Page:The Annual Register 1899.djvu/402

 394] FOEEIGN HISTOEY. [1899.

The debate on the address ended on April 18.

Sir Wilfrid Laurier in July spoke in Parliament in favour of imperial free trade, and said that if ever its blessings were secured by the 300,000,000 of British subjects all over the world, history would attest that the first step in that direction was taken when the Canadian Parliament reduced the duty on British goods by 25 per cent.

The Government Eedistribution Bill ^vas rejected in the Senate in July. Earlier in the year there had been some agitation promoted by the Federal Provincial Liberal Govern- ments in favour of the abolition of the Senate. The Con- servative party opposed any attempt to break the solemn compact of the 1867 confederation giving equal representation in the Upper House, Sir Wilfrid Laurier, however, proposed that when the two Houses disagreed they should vote together and accept the decision of the majority.

Sir Charles Tupper on June 28 in Parliament formulated charges of corruption against Yukon officials, and charged the Minister of the Interior with maladministration ; but the House rejected by a majority of 50 his motion for a judicial inquiry.

The Dominion Parliament was prorogued on August 11. The appropriations for the current year amounted altogether to $52,000,000— the largest in the history of the country. The railway subsidies voted amounted to $6,500,000. The complete financial returns of the last fiscal year gave $46,796,368 as the revenue of the Dominion, and the expenditure was $41,760,342. The net debt of Canada was about 266,000,000 with an increase of 1,500,000 during the year.

By the opening of the Saulanges Canal (Oct. 9), uninter- rupted inland navigation was provided for vessels drawing not over fourteen feet of water, from Quebec to the head of Lake Superior — a distance of 1,435 miles. The canal was completed at a cost of $5,250,000. Canada's total expenditure on canals amounted to $75,000,000.

The business portion of Dawson City in the Klondyke region was entirely destroyed by fire on April 26, with a loss of about $4,000,000. One hundred and eleven buildings were burned.

Hydraulic plant on an extensive scale was erected in the summer for the first time on one of the gold mining properties in the Klondyke country, resulting in a yield of $50,000 worth of gold after six days' working.

The attitude of the United States on the Alaska boundary question was very firm, and Canada also was unyielding. The Anglo-American Commission were unable to settle the difficulty before the close of the year. On October 20 a temporary arrangement was made between the United States and Great Britain, agreeing upon a line in the Chilkat Pass. On account of the large number of miners working on the Klakini Biver in the pass this temporary arrangement, dignified with the name of a modus vivendi, was quite necessary to prevent local