Mr. GEORGE TAYLOR.

Before the Orders of the Day are called, I wish to bring

to the attention of the Prime Minister and the Minister of Marine and Fisheries, who,

1 regret, is not in his place, a matter which affects large interests in Canada. This letter was placed in my hands yesterday by the proprietor of a large summer hotel at Oananoque. It is dated Rochester, N.Y., May 31st, 1904, and is as follows :

Day,

Gananoque, Ont.

Dear sir,-Your favour of the 27th, and also the booklets received. We surely will do all we can to send our people your way, but we want to say right here, unless you make a move immediately to disabuse the notion that has got abroad here in the city that your fish laws have been changed so as to make them very restrictive, that a number of people who contemplated going over into Canada and spending their vacation, and leaving lots of their money, are. contemplating going in other directions. It is unfortunate that such a notion got started, for it will be difficult to overtake it. We would suggest that if you can have it denied authoritatively in some of your local papers, and send us copies so that we can have it copied in our papers, it would he the most effective way.

You will do us a great favour if you will keep us advised of the transfer boats from Gananoque-the hour they leave Gananoque for other points and when they return. Send us some time table, if you can.

With kind regards, we remain Very truly yours,

P. J. AMSDEN & SON.

I have also a clipping from the Rochester ' Post,' of Thursday, June 2, and the information contained in this item seems to be official. The item is as follows :

Mr. URIAH WILSON.

Before the Orders of the Day are called, I would like to renew my question to the Prime Minister with reference to the printing of the voters' list.

Sir WILFRID LAURIER (Prime Minister).

With reference to this subject to which my hon. friend (Mr. Wilson) has more than once called my attention, some few days ago I wrote down to the King's Printer, and this is the information which was sent to me :

Since you last reported to the House upon the state of the printing of the voters' list we have been going on with the maritime province lists. Out of thirteen New Brunswick constituencies, twelve are done, and out of 17 Nova Scotia constituencies eight are done. No more of Quebec or Ontario have been done since your statement in ' Hansard.' The maritime province lists will all be done shortly, for they are nearly all in hand. Then I propose (if I get no orders to the contrary) to take up such of the Ontario lists first as will be valid for the longest time. Quebec province is half done as it is, and I propose to bring up Ontario to the same position and then go on ' pari passu.' The lists are taken up as the current work permits. The inclosed extract from my last report (which has been presented to the House) gives a good idea of the 1 state of the business.

Mr. WILSON.

The New Brunswick list has been printed twice since I have had one for Lennox. When I spoke before I had a New Brunswick list before me for 1904. I do not think this is fair treatment as I have not had any list since 1900.

Mr. R. L. BORDEN.

I would ask the right hon. gentleman whether he has any answer to-day to the question I have submitted to him three or four times with regard to the constitution of the commission appointed to inquire with respect to alien labour. The right hon. gentleman has always said he would answer on some other day. I would like to know whether counsel had been appointed, and what was the mode of procedure before the commission.

Sir WILLIAM MULOCIC (Postmaster General).

Mr. H. M. Mowat, ICC., of Toronto, has been appointed counsel.

Mr. R. L. BORDEN.

Was he appointed at first ?

Sir WILLIAM MULOCK No. He is in Winnipeg with Judge Winchester at the present time.

Hon. W. S. FIELDING (Minister of Finance) moved :

That the House go into committee to consider of the ways and means for raising the supply to be granted to His Majesty.

He said : Mr. Speaker, in presenting my

eighth budget. I rejoice that I am in a position to congratulate the House upon the continuance, in a very large degree, of that prosperity which Canada has enjoyed for ' Mr. WILSON.

a long time. Some recent conditions have-not been so favourable as some might desire. The severity of the winter, the unusually heavy snowfall in central Canada, the lateness of the opening of navigation-on our inland waters-all these things ha veto some extent operated to disturb our ordinary business conditions ; but any disturbance of that kind will of course only be temporary. Far from complaining of the influence of winter, we should recognize the fact that we have compensation in other directions, for the steady cold season lends itself to that great lumbering-industry which is so important to Canada. .Tack Frost continues to be one of our best friends, and the Canadian winter one of Canada's most valuable assets.

