1901-02-08

FIRST READING.

[Stage Direction]
Bill (No. 1) respecting the Administration of Oaths of Office.-(Sir Wilfrid Laurier.)

Mr. SPEAKER.: I have the honour to inform this House that when the House attended His Excellency the Governor General this day in the Senate Chamber, His Excellency was pleased to make a Speech to both Houses of Parliament, and, to prevent mistakes, I have obtained a copy of tlie Speech, which is as follows :-
Honourable Gentlemen of the denote :
Gentlemen of the House of Commons :
Since our last meeting the Empire has been called on to lament the demise of Her late Majesty Queen Victoria. The universal regret and sympathy with which the tidings of her decease have been received throughout the entire civilized world, afford the best testimony to the manner in which she has, at all times, discharged her duties, both as a woman and a sovereign, throughout her unprecedentedly long and glorious reign, and I will venture to add that in no portion of her vast territories were those sentiments more profoundly felt than in the Dominion of Canada.
You will, I am sure, take early action to express your sympathy with the Royal Family in their bereavement and your loyalty to the new Sovereign.
The Canadian contingents to South Africa have nearly all returned, and it affords me a very great gratification to be able to assure you that the valour and good conduct of our Canadian soldiers have called forth the highest encomiums from the several commanders under whom they have served during the arduous contest.
The union of the several provinces of Australia into one confederation, upon lines closely resembling those on which our own Dominion has been established, marks another important step towards the consolidation of the outlaying portions of the Empire, and, I am well assured, will call forth your m- st, sincere congratulations to the new commonwealth.
Acting on the advice of my ministers, I had, previously to the great grief which has fallen
li
upon the nation, tendered an invitation on your behalf to His Excellency the Duke of Cornwall and York to conclude his intended visit to Australasia by one to the Dominion of Canada, and I am glad to be able to inform you that His Royal Highness has been pleased to signify his acceptance of the same. I still hope that that visit may not be considered impossible. I have no doubt of the warmth of the welcome with which he will he received.
My government has learned with great satisfaction of the progress being made with the Pacific cable scheme, and I trust that nothing may occur to delay its early completion.
Last summer I made a tour through Canada as far as Dawson City, and was everywhere received with unqualified proofs of devotion and loyalty. During my journey, I was, from personal observation, much impressed with the great activity displayed in the development of the mining and agricultural industries of the country, and with the substantial increase in its population. The thrift, energy and law-abiding character of the immigrants are a subject of much congratulation, and afford ample proof of their usefulness as citizens of the Dominion.
It gives me great pleasure to note the excellent display made by Canada at the Universal Exposition in Paris. The fine quality and varied character of Canadian natural and industrial products is evidenced by the number of awards won In nearly every class of the competition. It is a remarkable testimony to the effectiveness of our cold storage transportation facilities, that fresh fruit grown in Canada secured a large number of the highest awards. It is extremely gratifying to observe that, as a result of the display of Canadian resources, considerable foreign capital has found its way to Canada for investment and large orders from foreign countries have been received for Canadian goods.
The improvement of the St. Lawrence route continues to engage the very careful attention of my government. During the past year ship channels have been widened and deepened, additional lights and buoys have been provided and, in a short time, there will be telegraph and cable communication with Belle Isle. These additional securities will tend to make safer and more efficient than ever our great waterway between the lakes and the Atlantic.
I am glad to observe that the revenue and (he general volume of trade continue undiminished, and even show a moderate increase over the very large figures attained during the past year.
Measures will be submitted to you for the better supervision of the export trade in food products, and also in connection with the Post Office, the Pacific cable and various other subjects.
Gentlemen of the House of Commons :
The accounts for the past year will be laid before you.
The Estimates for the succeeding year will likewise be placed upon the Table at an early date.
Honourable Gentlemen of the Senate :
Gentlemen of the House of Commons :
I commend to your earnest consideration the measures to be submitted to you, invoking the Divine blessings upon the important labours on which you are again entering.


The PRIME MINISTER moved :: That the Speech ot His Excellency the Governor General to both Houses of the Parliament of the Dominion of Canada, he taken into consideration on Monday next.


[Stage Direction]
Motion agreed to.

The PRIME MINISTER (Sir Wilfrid Laurier) moved :: That Select Standing Committees of this House for the present session be appointed for the following purposes :-1. On Privileges and Elections. 2. On Expiring Laws.	3. On
Railways, Canals and Telegraph Lines.	4. On
Miscellaneous Private Bills. 5. On Standing Orders. 6. On Printing. 7. On Public Accounts. 8. On Banking and Commerce. 9. On Agriculture and Colonization,-which said committees shall severally be empowered to examine and inquire into all such matters and things as may be referred to them by the House; and to report from time to time their observations and opinions thereon, with power to send for persons, papers and records.


[Stage Direction]
Motion agreed to.

