ciple; the naturalized Aliens in the country had been given certain rights which were being taken away and another "scrap of paper" torn up; if the franchise were tampered with on one occasion it could be on another and the people's liberties endangered. Back of these natural feelings was the fact of a large foreign vote in Alberta and Saskatchewan which usually went Liberal and which on this occasion would be doubly lost (1) by the men disfranchised, and (2) by the women who were not enfranchised. The Hon. F. Oliver (Sept. 8) put the issue strongly from his standpoint: “In order to create a special military class in this country we are to disfranchise the women of five of the great Provinces of Canada just as, in order to establish a military class, we give the franchise to men who never saw Canada and probably never will see it." A military caste, a junker aristocracy, an oligarchic Kaiserism, were some of his epithets.

G. E. McCraney (Lib.) declared that the object of the Bill was to re-elect the Government party; J. H. Sinclair (Lib.) asked (Sept. 10) "what kind of franchise are we going to have in this country if the Secretary of State continues to tamper with it, twist it and bedevil it?" and declared that the Bill "disfranchised a million women who lived between the Ottawa river and the Pacific coast and who were now entitled to vote'; J. W. Edwards (Cons.) argued that the women representing Overseas men had in the coming contest "an especial interest in seeing that the honour their men have won for this country is not put to shame by a Government which would be controlled by the anti-British and foreign element in this Dominion." Sir Wilfrid Laurier pointed out (Sept. 10) that the United States, with infinitely more alien enemies than Canada, had not taken this drastic course; that most of the disfranchised men were Austrians with Russian sentiment; that the best course as to women was to give the vote to all and not to a few. He moved that "the abridgment by this Parliament of the electoral franchise now enjoyed in any Province of the Dominion by any class of His Majesty's subjects would be contrary to the peace, order, and good government of Canada." The Bill was "a retrograde and German measure.' Sir Robert Borden in his reply asked: "If my Right Hon. friend says that we should call upon them (alien enemies) to pronounce judgment upon the issue of this war in this Election, will he shrink from declaring that they ought to be subject to the same military service as other citizens of Canada? If he takes the one position it seems to me that he must take the other." W. A. Buchanan (Lib.) resented the Bill as unfair to the Liberal members from the West who supported Conscription. The Laurier amendment was rejected by 46 to 34. Mr. Pugsley then moved an amendment, rejected by 47 to 35, that:

It is not desirable to disfranchise large numbers of the people of Canada who have taken the oath of allegiance, have been guaranteed the rights of citizenship in the name of His Majesty the King, and who have not failed to discharge all the obligations of citizenship; and further that any measure granting the franchise only to a limited number of women is contrary to the public interest and fails to recognize the splendid patriotic work which has been performed by the women of Canada, generally, during the present war.

The Bill then passed its 2nd reading by 47 to 35. The closure was applied several times and the 3rd reading passed on Sept. 15 by 53 to 32 after certain amendments had been voted down: (1) D. B. Neely-that Provincial franchise laws as to women's vote should guide the war franchise; (2) G. E. McCraney-giving every natural-born British subject a vote; (3) D. B. Neely-eliminating provision to remove franchise from any British subject qualified by Provincial law. In the Senate Sir James Lougheed presented the Act on Sept. 15 and the Opposition Leader (Hon. H. Bostock) moved the same amendment that Mr. Pugsley had presented in the Commons; it was lost by 30 to 25. Some minor amendments were made and accepted by the Commons. A. K. Maclean and the Nova Scotia Liberals put up a vigorous fight on the closing day of the Commons against the proposed system of arranging the Nova Scotia lists but a Senate compromise was accepted.

Other legislation passed included Mr. Roche's Chinese Immigration Bill, permitting students of China to visit Canada without paying head-tax, as in the United States; the incorporation of the Canadian Division, Aerial League of the British Empire, the Army and Navy Veterans in Canada, the General Council Canadian Boy Scouts, and the Daughters of the Empire; Sir T. White's War Charities Act, providing that all organizations appealing to the public for war charities, etc., must be registered with the Secretary of State; the Hon. Mr. Doherty's amendments to the Criminal Code (1) making the evidence of a wife admissible against the husband in prosecutions for non-support, (2) making it a criminal offence to have illicit connection on the part of an employer or person in a position of authority, (3) constituting it an offence for a trader who has become insolvent to have failed to keep regular books of account; an amending Bill of the Minister of Justice as to Insurance providing penalties under the Criminal Code for failure to take out a Dominion license and also an amendment making rebates on policy-premiums by agents of Provincial Insurance Companies subject to the same penalties as those of Dominion concerns.

