for tenders for construction of the main line from the terminus at Pine Stump, 68 miles north of Cochrane, to a point 30 miles beyond, and that much nearer to James Bay. This would bring the main line to within half a mile of Coral Falls, on the Abitibi River, and close to other water powers of importance. A line westerly from Coral to the Mettagami River was also under consideration to tap the known deposits of lignite and china clay, and to reach important developments planned at Smoky Falls. Premier Ferguson announced on Apr. 21, 1927, that arrangements had been reached with Quebec Province whereby the railway would be extended into the Rouyn mining area of Quebec, a distance of 29 miles. The extension, it was hoped, would be completed by the end of 1927. The line would be built from a point on the Swastika branch of the Nipissing Central, one of the T. & N. O. subsidiaries. The line was already at the Quebec border, 10 miles beyond its former terminus at Larder Lake, but had halted there pending decision by the Privy Council on the appeal to that body of Quebec Province against the decision by the Supreme Court of Canada that the Dominion Government had the right to authorize the T. & N. O. to cross Quebec Crown Lands. The Privy Council judgment affirming that right was given in May of last year. During the Session a measure was passed giving the Government direct representation on the Commission through a minister without portfolio. Board of Licence Commissioners. The Report of the Licence Commissioners under the O.T.A. for the year 1926, showed 3,473 convictions of non-licencees, compared with 3,503 for the preceding year, revenue to the Province being $333,882. Gross profits of dispensaries for the year were $1,225,290, and the net $743,643. In addition a surplus of $887,737, which had accumulated since inauguration of the dispensaries, May, 1919, was turned over to the Government, making a total net revenue since establishment of the system of $5,250,000. Municipalities, which appointed officers under the O.T.A., received $320,961 in fines, which, with the fines paid to the Province, made an aggregate of fines of $654,844. Cost of enforcement of the O.T.A. was $187,221. It was understood that the Commission would carry on certain of its duties until the Liquor Control Board was ready to open its stores sometime in June, 1927. Mothers' Allowances. In the fiscal year ending Oct. 31, 1926, the Mothers' Allowances Commission paid $1,876,885 to 4,412 beneficiary families, compared with $774,667 to 2,660 families, from the period November, 1920, when it began operations, to Oct. 31, 1921, and $1,781,281 to 4,185 families for the fical year ending Oct. 31, 1925, as shown by completed corrected returns. From November, 1926, to the end of March, 1927, an aggregate of $820,522 was paid. Beneficiary families at the end of March, 1927, numbered 4,610. Of these, widows numbered 3,576, with 10,730 children; 731 wives with incapacitated husbands: (a) 117 through insanity; (b) the rest through other causes. These women had 2,053 children. Deserted wives numbered 238, with 622 children. (The period of desertion was five years.) Foster mothers numbered 135, caring for 338 orphan children. The total children were 13,743. The largest number of families in the list was 2,115, with two children under 16 years, next highest, 1,200 with three under 16. There were two families with ten children, one with eleven, and one with 12 children under 16 years of age. Workmen's Compensation. Benefits awarded by the Workmen's Compensation Board, of which V. A. Sinclair was Chairman, during 1926 aggregated $5,821,351, against $5,565,443 in 1925. The number of accidents reported was the highest in the history of the Board, 65,916, approximately ten per cent. increase over 1925. August, 1926, furnished the highest number of accidents for one month-6,595. Fatal accidents in 1926 were 400, temporary total disability cases 30,019, permanent partial disability cases 2,304, permanent total disability cases 14. In all, payments for compensation or medical aid was made in 56,870 cases. During the year, the Report stated, there were large additions to industrial diseases covered by the Act, with respect to silicosis in mining communities, pneumoconiosis in quarrying, and caisson disease in connection with deep sewer work. As a result of revaluing the pension fund, $250,000 was rebated to employers in schedule 2. Schedule 1 employers were given the benefit of such readjustment in the form of reduced rates. Estimated payrolls for the year totalled $411,000,000, an increase of $15,000,000. In the 12 years since the Compensation Act came into existence the accidents reported totalled 567,930, and the amount paid out $57,315,447. In the first three months ending Mar. 31, 1927, 16,121 accidents were reported to the Board, and payments totalled $1,521,569. Incidents. The King's Printer, Clarkson W. James, a popular and well-known official in the service, died suddenly Christmas Day, 1926. His post was temporarily filled by Deputy Prime Minister, Horace Wallis. In May, 1927, Attorney General Price had before him what was said to be the first case of its kind in Canada, namely, the annulment by a Quebec Court, acting on the Civil Code of that Province, of a marriage solemnized in Ontario. The ground of annulment was that the groom, domiciled in Quebec, and a Jew, was a minor though over 18 years of age as required by Ontario law. The bride was a Baptist. It was held in Ontario that the marriage in all its details was such as to make it absolutely valid in the eyes of Ontario law. The main issue under consideration, apparently, was whether the courts of any Province had the right to rule upon the validity of the laws of another province. There were other points, and all of these the Attorney General's Department was investigating with a view to what action should be taken. On Jan. 12, 1927, Mr William Donald Ross was sworn in as LieutenantGovernor of Ontario in succession to Colonel Henry Cockshutt. Born at Little Bras d'Or, N.S., June 20, 1869, Mr. Ross for some years had been a prominent figure in the financial life of Canada. Among the many offices held by him were those of: President of the North Mexico Power and Development Co., Ltd., Director of the Bank of Nova Scotia, of the British Empire Steel Corporation, Ltd., and of the Famous Players' Canadian Corporation, Ltd. Ontario Government Appointments* 1926-27 Crown Attorney, Clerk of Peace, Local Master, Crown Attorney, Clerk of Peace, Renfrew. Crown Attorney, Clerk of Peace, Judicial District, Police Magistrate of Cornwall, and United Coun- Crown Attorney, Clerk