Fixing the minimum rate of pay for laborers employed on public work at $2 a day. Providing that unoccupied town lots in Government town sites shall be open to mineral claims. Repealing the law requiring the translation and publication of laws into Spanish.

Prohibiting a mining corporation from selling, leasing, or mortgaging any part of the mining ground owned by it, or of purchasing new ground, without the consent of two thirds of the stockholders.

Permitting the recording of notices of mining claims without acknowledgment or certificate of acknowledgment.

Repealing the act of 1874 regulating the sale of mineral lands belonging to the State. Prohibiting divorced persons from marrying within a year after the granting of the divorce.

Fixing the age of consent at sixteen years. Requiring that when goods are purchased for the use of the State or any city or county in the State, preference shall be given to those produced or manufactured in the State.

Extending the application of the law on trademarks to those which are copied or imitated, as well as to those which are forged or counterfeited.

Establishing a free market on the water front of San Francisco under the care of the harbor commissioners.

Amending the act providing for the organization of municipal corporations, so that cities mentioned may own and operate plants for water supply and street lighting.

Requiring every corporation doing business in the State to pay its employees at least once a month all wages earned by such employees.

Providing for a public-school teachers' annuity and retirement fund, and amending the law of 1895 relating to the same.

Perpetuating the office of the Public Works Commissioner, who is to have control of the expenditure of the $300,000 for the improvement of Sacramento river.

Entitling railroad passengers to carry bicycles as luggage.

Providing for a commissioner to the Central American Exposition at Guatemala city and an exhibit there, and appropriating $10,000; also for an exhibit at the Hamburg Horticultural Exposition $6,000.

The following joint resolutions were passed: Calling for a constitutional convention. Memorializing Congress to reject the railroad funding bill.

Asking protection in the new tariff for California fruit interests.

Asking Congress for an appropriation of $300,000 to be used for restraining barriers for mining débris, and one of $300,000 for dredging the water ways of

the State.

A resolution to cede the Yosemite Valley to the United States was defeated.

The total cost of the Senate was $75,600.40, including more than $4,000 for contested election cases; that of the Assembly was $120,177.40.

Decisions on State Laws.-The Supreme Court decided in May that the section of the county-gov ernment bill of 1895 which provides for levying an inheritance tax is unconstitutional, inasmuch as it is an attempt to levy an extraordinary tax, and also that it provides that the fee so collected shall be paid into the county treasury and used for county purposes, whereas the Legislature is forbidden to impose taxes for county purposes.

On application of the Comptroller as to the effect of the veto of the item in the general appropriation bill for the support of the State printing office the Attorney-General decided that the State printing can not be legally done at any other place, and that no deficiency can be created for support of the office. This, if it shall be sustained, will do away with all State printing till the next session of the Legislature.

By a decision of the United States Supreme Court, May 24, in the litigation over the Merritt Garcelon estate, Oakland will receive for a general hospital about $600,000.

According to a decision in the United States circuit court in June, the authority of the Government over the navigable waters of the State" is so absolute that the Federal power may legally intervene to prevent the passage into the Sacramento and San Joaquin rivers and their tributaries of even the light, flocculent matter which invariably escapes even the best impounding dams and makes its way downstream presumably to the sea." If this is sustained. the impounding dams to be built by the State, as provided by the Legislature, may be regarded as trespassing on the property of the Government, should it be found that injury to naviga. tion results from the use of the dams by hydraulic miners.

In a case involving the ownership of San Pedro inner harbor, which was claimed by virtue of an old grant, the decision in May in the United States Supreme Court was against the title. The court holds that where a patentee of land accepts a patent and survey he has not recourse, in case of desire to contest, if the boundaries do not accord with the original lines.

CANADA, DOMINION OF. The year 1896'97 marks an important period in the history of the Dominion. Not only has there been a change of government from the Conservative to the Liberal party, but a change in party policy and a distinct approximation toward Great Britain in fiscal affairs as well as in the sentiment evoked by the Queen's diamond jubilee. The ministry as constituted in December, 1897, was as follows: Premier, Sir Wilfrid Laurier; Minister of Trade and Commerce, Sir R. J. Cartwright; Secretary of State, Hon. R. W. Scott; Minister of Justice, Hon. David Mills; Minister of Marine and Fisheries, Sir Louis Davies; Minister of Militia and Defense, Hon. F. W. Borden; Postmaster-General, Hon. William Mulock; Minister of Agriculture, Hon. S. A. Fisher: Minister of Public Works, Hon. J. Israel Tarte; Minister of Finance, Hon. W. S. Fielding; Minister of Railways and Canals, Hon. A. G. Blair; Minister of the Interior, Hon. Clifford Sifton; Minister of Customs, Hon. William Patterson; Minister of Inland Revenue, Sir Henri Joly de Lotbinisre; without portfolio, Hon. R. R. Dobell and Hon. C. A. Geoffrion. The only important change during the year was the retirement of Sir Oliver Mowat from the Department of Justice and his acceptance of the lieutenant governorship of Ontario. The second session of the Eighth Parliament was opened in state by the Governor General on March 25, 1897. The speech from the throne outlined the policy of the party in power. The following are its significant passages:

"Immediately after the last session the Government of Manitoba was invited to hold a conference with my ministers on the subject of the grievances arising out of the act of that province relating to education, passed in 1890. In response to that invitation three members of the Manitoba Government came to Ottawa, and after many and protracted discussions a settlement was reached between the two governments, which was the best arrangement obtainable.