There is some anxiety in the industrial world, among our manufacturers not because of any conditions which exist in Canada, but rather because of conditions-which it is feared do exist, or are likely te exist, in other countries, and particularly in the great republic to the south. There is an opinion in the minds of our manufacturing people that the signs of depression which have already appeared across the border will continue, and that there may be a period of severe depression in that country the effects of which would be bound to cross the border in the shape of an increased and perhaps an illegitimate competition. We are not at liberty to ignore considerations of that kind, in the fixing of our own fiscal policy we are bound to take note of these things. Nor should we fail to point the moral of a depression that prevails in the most highly protected country in the world. There is a tendency in the minds of many who are strong advocates of a high tariff policy to believe that such a policy is the best guarantee of prosperity. Yet we have the remarkable fact to-day that our manufacturers in Canada are chiefly alarmed lest there should be a great depression in the very country where depression ought to be impossible, if high tariffs are a guarantee of prosperity. Indeed I think it would not be a mistake to say that as between the two countries today, the condition of business is better in Canada with a moderate tariff than it is in the neighbouring republic where they have the highest tariff known throughout the world.

There is much in the outlook to-day which calls for serious consideration, for careful thought and for careful action, on the part of men both in public and private life.. But while there is need for thought and for caution, there is no need for discouragement. The business conditions of Canada generally, I believe to be sound, and our crop prospects are all that could be desired. There is no reason why we should not look forward with hope and confidence to a continuance of that great and growing prosperity for

*which Canada has been so noted during the past few years.

Our last session of parliament was so protracted that before the close we were able to have presented to the House the outlines of the condition of the finances of the Dominion for the year which had then recently closed, and since then the public accounts have been laid on the table, so that only a passing allusion is needed to the finances of the year which ended on the 30th June, 1903. My estimate for the revenue of that year was $05,000,000. The actual revenue was $66,037,068.93, an increase of revenue beyond my estimate of $1,037,068.93. The estimate of the expenditure proved to be a very close one. The estimate was $51,650,000. The actual expenditure of the year was $51,691,902.76, being an increase of expenditure over the amount which I ventured to speak of in my anticipations in the last budget to the extent of $41,902.76. I estimated that we would probably have on the operations of the year a surplus of $13,350,000. The out-turn of the year gave us a sur-l>lus of $14,345,166.17. The surplus thus was nearly $1,000,000 more than the sum at which I placed it in the last budget speech. That surplus was the largest in the history of Canada. The revenue increased over 1902 by $7,986,287.90, while the expenditure increased by $932,510.79. Too often it happens in relation to the affairs of government and of public bodies charged with the administration of affairs that where you are blessed with an increase of revenue you also have a corresponding increase of expenditure, but we are happily able to point out that this is not the experience of this government in recent years, for in the figures which I have presented to you I have shown you that while in the year 1903 we increased our revenue by nearly $8,000,000, we only increased our expenditure on consolidated fund account by $932,510,79 :

FISCAL YEAR ENDED 30th .TUNE, 1903.

- Actual. Estimate. Increase.

Expenditure. $ ets. 66,037,008 93 51,692,902 70 $ cts. 65,000,000 00 51,650,000 00 $ cts. 1,037,068 93 41,902 7614,345,160 17 13,350,000 00 995,160 17Revenue underestimated by S 1,037,068 93Expenditure underestimated by. . .. 8 41,902 76Surplus 814,345,160 17

Surplus estimated in Budget Speech,

1903 $13,350,000 00Results better than estimate by $ 995,106 17

I have a statement of the principal sources of revenue during the year from which it will be seen that there was a comfortable increase all along the line. It reads as follows

character in the postage to Great Britain. Notwithstanding all that, we find that at a time when we might reasonably look for a deficit, at a time when, if my hon. friend the Postmaster General had come before parliament and admitted that he had a deficit of a large amount he would still have had a splendid record in comparison with the record of his predecessors, but we have a different condition from that, and my hon. friend the Postmaster General is in a position to point out that while granting these reductions, he is able to have a larger revenue than ever before, and not only a larger revenue, but to wipe out his deficits and to convert them into surpluses. The deficit in the year 1896, as stated in the public accounts, was $700,997. There was an inquiry afterwards by a commissioner which resulted in some re-adjustment of the accounts, and I think that in the post office accounts, the figures differed a little from the figures in the accounts of the Finance Department, but, figuring one year with another, the statement will be found to be correct, and so I take the figures which are found in the accounts in the Finance Department. In 1S96, as I have said, there was a deficit of $700,997. There were also accumulations of deficits not provided for which had to be dealt with by a special vote, and which are not referred to here. In 1897, the deficit was reduced from $700,997 to $586,539.