of Peace, Bruce and pro Sheriff for Provisional District, Thunder Bay Judge, Juvenile Court, Perth, (Stratford and St. Local Registrar, Supreme Court, County Court Director Colonization Branch, Dept. of Agriculture. Court, Bruce. . . . . . . . . Crown Attorney and Clerk of the Peace, Huron. Local Registrar Supreme Court, County Court • NOTE-Appointments are for Counties unless otherwise stated. Port Arthur . Stratford . Hamilton Simcoe Wingham Lucknow General THE PROVINCE OF QUEBEC. The upward tendency in business conditions. which had begun in the previous year was further manifested in 1926-27. With restored general confidence, activity increased in all directions of the economic life of the Province. In this expansion the pulp and paper industry of Quebec led the way. The Port Alfred Corporation put into operation a new newsprint mill of 400 tons daily capacity; the Canadian International at Three Rivers added four machines, doubling its capacity; the St. Lawrence Valley Corporation added two machines at Shawinigan Falls; the St. Lawrence Paper Mills at Three Rivers added two machines; the Brompton Company at Bromptonville added one 100-ton machine; the Canada Paper Company at Windsor Mills added new chemical pulp equipment; the Ste. Anne Paper Mills were constructing a new mill at Beaupré; the Canadian International, a new 500-ton newsprint mill at East Templeton; the Anglo-Canadian Company had begun the erection of a 400-ton newsprint mill at Limoilou (Quebec City); the Mistassini Company, a new mill in the Lake St. John district, while Price Bros. added two machines to their Riverbend mill in the same district. Coincident with this manufacturing expansion there was also further development of the water-power resources of the Province. Alone among the larger industries, that of lumber made but little progress. The competition of the Pacific Coast, favoured by the cheap haulage through the Panama Canal, was one handicap. Another was the fact that the increasingly large forest areas required for the pulp and paper industry for the soft woods also, to a considerable extent, excluded the lumber companies from the hard woods in those areas. General manufacturing increased in volume, with the possible exception of the boot and shoe trade, owing to a strike. The late cold Spring of 1926 and heavy rains in August somewhat diminished agricultural production as compared with the heavy crops of the previous year, but the hay crop was up to the average and in consequence live stock raising and the dairying industry were successful, though the latter was injured in 1927 by the United States embargo on milk and cream due to an outbreak of typhoid in Montreal. The shipments in 1926 from the Province had amounted to nearly six million dollars. The Labrador Boundary Case. This case, brought before the Privy Council, was the outstanding political event of the year. Both the Dominion and the Quebec Governments were represented at London by eminent counsel on the one side and Newfoundland NOTE. See page 358 for list of Members of Executive Council and Deputy Heads of Departments. on the other, and in view of the importance of the matters at issue Premier Taschereau visited England in order to watch the case. On his return Dec. 6, 1926, The Gazette, Montreal, said: His principal purpose in crossing the Atlantic was to be present at, and to participate in, the presentation of Quebec's case before the Judicial Committee of the Privy Council respecting the Labrador boundary dispute. It is a matter in which the Premier, as head of the Province, has taken the keenest possible interest, and it is characteristic of him that he spared no personal effort to ensure a fair and clear presentation of the facts in dispute, to the end that the just claims of the Province should lack no support that could legitimately be given to them. The case was thoroughly prepared, was argued by eminent counsel, and now awaits the finding of the court. Whatever the outcome may be, the people of Quebec may rest assured that everything that could be done within the limits of legal procedure and administrative energy was done by the Premier and those associated with him. (The Gazette also added): Mr. Taschereau's stay in London was marked by circumstances which attest his high personal reputation and the prestige which the Province of Quebec enjoys in the Old Country. The welcome extended to him was exceptional in scope and cordiality. During the whole of his stay on English soil he received nothing but the most impressive expressions of genuine good-will. At the same time, the Province had in Mr. Taschereau a worthy representative, and there can be no doubt that his visit and the terms of friendship which characterized his relations with public men and public bodies have enhanced the already high regard in which he and his Province have been held by British statesmen and the British people. The decision of the Privy Council which followed in January, giving Newfoundland an immense area, including the Hamilton Falls and valuable forests, was a disappointment to the Province, but in general the public and press comments were marked by dignity. In the Legislature a resolution proposed by a private member, calling for the suppression of appeal to the Privy Council, was withdrawn at the request of the Premier, who spoke on the subject firmly and with dignity. The Laurier Palace Theatre Fire and Other Incidents. On Sunday afternoon, Jan. 9, 1927, there was a very large attendance of children at the Laurier Palace Theatre, Montreal, to see a moving picture. Smoke from a slight outbreak of fire led to panic in the building, and one of the front exits being closed, 78 children were crushed to death. Widespread public sympathy was at once aroused on behalf of the victims and their families and equally widespread indignation when it was asserted that there existed a large measure of civic neglect with regard to the carrying out of regulations concerning the picture-houses of the City in general. At the special Requiem sevice held at the Church of the Nativity, Hochelaga, on the following Tuesday, Archbishop Gauthier stated in his sermon that it was his desire that in the inquiries to be held thought should be taken not only for the material safety of the public, but also for their moral safety. He found the fact impressive that such a large proportion of the children at the theatre on Sunday had been there without the consent of their parents. The powers conferred upon the Royal Commission by the Legislature to inquire into the disaster were made wide and comprehensive, applying not only to all the circumstances of |