Then again, in 1879, anew tariff was framed, which greatly increased the duties on foreign goods; and although every session changes are made, yet they are generally arranged for the purpose of “protecting native industries.”
5. Provincial Legislation.—Though many important laws have been passed by the Dominion Parliament, equally important measures have been enacted by the Provincial Legislatures. These laws deal with a great many subjects, such as education; the regulation of the liquor traffic ; aid to railways; the establishment of asylums for the deaf, dumb, blind, and insane; the better management of prisons; the sale of timber limits; mining regulations;
