and improvements in our municipal laws. In Ontario, under the long administration of Hon. Oliver Mowat which began in 1872, two very important laws have been passed—one dealing satisfactorily with the indebtedness of municipalities to the Municipal Loan Fund, and the other, with the regulation of the liquor traffic. The latter, popularly known as the Crooks’ Act (so called from the Hon. Adam Crooks, its framer), has done a great deal to lessen drunkenness, vice, and crime. Then again, the franchise has been greatly extended in the different provinces, and voting by ballot, except for school trustees, has been made compulsory. Unmarried women and widows in Ontario, with the necessary property qualifications, have been given the right to vote in municipal elections, but not in elections for members of either the Provincial or Dominion Parliament. In Prince Edward Island the difficulty with the “proprietors” has been settled in the interests of the people. Quebec has, by the payment of four hundred thousand dollars, disposed of the “Jesuit Estates” question, while Manitoba has secured the right to build railways within her borders. Ontario has had several legal conflicts with the Dominion as to her proper boundaries, her right to regulate the liquor traffic, and her right to control the Crown lands in her territory, all of which questions have been decided by the British Privy Council in favor of the Province. The exercise of the right to veto provincial laws has caused some friction between the Provinces and the Dominion; but the wise decisions of the British Privy Council have led to a strong feeling in the Dominion against interfering with provincial legislation. To avoid any undue influence being exercised by the Dominion over the Provinces, members of the Dominion Parliament are not allowed to be members of Provincial Legislatures.
6. The North-West Rebellion.—One painful incident in our history must now be told. In 1885 a number of French Half-breeds, who had settled on the Saskatchewan River, in the North-West, rose in revolt against the Dominion, and induced several Indian tribes to join them. The cause of this rebellion was the fear these people had that their lands were to be taken from them and given to the incoming settlers. Surveyors had been sent among them, and this excited fears, which were not regarded until it was too late to prevent mischief. There were also complaints of ill-
