October 7, 1867
MEETING OF PROVINCIAL LEGISLATURES
The legislatures of Ontario and Québec have been summoned to meet on November 4, two days before the Dominion Parliament will meet for the first time. There are no fewer than 19 members of the House of Commons who also hold seats in one of the provincial legislatures including members of the Dominion cabinet, the premiers of both Ontario and Québec, and several of their ministers.
Meanwhile, several around Toronto say that Ontario’s premier, John Sandfield Macdonald has not been seen in several days and his whereabouts are unknown.
COALITION CABINET
If the appointment of Dr. Charles Tupper to the cabinet position of Secretary of State for the Provinces proceeds as rumoured the number of Tories will outnumber Liberals in the cabinet 8 to 5, according to an accounting done by The Globe.
The paper is calling for a reduction of the size of the cabinet by three and cites the previously named position as well as the Customs (held by Hon. Samuel Tilley) and Inland Revenue (held by Hon. William Howland) offices as ripe for abolition.
Mr. Archibald’s exit from the cabinet appears certain, even if a replacement has not yet been appointed. Two additional appointments have been added to the list of future work for the defeated cabinet minister. In addition to the possible judgeship, it is rumoured that Mr. Archibald has been offered a choice between an appointment to the Senate or the Lieutenant-Governorship of New Brunswick.
DOMINION ACCOUNTS
A statement from the Dominion Audit Office dated October 2 shows Canada had a surplus of $1,154,197.47 for the month of September (though the figures include revenues for Nova Scotia and New Brunswick dating from July 1, and expenditures from Nova Scotia for the same period). Total revenues reported were $1,932,253.60 and expenditures were $778,056.13.
The total debt of the United States as of October 1 is reported to be $2,495,277,416.75
RAILWAY PASSENGERS
There was a slight increase in railway revenues for August 1867 as compared to the same month a year earlier. The railways reported a total of $1,096,710 in revenue in August up from $1,045,368 a year earlier. Of this, freight accounted for the bulk of railway business, bringing in $606,188, compared to $446,201 in passenger fares. The remaining $44,321 came from the transporting of the mail and various sundries.
The average revenue for the Dominion is $474 per mile of track.
There are now 2,314 miles of railroad in operation in Canada, an increase of 77 miles from this time last year. This is due mostly to the expansion of the Nova Scotia Railway which added 51 miles of track in the last year.
SHIP CARPENTERS STRIKE CONTINUES
Details of the ship carpenters demands are emerging as the strike at Valin & Sampson’s Shipyards in Québec continues in its second week.
The carpenters have shut the shipyards over a demand for an increase in their wages from 87 cents per day to a dollar and a quarter a day.
Sources close to the negotiations acknowledge that the current rate of pay is the amount that ensures the profitability of the ship-building industry and is the amount endorsed by the carpenters union at other ship yards. The same sources say, however, that Valin & Sampson have ships that are nearly ready for delivery to their customers and the carpenters have seized on their employers anxiousness to have the boats completed to extract the additional wages.
The move comes as iron increasingly intrudes on the industry and the move by the union may be an attempt to extract what wages they can while there are still wages to be had.