An amendment to the Government Railways Act by Hon. F. Cochrane put these lines under the operation of the Railway Commissionexcept as to expropriation. Mr. Doherty's Bill as to Sale of Intoxicating Liquors was intended to strengthen the Provinces in administering Prohibition enactments with Senate amendments which the Minister accepted (1) eliminating a clause which would have prevented the circulation in Prohibition Provinces of outside newspapers containing liquor advertisements and (2) holding up the free right of search in private houses by constable or peace officer until information had been laid in the usual legal form before a Judge or magistrate. An important clause actually passed provided for the suspension of the Scott Act when other legislation was in force equally or more prohibitive in its restrictions-the authority to be the Governor-in-Council; Federal penalties were imposed upon Patent medicines containing certain amounts of alcohol in addition to Provincial penalties; a party shipping liquor in contravention of the Act could be tried either at the place of shipment

cr in the Province to which it was sent. Hon. Dr. Roche's Bill establishing a Soldier Settlement Board provided for 3 Commissioners under the Minister of the Interior and to empower the latter upon recommendation by the Board to (1) reserve such Dominion lands as might be required; (2) to grant a free entry for not more than 160 acres to any person who had served in the Naval or Military expeditionary forces of the United Kingdom, British Dominions or Colonies, and had left the forces with an honourable discharge, or to the widow of any such person dying on active service; (3) to provide that the Board might loan to such settler upon prescribed terms and for approved purposes sums up to $2,000.

The Dominion Companies Act was amended so as to compel companies to hold an annual meeting; to specify in elaborate detail the nature of the reports to be submitted by the Directors; to make the Auditor distinctly responsible to the shareholders; to authorize the Secretary of State to investigate the affairs of any Company and to appoint an Inspector for this purpose; to enlarge information required in Prospectuses along lines of the Ontario and Imperial Acts; to differentiate between private and public companies and permit incorporation of patriotic and similar societies without Act of Parliament. A measure presented by the Premier provided for a Minister of the Overseas Military Forces, a Parliamentary Secretary of the Department of Militia and Defence, and a Parliamentary Under Secretary of State for External Affairs with the salary of the Minister $7,000 and of the other officials $5,000 per annum. Resolutions were presented, but not passed, by J. G. Turriff asking for election of the House under Proportional Representation; by Michael Steele urging a separate Government Department for the supervision of Public Health; by W. M. German asking an amendment of the B.N.A. Act by the Imperial Parliament to change the Senate into an elective body chosen for seven years by districts with the same voting qualifications as for the Commons; by Clarence Jameson urging a Department of Fisheries under a separate Minister-withdrawn; by Hon. F. Oliver and F. B. Carvell proposing, on May 23rd, a wide free-trade adjustment in the Tariff. This proposal-rejected by 65 to 38-included wheat, flour, farm implements and machinery, mining and milling machinery, rough, partly dressed lumber, oils, chemical fertilizers, staple foods and food products and domestic animals, with lower duties on all general importations except luxuries. Parliament was prorogued on Sept. 20 by H.E. the Governor-General with a Speech referring to the War situation, eulogizing Canadian gallantry at Vimy and Lens, stating the urgent need for re-inforcements, and reviewing some of the legislation of the Session.

Conscription After two years of discussion, which increased in in Canada; feeling and effect from month to month; after War The Military experiences which changed a deep national and democratic antagonism to military compulsion into a popular belief as to its imperative necessity: the impossible became a fact, great difficulties were overcome and, in the middle of 1917, Conscription became the law of Canada. The Govern

Service Bill and its Operation.

ment had not been in favour of it and Sir Robert Borden in August 1914, and in January, 1915, had stated that it was not the intention to propose compulsory military service. As late as December, 1916, he declared that the National Service cards would not be used to promote Conscription. As the Premier put it in a letter to the Mayor of Montreal on July 13, 1917: "These statements were absolutely and literally true when they were made. No one could then estimate or even imagine the magnitude of the efforts necessary to win the War and thus to preserve our national existence." Of itself there was nothing dishonourable or opposed to National freedom in the acceptance of this policy. In the earlier periods of English history compulsory service was the badge of the freeman, and slaves only were exempt; conscription remained the basis of national defence under all the greater Kings including Henry II and Edward I; it operated side by side with voluntaryism under Elizabeth and, though Charles I preferred the volunteer system, Cromwell used compulsion freely. In the Wars with France conscription was used for Home defence; the volunteer system for Foreign service. Then came the British Peace period, the system of a voluntary army and militia. Before the world-war of 1914 had reached its 4th year Conscription had become the recognized policy of every country involved except Canada, South Africa and Australia-and in the two latter Dominions there was compulsory home training. The situation in Canada at the beginning of this year was that the Militia Act, under which "the Governor-in-Council may place the militia, or any part thereof, on active service anywhere in Canada, and also beyond Canada, for the defence thereof, at any time when it appears advisable so to do by reason of emergency" was not proclaimed; that the Canadian Army in France or England was there by special Parliamentary permission, Executive action and voluntary association; that no call had ever been made under the terms of the Militia Act by which the males of Canada, liable for military service, could have been enrolled, ordered for service and sent abroad. Under this Act the male population liable to service was divided into four classes:

(1) The 1st Class shall comprise all those of the age of 18 years and upwards, but under 30 years, who are unmarried or widowers without children.

(2) The 2nd Class shall comprise all those of the age of 30 years and upwards but under 45 years, who are unmarried or widowers without children.

(3) The 3rd Class shall comprise all those of the age of 18 years and upwards, but under 45 years, who are married or widowers with children.

(4) The 4th Class shall comprise all those of the age of 40 years and upwards, but under 60 years.

The right of compulsion was inherent in this Act without further Parliamentary action; the power had not been utilized and the Militia had remained, through three years of war, as merely a supply base for enlistment, for officers, for training volunteers. By the first of this year compulsion of some kind seemed imperative to all thoughtful men but the Government had to deal with many who were not in that category and with many, also, who were deliberately hostile to this method of raising men for reasons of a personal,

political, racial, or other nature. No stone was left unturned to avoid the contingency and, after the National Service Board and its effort to regulate and expedite work and enlistment, came the Lessard-Blondin attempt to arouse Quebec, and, finally, the Defence Force scheme. Meantime public opinion grew steadily in favour of compulsory action. The Hon. P. E. Blondin in Quebec told the people of Joliette (May 5) that Conscription would have to come if recruiting failed; N. W. Rowell, M.L.A. (Ontario Liberal leader), at Thamesford on Feb. 12 and at various other places, urged the putting into force of the Militia Act, so far as calling out the first class for Home defence was concerned; the Vancouver Daily Sun (Lib.) also urged enforcement of the Act (Feb. 8) and, in Toronto, The Star (Lib.) was converted by the United States' example to support the adoption of Conscription by selective draft, under the Militia Act (May 8), as being a democratic and fair method.

Sir C. H. Tupper (Ind.-Cons.) in Vancouver on Jan. 4 described the existing crisis in the life of liberty, declared the voluntary system exhausted, deprecated the Government's delay in taking action, opposed a popular vote upon the question as a "Referendum to slackers" and contrary to British constitutional procedure, urged immediate compulsion; Sir Sam Hughes, in Parliament and elsewhere, advocated prompt enforcement of the Militia Act as did Conservative papers like the Toronto Mail and the World. Resolutions in favour of compulsion of some kind were passed by a massmeeting at Windsor (Jan. 3) and by Conservatives at Niagara Falls (Jan. 9); leading Winnipeg citizens in a Petition to the Government urged re-organization and conscription of men and money, with A. M. Nanton, G. W. Allan, R. T. Riley, J. H. Munson, C. W. Rowley, W. J. Bulman, W. J. Tupper, John Galt, A. L. Crossin and C. F. Roland amongst the signatories; a War and National Service League, formed in Vancouver (Jan. 24) with Mr. Justice Macdonald, chairman, urged "immediate compulsory military service," while a Conference of officers at Ottawa on the same day, with Major-Gen. W. A. Logie presiding, unanimously asked Militia Act enforcement; the National Service Board, meeting in Conference at Ottawa (Feb. 10) declared officially that "action should be taken by the Dominion Government to mobilize a large army for home defence, and the provisions of the Militia Act in that behalf should be made effective"; in Toronto, Lieut.-Col. John A. Cooper (Feb. 12) before going overseas, urged conscription through the Militia Act and declared the voluntary system exhausted, while officers of No. 1 Military District at London made a similar statement on the same day; in Winnipeg a Convention of Manitoba Agricultural Societies (Feb. 14) declared that under existing circumstances Conscription is justified" and promised their support; the Toronto City Council by Resolution on Feb. 19 demanded immediate enforcement of the Militia Act and the annual meeting of the Women's Anglican Diocesan Auxiliary supported the proposal (May 4); the Canadian Defence League, Toronto (May 8), and the Edmonton Board of Trade (May 15) urged Conscription.