"A measure will be submitted to you for the revision of the tariff, which it is believed will provide the necessary revenue, and, while having due regard to industrial interests, will make our fiscal system more satisfactory to the masses of the people.

"You will be asked to give your support to a bill abolishing the present expensive and unsatisfactory franchise act, and adopting, for the election of members of the House of Commons, the franchises of the several provinces.

"My Government has determined that the advantages to accrue, both to our western producers and the business interests of the whole Dominion, from the completion of the works for the enlargement of the St. Lawrence canals, should no longer be deferred, and has, subject to the approval of Parliament, taken the initial steps for a vigorous prosecution of those works, and for the perfecting of the canal system by the close of 1898.

"Arrangements have been completed which, if yon approve, will enable the Intercolonial Railway system to reach Montreal, and thus share in the large traffic centering in that city. Appreciating the difficulties encountered by our farmers in placing their perishable food products on the English market in good condition, my Government has arranged a complete system of cold-storage accommodation at creameries, on railways, at ports, and on steamers, by which these products can be preserved at the desired temperature during the whole jour ney from the point of production to Great Britain. "It is desirable that the mind of the people of Canada should be clearly ascertained on the subject of prohibition, and a measure enabling the electors

to vote upon the question will be submitted for your approval.

"I regret that the receipts from the ordinary sources continue to be inadequate to meet the charges against the consolidated revenue. The proposed revision of the tariff and the application of strict economy in the administration of the Government will, I trust, restore the equilibrium between income and expenditure."

Of the measures mentioned, several of the most important were presented and discussed, but were ultimately withdrawn in order to facilitate the Premier's attendance at the jubilee in London. The Drummond railway bill, which proposed the purchase of a short line connecting Montreal with the Intercolonial Railway from Halifax, was the subject of active party hostility and severe criticism. Charges of corruption were freely made, and the Senate finally refused to ratify it unless a committee was appointed to investigate the whole matter. This compromise was accepted by the Government, and the measure went through. An arrangement was entered into with the Peterson Company, of London, to establish a fast Atlantic steamship line, with a Canadian subvention of $500,000 annually. An alien labor act was passed, modeled precisely after that of the United States, but made enforcible only at the will of the Government as to time and place. The Comptrollers of Inland Revenue and Customs were raised to the rank of members of the Cabinet. The Northwest Territories were given complete provincial self-government. Arrangements were made for the regulation and registration of cheese factories, and the provision of cold-storage transportation facilities. A loan of $15,000,000 was authorized, in order to pay for railway and other schemes, and the Government was given power to pay bounties upon iron and steel, and to levy export duties on logs and minerals. There was a good deal of private legislation connected with railway charters and projects, which was made subject to a railway commission which it was proposed by the Government to organize hereafter.

But the most important event of the session was the new tariff. It was introduced by Mr. Fielding in a long budget speech on April 22. He began with a summary of the financial position from the time of the late Government. The changes announced were unimportant in detail, but not in principle. They practically pledged the Government to do nothing injurious to vested interests or inimical to the maintenance of the protective tariff. Duties on iron were reduced considerably, to help the implement manufacturers in their competition with the American finished product, while bounties were given the iron smelters as a set-off to this reduction. On spirits and tobacco the excise and import duties were made very much heavier. Cigarettes were especially affected. In food products little change was made except in flour and sugar, upon which the duties were lowered one half. The duty on coal oil was reduced, and that on bituminous coal was maintained at 60 cents a ton, anthracite being free. It was promised, however, that if the United States Government would lower its duty to 40 cents (the Dingley bill was then pending) Canada would do the same. But the most important point in the tariff schedule, which was a great surprise to the country, was the enactment that when the customs tariff of any other country is made favorable to Canada the duties upon the products of that country shall at once be lowered one eighth, and after July 1, 1898, one quarter. This was at once made applicable to Great Britain and created a most favorable impression in the mother country.

separate rooms for the purposes of religious teaching, provision shall be made by regulations of the Department of Education (which regulations the Board of School Trustees shall observe) whereby the time allotted for religious teaching shall be divided in such a way that religious teaching of Roman Catholic children shall be carried on during the prescribed period on half of the teaching days in each month, and the religious teaching of the non-Roman Catholic children may be carried on during the prescribed period on half of the teaching days of each month. 7. The Department of Education shall have the power to make regulations not inconsistent with the principles of this act for carrying into effect the provisions of this act. 8. No separation of the pupils by religious denominations shall take place during the secular work. 9. Where the schoolroom accommodation at the disposal of the trustees permits, instead of allotting different days of the week to the different denominations for the purpose of religious teaching, the pupils may be separated when the hour for religious teaching arrives, and placed in separate rooms. 10. When 10 of the pupils in any school speak the French language (or any language other than English) as their native language, the teaching of such pupils shall be conducted in French (or such other language) and English, upon the bilingual system. 11. No pupils to be permitted to be present at any religious teaching unless the parents or guardians of such pupils desire it. In case the parents or guardians do not desire the attendance of the pupils at such religious teaching, then the pupils shall be dismissed before the exercises, or shall remain in another room."

