"The French-Canadians resisted en masse because they are en masse and by instinct Nationalist. After the War parties will be broken up again. The alignment will be on two principal questionsthe settlement of our accounts with England and the readjustment of our economic equilibrium. In the conflict between Imperialism and Nationalism the place of the French-Canadians is established." As to Party totals-important to politicians when the War should end and new adjustments be possible-the Conservatives elected numbered 115, the Laurier Liberals 82, the Union Liberals 38. The result by Provinces and in detail was as follows:

The total Government vote of all kinds, according to the Report of W. F. O'Connor, General Returning Officer, was 1,057,793 and the total for the Opposition 763,371. Of the Soldiers' vote 37,386 was polled in North America, 112,095 in France and 84,890 in England a total of 234,371 including, apparently, those taken at sea and in Italy. Three Ontario Liberal members who voted Conscription, but were not endorsed by the Government, held their seats-Duncan Ross in W. Middlesex, R. E. Truax in S. Bruce and A. B. McCoig in Kent. Sir W. Laurier was defeated in Ottawa and W. M. German in Welland by a Conservative, though he had supported Conscription; Hon. Frank Cochrane, though fighting in Timiskaming a combined French and Labour oppposition, was elected. The highest majority was that of Major G. W. Andrews, D.S.O., in Centre Winnipeg (20,930); next to him was Sir G. E. Foster, 18,237, in North Toronto; G. W. Allan, K.C., had 16,515 in Winnipeg South and W. F. Maclean came next in South York with 14,023; Edouard Savard in Chicoutimi had 10,031, and the Rev. Dr. H. P. Whidden in Brandon 10,136. All were Unionists except Mr. Savard. On Dec. 13 Sir Robert Borden issued a statement declaring that:

It was not a partisan victory in any sense. The splendid elements of the Liberal party who worked so strenuously and with such magnificent results in every Province except one are to be congratulated equally with the Conservatives. Equally fine was the spirit of the Conservatives who, regardless of party affiliations, supported and elected Union-Liberal candidates in many ridings. It was a notable test of democracy. The Canadian people, after more than three years of heroic devotion and untold sacrifice, were called upon to say whether Canada's effort in the War should be maintained. In the midst of the campaign the test of compulsory military service had to be applied. No more severe trial of the self-endurance of a democracy was ever made.

THE EASTERN PROVINCES OF CANADA

Ontario: Government, Legislation

and Political

Issues.

The Hearst Government in 1917 had important issues to deal with but they were not, in the main, of a partisan nature. The Prime Minister was knighted during the year as the successor of Sir Oliver Mowat and Sir James Whitney; he delivered a number of eloquent speeches upon war-work and its problems and in the Union Government campaign; he proved himself an energetic Minister of Agriculture and helped to promote production. His Government further advanced the Hydro-Electric policy and perfected the administration of the Workmen's Compensation Act and the operation of Prohibition, gave a vote to Women and standardized municipal accounting with, also, the creation of a Deputy Minister and Bureau of Municipal Affairs.

During the year the Premier promised a Deputation (Feb. 9) careful attention to certain Town-Planning suggestions; declined (Apr. 1), on account of War conditions, to undertake at present the building of a College of Arts; arranged with N. W. Rowell, K.C., Leader of the Opposition (Apr. 6) not to have any more bye-elections in Ontario until after the War and no Provincial election, at least, until after another Session; told a Delegation (Apr. 25) that there was room for successful ranching in Ontario and that "the Provincial Prison Farm at Burwash had proved that the luscious clover and grasses of Northern Ontario were superior for feeding purposes to those of Alberta"; dealt in elaborate and detailed form with the constitution and character of Ontario institutions in a University of Toronto lecture on May 10; joined hands with Mr. Rowell and others at a non-political meeting in Toronto (June 11) and made an earnest plea to enact and support Conscription, "to exercise every force, to use every endeavour, to enact every Act of Parliament that is possible to strengthen our line at the Front and win the War, to bring the full force of the nation to play in this great death struggle"; spoke on July 2 at Exhibition Park to thousands of people on the lessons of Canada's 50 years of Confederation and the need of fresh consecration to the cause of liberty through re-inforcements of men and munitions; addressed a Win-the-War Convention in Toronto (Aug. 2) with the declaration that the "only choice left to us is the choice between fulfilment of our solemn obligation to our men at the Front and desertion-between courage, determination and action and everlasting dishonour and disgrace.

