Ontario elections, 1879. Seven years of liberal government. Electors' guide.

You know that we took up the subject in the first session after you had given me your confidence and elected me as your repre- sentative ; and to settle the difficulty it was our good fortune to devise a measure which gave satisfaction to the whole country and to all parties in the country."Justice to all done, "We found a way, which the Legislature adopted, and by which the indebted municipalities were relieved, upon principles admitted at the time to be just and at the same time satisfactory to the unindebted municipalities ; and we compelled those defaulting municipalities to pay that were able to pay, and had no equitable reason to urge for not paying.We required these to pay to the extent of their ability, and we defined certain principles by which that object should be accomplished without favouritism to any." * * * *It is not to be forgotten that a large permanent sur plus is an anomaly, an exceptional state of things, and that in all selfgoverned communities it is felt by all classes of the people and by all parties, to be in general a wise thing to expend usefully from year to year the whole revenue.I say to expend usefully, for it would be a bad thing to expend uselessly any part of what we have.But if the whole is usefully expended, aod with requisite care, we have the testi- mony of the world that it is better that the annual revenue should as a rule be employed and not hoarded. The Depression Alleviated.The effect of the expenditure for useful objects of the past seven years, was also, in the Woodstock speech, shown to have been largely and directly in the public interest.The period during which this large amount of money was expended was a period of depression, arising from causes which have been dis- cussed considerably of late, which most of you are now familiar with, and which did not affect one nation only, but affected the entire com- mercial world.It is a remarkable fact that, though Ontario shared in the depression, it suffered less than most other countries did ; and one cause of that circumstance undoubtedly was, that, during that trying period, these twenty-two mOlions of dollars were being expended in the building of the local railways of the country.It was not only the spending of that large sum that made us feel the depression less than it was felt elsewhere.The railways so built increased values generally, as fast as the railways were completed.They increased, in the country through which they passed, the value of farm property, of farm labour, and of farm products ; they diminished the expense and difficulty of bringing products to market ; they led to the creation of new villages, and they increased the prosperity of villages and towns already existing.These railways served, too, to facilitate the settlement of our unoccupied lands, to promote commercial and social intercourse, and in various ways, directly and indirectly, they added to the wealth, the comfort, and the general well-being of the people.Our railway expenditure, leading as it did to so many direct and so many incidental advantages, constituted a very important factor in the causes of the comparative freedom which this Province enjoyed from the distress that prevailed in other countries. FURTHER M3ASURES OF 1871-2.Pledges In Opposition Redeemed.Among the important Ministerial measures passed in 1871-2 under Mr. Blake's Premiership were :" An Act further to secure the Independence of the Legislative Assembly," which prohibited members from holding, at the nomination of the Crown, offices payable by fees.A measure to Abolish Dual Representation.An Act providing for the institution of Suits against the Crown by Petition of Right.An Act to allow matters to be proved under oath for the purposes of the Legislative Assembly. Acts providing for the Remission of certain sums due by Settlers inFree Grant Townships, and granting a long delayed measure of relief to Settlers in arrear on Common School Lands.An Act enabling the Government to advance money upon Municipal Debentures in aid of Drainage, at a charge for interest of five per cent, per annum.An Act limiting the Incomes of Registrars, and providing that fees in excess of their legal emoluments should be paid over to the county.An Act to extend the rights of property of married women.At the same time the Act under which the previous Govern- ment had taken arbitrary powers to divide counties for registration pur- poses was repealed. Bights of Married Women;Alluding to this measure, Atty-General Mowat said, with respect to the property of married women : "You know how barbarous the old English laws on that sub- ject were.They had been modified from time to time in Canada, but until this time a married woman was not entitled to her own earnings ; a dissolute, drunken, or thriftless husband might take the whole, unless she went before a magistrate, proved her husband's misconduct, and obtained an order of protection.That was a pro- ceeding which experience showed that few women cared to take, even though they were great sufferers, and it was unjust to require that a poor woman, besides the misfortune of having a bad husband, should be compelled to expose to the world the unhappy condition of herself and her children.A law was therefore passed which removed the in- justice, and gave to a married woman a right to her own earnings with- out that previous process." Abolition of Dual Representation.' ' me to sue you in one court, and you to go to another and say that the " suing in the court in which I sued was unjust and unrighteous, and " have the one Court stop the proceedings in the other.The system was " such, that it was almost incredible that it should exist amongst sensible ' ' people.My hon.friend dealt with that subject in a manner that was " tentative-which was, I confess, not quite so complete as I had thought " at the time was desirable ; but I believe that events have justified the " wisdom of the slow hastening which my hon.friend practised on that " occasion.A more complete attempt was made in England, but the "result of hastening too fast in that direction has been, that the hene- " ficial effects of that measure have yet to be reaped.It is necessary that "the profession, the judges, and the public to a certain extent, should " be prepared for such alterations in our legal system as this ; that there "should not be too great and sudden a wrench ; and that the change " should be ma'de gradually in order to be effectual.Much has been " done towards the simplification of legal procedure and the consequent " reduction of expenditure to suitors ; but I don't think that that field is "yet by any means exhausted."Globe, March 8, 1879. Court of Error and Appeal.The additions to the justiciary above referred to having been the subject of absurd misrepresentation by a recent senatorial pamphleteer, Mr. Mowat referred to the matter at Toronto, in his speech delivered | Jan. 8th, 1879, in the following terms : " Amongst other things the Senator states that the Reform Govern-I ments at Ottawa and Toronto have < created two Courts of Appeal-the Court of Error and Appeal for Ontario, and the Supreme Court at '20 end had no mwnber, but was represented only as part of the county oi Lincoln.

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