Page:Statesman's Year-Book 1871.djvu/545

 CONSTITUTION AND GOVERNMENT.

509

following exhibits the proportionate representation in the House of Commons, both actual, and probable after 1S71, of the four provinces of the Dominion : —

Provinces

Actual num- ber of mem- bers

Actual per- centage of re- presentation

Probable

number of

members after

1871

Probable per- centage of re- presentation alter 1871

Ontario .... Quebec .... Nova Scotia New Brunswick

Total.

82 65 19 15

453

35-9

10-5

8-3

98 65 18 15

50-0

33-2

9-2

7-6

181

100-0

196

100-0

The members of the House of Commons of the first parliament of the Dominion were chosen in conformity with the electoral laws of each province, varying in many particulars, especially as to property qualification ; and to ensure uniformity of franchise, a general law of election was being elaborated in the session of 1869. A statute passed in the first session, 1867-8, provides that the Speaker of the House of Commons shall receive a salary of 3,000 dollars per annum, and that each member shall have an allowance of 6 dollars per diem, up to the end of 30 days, and for a session lasting longer than this period, the sum of 600 dollars, with, in every case, 10 cents per mile for travelling expenses. The statute also provides that 5 dollars per diem shall be deducted for every day's absence of a member, unless the same be caused by illness. There is no allowance for the members of the Senate of the Dominion.

The four provinces forming the Dominion have each a separate parliament and administration, with a Lieutenant-governor at the head of the executive. They have full powers to regulate their own local affairs, dispose of their revenues, and enact such laws as they may deem best for their own internal welfare, provided only they do not interfere with, or are adverse to, the action and policy of the central administration under the Governor-general.

Governor-General. — Lord Lisgar, born 1807, eldest son of Sir John Young, Bart. ; educated at Corpus Christi College, Oxford, and graduated B.A. 1829 ; called to the bar at Lincoln's Inn, 1834 ; M.P. for Cavan, 1831-55 ; one of the Lords of the Treasury, 1841-44; secretary to the Treasury, 1844-46 ; succeeded his father, first baronet, 1848; Chief Secretary for Ireland, 1852-55; Lord High Commissioner of the Ionian Islands, 1855-59; Governor-General of New South Wales, 1860-67 ; appointed Governor-General of the Dominion of Canada and of British North America, Sept. 18, 1868; elevated to the peerage, as Baron Lisgar, Oct. 8, 1870.