As Minister of Agriculture Sir Wm. Hearst published throughout the Province a series of appeals during the year for increased production and did much to ensure progress by urging the organization of vegetable gardens in every possible locality; by obtaining the help of High School boys in seeding farms and reaping harvests; by calling on city men and retired farmers to enlist in the fight against food shortage; by running agricultural-instruction cars over the

Grand Trunk lines in Eastern Ontario fully equipped with exhibits, samples, modern machinery and instructors; by asking manufacturers in August to release as many men as they possibly could for harvest work on the farms-with 10,000 men or boys required; by purchasing and putting into 37 counties of the Province over 90 farm tractors in order to facilitate seeding for the 1917 and 1918 crops; by appointing R. R. Harding, a Thorndale sheep-breeder, to make a complete survey of the waste lands of old and new Ontario and to obtain full information as to their possibilities in cattle and sheep-ranching; by helping the Toronto Board of Trade to launch its campaign (Mar. 21) for the mobilization of urban labour resources to assist agricultural production and pledging the Government's co-operation with any other organization in the Province along these lines; by establishing a Government Employment Bureau to aid the farmer in obtaining labour; by urging attention to sheep-raising in a Province where 600,000 sheep compared with 7,000,000 in New York State; by holding a Provincial Conference at the Parliament Buildings on Oct. 31 to promote potato cultivation and (Nov. 6) another to give an impetus to hog production on the farm and through urban cooperation; by issuing leaflets and pamphlets on egg-production, pigfeeding and many similar subjects; by giving all possible Government aid to the Ontario Agricultural College which in 1917 had 675 students in its general courses, 360 in Domestic Science and 398 in the Summer Courses, with over 500 of its men on active service; by continuing grants and support to the Women's Institutes with their record of 10,052 rural meetings in 1915-16, an attendance of 225,000 and a membership of 30,335; by proclaiming in varied speeches that "Canadian soldiers were holding the first-line trenches in France but that the second-line trenches were the farms of Canada.' Dr. G. C. Creelman, the new Commissioner of Agriculture, ably and continuously seconded, during the year, the more public efforts of the Minister, with a policy which included the obtaining of additionl farm labour from the United States, the establishment of Seed farms, the encouragement of Co-operative Societies and arrangement for Loans to farmers at moderate rates, extension of the Ontario Veterinary College course, with its 230 students, to four years, the promotion of Apple consumption, increase of Poultry and provision of cheap Waterwork plants for the farms. The Federal grant for Agricultural Education was $336,303 in 1917-18 and $301,158 in 1916-17. This Department also issued an immense number of special publications and amongst them were the following in 1917:

The Department, meanwhile, had initiated and aided an Organization of Resources Committee with Sir John Hendrie, Lieut.-Governor,

as Chairman and the Prime Minister and Mr. Rowell as Vice-
Chairmen and Dr. A. H. Abbott as Secretary. It issued an earnest
explanatory appeal for increased production and advertised largely
along similar lines; promoted co-operative vegetable gardens
and had all kinds of Societies throughout the Province at work in
this connection; by the end of 1917 it had 525 local Committees
throughout Ontario and aided in the substantial increase which
was shown after the harvest season; made strong efforts to induce
city men to help on the farms and published a statement showing
that there were 978 villages in the Province with from 100 to 1,000
people, 141 towns and villages of 1,000 to 5,000, and 43 towns or
cities of 5,000 or over from which help could come; organized the
planting of vacant lots and conducted a campaign as to the value
of fish for daily food. In this general work the Education Depart-
ment and the Labour Bureau co-operated with the Premier and the
Committee and at the close of this year Sir Wm. Hearst was able to
thank 5,000 High School boys, in particular, for their help on the
farms. As to details the Hon. T. W. McGarry, Provincial Treasurer,
announced for the Government on May 7 that the sum of $200 would
be made available at the nearest Bank for every Ontario farmer who
desired to increase his acreage and needed the money to buy seed—
loans to be repayable with interest at six per cent. on Nov. 1, after
the farmer had sold his crop. If the crop failed and the farmer was
unable to repay the money, the Government would make it good.
If all the 175,000 farmers of Ontario had taken advantage of this
offer it would have involved $35,000,000; a large proportion, of
course, did not need any monetary help. On Apr. 3 a mass-meeting
was held in Toronto to promote the labour end of the Campaign, a
War Production Club was organized with this object in view and the
Toronto Women's War-Time Thrift Committee joined in the effort
with a Provincial Conference of women held in Toronto on July 24
and addressed by Lady Hendrie, Lady Hearst, Mrs. W. E. Sanford,
Mr. Rowell and others. The Government and its workers had to
meet during the year the indirect hostility of the Weekly Sun-
a farmers' paper.
It was illustrated by such statements as this on
July 25: "When farmers produce a second blade of grass, some other
fellow gets that other blade. They have learned that a small crop
and comparatively high prices pay better, because there is less outlay
for labour, than a big crop and very low prices." On the other hand
the Government was greatly aided, and the Department of Agri-
culture, particularly, by a large number of farmers' organizations,
of which the following list shows the Presidents for this year:

