Page:Pacific Monthly volumes 9 and 10.djvu/651

 pecially of the Pacific Provinces. It has no selfish interests to serve and is, therefore, at all times and under all circumstances, able to discuss frankly and freely all questions of public importance. While it is in alliance with the Liberal party of the Dominion and lends its support to the Liberal administration, it does so in the full conviction that the principles of that party are in the best interests of the country, and that the government at present in power is not only the best which could be chosen from our parliamentary representation, but in point of ability, honesty and progressiveness is equal, if not superior, to any which Canada has yet possessed. Its political connection, however, does not prevent it from criticising party mistakes or government measures, and it holds itself free at all times to assume an absolutely independent attitude. The Province, too, like all other progressive newspapers of today, takes a keen interest in matters outside the domain of politics, and seeks to perform its share in promoting the general culture and moral welfare of the people.

The Daily Province sprang from the weekly paper, The Province, which was established in Victoria, B. C, March 3d, 1894, under the editorship of Mr. A. H. Schaife. It obtained its financial backing from Mr. Hewitt Bostock, a wealthy young Englishman, who had come to British Columbia a short time previously, and who, having political aspirations, regarded a newspaper ally as an important factor in advancing his ambition. The paper was modeled on the lines of Labouchere's Truth, and resembled it largely in appearance. Mr. Schaife, as a newspaper writer, and Mr. Bostock, with a political future in view, both felt the need of some publication free from financial stress in which independent and outspoken reviews of men and things could he printed. But it proved a heavy burden, Mr. Bostock being called upon to contribute to the extent of $10,000 a year towards its run-