August 1, 1867

ELECTION WRITS TO BE ISSUED

Sir John A. Macdonald (Prime Minister) has returned to Ottawa following his pre-election tour of Western Canada. Multiple sources are reporting that the prime minister’s return to the capital presages a Privy Council decision on Friday as to the issue of writs for the forthcoming Dominion elections.

Sources indicate that there is some concern that John A. has delayed too long in calling the elections and that any further hesitation will irreparably harm his chances at the polls. With the decision expected on Friday, it is believed that the writs will be dropped in the mail on Saturday and certainly no later than Monday with receipt expected by the returning officers by August 8th or 9th. Once received, the poll in each constituency will be held on a day of the returning officer’s choosing.

The roll of voters to be used in each constituency will be either the assessment role of 1866 or 1867. In municipalities where the 1867 assessment roll has been filed one month prior to the issuance of the writ of election that roll will be used. In all other cases the 1866 roll will be used. The rolls for 1867 are not due to be filed until October 1, meaning that only in those municipalities with an eager clerk will the 1867 roll be used.

POLITICAL PARTICIPATION A DUTY

From a lengthy Globe editorial on the importance of every man’s participation in politics:

Let no good Canadian citizen then believe that he makes any but a very stupid remark when he avers that the never meddles with politics. If he is to do his duty in a free State with any degree of success, HE MUST BE A POLITICIAN and the sooner the “reputable” come to understand and act upon that the better for them and theirs.

REFORM BILL TO PASS IN UK

The Reform Bill appears set to pass the United Kingdom Parliament, extending the franchise to nearly all working class males in the country. Benjamin Disraeli has accepted a number of amendments to the legislation over the course of the parliamentary debate so that the bill offers reforms in excess of those originally sought.

ANSWERS SOUGHT IN CHILD DEATHS; MEDICAL CERTIFICATES SOUGHT

As was reported a little over a week ago, the deaths in Montreal for one week period stood at 181, more than three times the average rate of fifty-four. At the time it was reported that 151 of these deaths were children. That number has been revised to 154. Most disturbing is that of these, 108 of the children who died in Montreal that grim week were under one year of age.

The records filed with the cemeteries offer no clue as to the cause of death of these children. They are recorded as “infant disability” in the Protestant cemetery and “faiblesse”, or weakness, in the Catholic cemetery.

More precise answers are required in order to put an end to these premature deaths. “Does,” asks the Montreal Herald, “the disability arise from foul air, bad drainage, insufficient nourishment, feeble bodily constitution inherited from the parents, or…by the feeble beings being choked up by the clouds of filthy dust left to accumulate and be blown about by the wind….”

The Herald is calling for a change in the process of registering deaths so that a medical certificate showing the true cause of death be required before before a death can be registered.

DEATH OF JAMES LINDSAY

James Lindsay of Wallacetown, and the Reform candidate in the riding of West Elgin has died in Sault Ste. Marie. Mr. Lindsay had gone north in the hopes that the change of climate could aid his recovery but it was not to be.