The next point was to obtain acceptance of the compromise by the clergy and hierarchy of Quebec and Manitoba. Archbishop Langevin, of Winnipeg, at once denounced the whole affair, and so did other prelates. Hence a petition was sent to the Pope, signed by Messrs. Laurier, Tarte, Fitzpatrick, Scott, and Geoffrien, members of the Government, and by the Speaker of the Senate and 36 other members of Parliament. Its essential passages were these: "Your Holiness has already been made aware of the conduct and attitude of certain prelates and of certain members of the secular clergy, who, during the general elections in this country, in the month of June last, intervened in a violent manner in restraint of electoral freedom, taking sides openly for the Conservative party against the Liberal party and going so far as to declare guilty of grievous sin those of the electors who would vote for the candidates of the Liberal party.

"We respectfully represent to your Holiness that these democratic institutions, under which we live and for which your Holiness has many times expressed sentiments of admiration and confidence, can only exist under a perfect electoral freedom. Far be it from us to refuse to the clergy the plenitude of civil and political rights. The priest is a citizen, and we would not for a single instant deprive him of the right of expressing his opinion on any matter submitted to the electorate; but when the exercise of that right develops into violence, and when that violence in the name of religion goes to the extent of making a grievous sin out of a purely political act, there is an abuse of authority of which the consequences can not but be fatal not only to constitutional liberty, but to religion itself.

“An active and violent intervention of the clergy in the domain of political questions submitted to the people must of necessity produce among the great mass of the Catholic population a degree of irritation manifestly prejudicial to that respect which religion and its ministers should ever inspire and command. Some twenty years ago his Holi

ness Pius IX, your illustrious and lamented predecessor of the pontifical throne, acting through the Sacred Congregation of the Propaganda, deemed it his duty to put a stop to certain abuses of a similar character, and forbade the intervention of the clergy in politics. This prohibition was generally respected so long as his Eminence Cardinal Taschereau was able to guide the Church in Canada, but since old age and infirmities have paralyzed his guiding hand the abuses to which your illustrious predecessor had put a stop have begun again, and threaten once more to create trouble among us and to compromise not only Catholic interests in this country but the peace and harmony which should exist between the various elements of our population.

"We beg that your Holiness will renew in our behalf the most wise prescriptions and prohibitions of your predecessor, protect the consciences of the Catholic electors, and thus secure peace in our country by the union of religion and liberty."

The result of this step was the appointment of Monseigneur Merry del Val as a papal delegate to inquire into the whole matter. He made a tour of the Dominion, held meetings of the archbishops and bishops of the Church of Rome in Canada, communed with party leaders of all kinds, and returned at the end of two months to submit his report to the Pope. This had not been made public at the end of 1897.

Militia. The report of the Minister of Militia and Defense, submitted to Parliament April 13, dealt with the arming of the militia with new LeeEnfield rifles and the erection of important new armories in Toronto, Kingston, and Halifax. It included Gen. Gascoigne's report as commander of the militia, in which he insisted upon the necessity of an annual training for the whole force, urged the rearming of the field batteries, the strengthening of the fortifications at Quebec, and the general reorganization of the forces.

Important changes regarding commanding officers and honorary appointments in the militia were promulgated in general orders. Provision was made for the retirement of commanding officers after five years' service, and for the appointment of honorary lieutenant colonels and chaplains. The regulations regarding commanding officers are amended to provide that all appointments as commanding officers are for five years. Any extension of tenure will be for three years, and will only be granted on the recommendation of the district officer commanding. By these regulations seventy colonels were retired at one sweep. On June 30, the permanent militia (or regular troops) numbered 802, and the active militia 30.085. The expenditure for the year ending June 30, 1896, was $2,136,713.

Insurance. The premiums received by fire companies in 1896 were $7,079.794, and the losses paid were $4,157,154. The risks taken by Canadian companies were $114,379,430; by British companies, $459,959,398; and by American companies, $93,175,556. The life insurance effected in this year by Canadian companies was $195,317,542; by British companies, $34.838.914; and by American companies, $97,658,009. The premiums were respectively $6,075,454, $1,138,206, and $3,390,917. Accident insurance was taken out to the amount of $81,668,838, with premiums of $419,629 and losses paid of $231,903. Guarantee insurance was effected to the amount of $13,542.175, with premiums of $69,054, and losses paid of $12,809.

Criminal Statistics.-Particulars are given by the Minister of Justice in his report for the year ending June 30, 1896. The total penitentiary population was as follows: Kingston, 605; St. Vincent de Paul, 383; Dorchester, 192: Manitoba, 80; British Columbia, 101; total, 1,361.