Ontario Horticultural Association..
Ontario Agricultural and Experimental Union
Ontario Corn-Growers' Association..
Ontario Swine Breeders' Association..
Ontario Large Yorkshire Breeders' Association.
Ontario Berkshire Breeders' Association
Ontario Horse Breeders' Association.
Ontario Sheep Breeders' Association.
Western Ontario Poultry Association.
Western Ontario Seed Growers' Association
Ontario Beekeepers' Association.
Ontario Association of Fairs and Exhibitions
Ontario Vegetable Growers' Association.
Fruit Growers' Association of Ontario
Dairymen's Association of Western Ontario.
Dairymen's Association of Eastern Ontario.

Dr. F. E. Bennett... St. Thomas.
H. Sirrett.

R. W. Knister.
.John I. Flatt.
J. C. Stuart
Frank Teasdale
Wm. Smith. M.P.
Jas. Douglas..
.J. H. Saunders.
A. McKenney
F. W. Krouse.
Wm. S. Scarf
J. J. Davis.
F. A. J. Sheppard.
R. W. Stratton.
J. N. Stone..

Brighton.

Comber.

Hamilton.

Osgoode.
Concord.
Columbus
Caledonia.
London.
Amherstburg
Guelph.
Durham.

London.
St. Catharines.
Guelph.

Norham.

As to the Government in general, war-work and conditions. absorbed much of the time of its members; one incident was the grant of $100,000 to Halifax after its disaster and the shipment of several carloads of supplies. Mr. McGarry's Budget Speech on Feb. 22 showed an excellent financial position with Ordinary Receipts for the year ending Oct. 31, 1916, of $13,841,339 and Expenditures of $12,706,332; the Estimates for 1917 were, respectively, $14,306,878 and $10,448,652. As announced a year later, for Oct. 31, 1917, the Ordinary Receipts totalled $18,269,597 and Expenditures $16,518,222 -a surplus of $1,751,374. The Assets of the Province (1916) consisted of Bank balances, $4,228,276, the T. & N. O. property and Hydro-Electric investment, the value of the Provincial buildings and their land areas, totalling $72,778,058; the estimated Assets or resources in pine timber, pulpwood, mining and agricultural lands, etc., were placed at $475,350,000. In speaking Mr. McGarry referred to his 1916 surplus of $1,134,996 and his reduction of the net Debt by $810,253; to the fact that the War-tax returns of $749,218 were not included in this surplus but were used for special war purposes; to the increase in Succession duties from $45,507 in 1893 to $1,253,951 in 1914 and $2,451,000 in 1916; to the loss of $500,000 from liquor license revenues and the gain from Assessment taxes of $243,918 in 52 months, and from automobiles of $334,759 over the previous year; to the $665,000 received from the Hydro-Electric Power Commission as Interest and sinking fund and $1,000,000 profit from the T. & N. O. Railway; to the 311⁄2 millions borrowed under the Northern Ontario Aid Act, of which $2,000,000 had been repaid; to the successful work of the Hydro-Electric Commission and operation of the Workmen's Compensation Act; to a total War expenditure in 1915 and 1916 of $4,262,089; to the Orpington (Government) Hospital in England, the aided Maple Leaf Clubs in London, the Soldiers' Aid Commission of which the Chairman was Hon. W. D. McPherson; to the farms provided by the Minister of Lands for returned soldiers and to the plan under which the Government proposed to purchase $17,000,000 worth of the securities of the Province held in England, re-borrow the money on this side, and to that extent help Great Britain in financing this war. It may be added that the War expenditure of 1917 totalled $2,414,447, with receipts of $2,050,128 from the War-tax. During this year the Province borrowed $5,000,000. Of this two millions were obtained at 5% without any commission and one million at 4.92% and the claim was made that no other Province or country had been able to borrow at such favourable rates. In addition, two millions were obtained from one of the Banks at the end of the year for 6%. Under this Department was the Provincial Library, of which, in 1917, the Librarian was Avern Pardoe, in his 19th year of office. To him, also, Dr. Alex. Fraser, submitted in 1917 the 13th Annual Report of the Bureau of Archives which included a valuable reissue of La Rochefocauld-Liancourt's Travels in Canada, 1795, annotated by Sir D. W. Smith and edited, with notes, by Hon. W. R. Riddell, LL.D.