HOUSE OF COMMONS
Tuesday, May 25, 1869
The Speaker took the chair at three o'clock.
Messrs. Morris,
Simard and others, presented petitions praying that no fundamental
change be made in the present system of
banking and currency.
Mr. Bowman presented a petition from
Berlin for the repeal of the Insolvency Act.
Hon. Mr. Langevin brought down a return
to the address for the correspondence with
the Imperial Government and the British
Minister at Washington, relative to a renewal
of the Reciprocity Treaty; also papers relative to the death of Dr. Hogan, of the
Nova
Scotia Railway; also papers relative to the
seizure of the schooner "Mazeppa," in British
waters, by an armed force from the United
States.
Sir George E. Cartier introduced a Bill to
continue for a limited time the charter of
the Jacques Cartier Bank.
Mr. Simard introduced a Bill to continue
the charter of the Union Bank of Lower
Canada.
Mr. Morris introduced a Bill to amend the
charter of the City Bank.
THE NORTH-WEST
Sir George E. Cartier moved that on Friday
next the House resolve itself into Committee
of the Whole to consider the North-West
resolutions, which he said were not yet printed, on account of yesterday having been
a
holiday. They would be in the hands of members to-morrow. The object of the resolutions
was merely to give effect to the preliminary
arrangement entered into by the Minister of
Public Works and himself in England, and
which had been ratified by their colleagues.
The report and all the correspondence with
reference to this important subject, were in
the hands of members, and he hoped there
would be no objection to his making this
motion, although the resolutions were not
printed, his objection being to expedite business.
Mr. Mackenzie said there could be no objection to the hon. gentleman's motion, but
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COMMONS DEBATES May 25, 1869
he hoped the resolutions would be distributed
as early as possible.
Sir George E. Cartier begged also to state
that two despatches had been accidentally
omitted from the return sent down to the
House. They would be brought down tomorrow by message and would be in the hands
of members before the discussion came on.
They were a despatch from the Colonial Secretary acknowledging the reply to the address
by both Houses of Parliament, and his
subsequent despatch stating that on account
of a legal difficulty Her Majesty had been
advised not to comply with the request in the
address. This despatch was mentioned in one
of the resolutions which it was intended to
submit to the House.
The motion was agreed to.
QUEEN'S PRINTER
Sir John A. Macdonald gave notice that on
Friday he would introduce a Bill respecting
the office of Queen's Printer. It was proposed
that the Queen's Printer should be a salaried
officer with £500 a year, and have the control
of all Government printing, the
Gazette, the
Statutes and the Government printing generally, and that all the printing except what
was confidential should be given out to public competition for a term of five years.
Mr. Mackenzie congratulated the Government on having arrived at this decision. He
felt assured they would receive the support
of this side of the House in carrying out the
policy now announced.
The following Bills were read a third time
and passed:-
Act to place all Canadian Vessels on an
equal footing as regards pilotage in the port
of Quebec, and for other purposes respecting
pilotage.—
Sir John A. Macdonald.
Act respecting certain Offences relative to
Her Majesty's Army and Navy, from the
Senate.—
Sir Geo. E. Cartier.
Act for the better protection of Her Majesty's Military and Naval Stores, from the
Senate.—
Sir John A. Macdonald.
Act respecting Joint Stock Companies incorporated by letters patent, from the Senate.
——
Sir John A. Macdonald.