[Stage Direction]
The PRIME MINISTER (Sir Wilfrid Laurier.) Before I move the adjournment of the House, I desire to give notice that to-morrow, if it be convenient to my lion, friends on the other side, I propose to move an address to His Majesty the King, of which I intimated the nature yesterday. I will avail myself of this opportunity to tender my congratulations, as well as the congratulations of this side of the House, to my hon. friend the senior member for Halifax (Mr. Borden) on his advancement to the high office of leader of His Majesty's loyal opposition. Of course, it would not be fitting for me to offer any suggestion whatever, or any observations, as to what should be the internal policy of the Conservative party ; but speaking as a citizen of Canada, I am quite sure that the elevation of my hon. friend to the position that he now occupies must be very gratifying to himself. Speaking personally, and as leader of the House, it affords me much pleasure to think in advance that the relations between my hon. friend and myself will be always pleasant and cordial. I am well aware that it will be my painful duty on many occasions to dissent from the views of my hon. friend because, as it is his misfortune to be in the wrong on the main question. I do not anticipate that he can be in the right on the minor ones. But we will agree to disagree as we have done in the past, and I am quite sure that my hon. friend will believe in my absolute sincerity when I tell
Lawrence Geoffrey Power: him that I hope, with all my heart, he may continue to exercise for a long, long period, the functions of leader of the opposition. I beg to move the adjournment of the House.


Mr.   I@: Mr. Speaker, I thank the right hon. gentleman for the kindness and courtesy which he has so well expressed in the remarks he has just seen fit to make with regard to myself. He will permit me, however, to say, in passing, that if I should remain leader of the opposition for as long a period as that joke is old, it will be wholly beyond my own expectations, and beyond the expectations of the hon. gentlemen on this side of the House. It will be our painful duty, I expect, on some occasions, to differ with the right hon. gentleman and those who support him, as to what will be the best interests of the country, but I can only say that I shall add my efforts to his in the direction that our differences shall be adjusted, so far as they can be adjusted in this House, in a kindly and courteous manner. In saying that, I am sure that I voice the sentiments of every hon. gentleman on this side of the House. It is needless for me to say that I have accepted the trust which has been reposed in me by hon. gentlemen on this side of the House with a great deal of diffidence and hesitation. That diffidence and that hesitation have not been inspired by any fear of the loyalty or fidelity of lion, gentlemen on this side of the House, in which I have the most perfect confidence. They have rather been inspired by my own comparative inexperience in public life, and by the fact that I doubted my own capacity to follow in the footsteps of those great men, who, in times past, have filled the position of leader, on one side or other, in the House, of the party which I now have the honour to lead in this House. I remember also that the traditions of tiiis House have been sustained by great men who are now on the other side of the House, but who for many years fought the battles of their party with more or less varying fortune from the side of the House which is now occupied by my hon. friends and myself. It will be quite convenient for us to dispose of the motion to which the right hon. gentleman has referred to-morrow, and I am sure that the motion which has been suggested will receive the most cordial support from hon. gentlemen on this side of the House.



REPORT.

[Stage Direction]
Report of the Joint Librarians of Parliament.- (Mr. Speaker.)
On motion of the Prime Minister the House adjourned at 3.50 p.m.
[Stage Direction]

Friday, February 8, 1901.

[Stage Direction]
The PRIME MINISTER OSir Wilfrid Laurler) presented a message from His Excellency the Governor General.
Mr. SPEAKER read the message, as follows :-
Minto.
The Governor General transmits to the House of Commons an approved Minute of Council, appointing the Honourable Sir Richard Cartwright, G.C.M.G., Minister of Trade and Commerce; the Honourable Sir Louis Henry Davies, K. C. M. G., Minister of Marine and Fisheries ; the Honourable William Stevens Fielding, Minister of Finance, and the Honourable Joseph Israel Tarte, Minister of Public Works, to act with the Speaker of the House of Commons, as Commissioners for the purposes and under the provisions of the 13th Chapter of the Revised Statutes of Canada, intituled :	' An Act respecting the House of Commons.'
Government House,
Ottawa, February 7, 1901.

The PRIME MINISTER (Sir Wilfrid Laurler).: Mr. Speaker, I rise to move the resolution of which I gave notice yesterday, which seems to be eminently called for by the fatal occurrence under which we have met. We have met under the shadow of a death which has caused more universal mourning than has ever been recorded in the pages of history. In these words there is no exaggeration ; they are the literal truth. There is mourning in the United Kingdom, in the colonies, and in the many islands and continents which form the great empire over which extend the sovereignty of Queen Victoria. There is mourning deep, sincere, heartfelt in the mansions of the great, and of the rich, and in the cottages of the poor and lowly ; for to all her subjects, whether high or low. whether rich or poor, the Queen, in her long reign had become an object of almost sacred veneration.
There is sincere and unaffected regret in all of the nations of Europe, for all the nations of Europe had learned to appreciate, to admire, and to envy the many qualities of Queen Victoria, those many public and domestic virtues which were the pride of her subjects.
There is genuine grief in the neighbouring nation of seventy-five million inhabitants, the kinsmen of her own people, by whom, at all times, and under all circumstances, her name was held in higli reverence, and where, in the darkest days of the civil war, when the relations of the two countries were strained, almost to the point of snapping, the poet Whittier well expressed the feeling of his countrymen when he exclaimed :
We bowed the heart, if not the knee,
To England's Queen, God bless her.
There is wailing and lamentation amongst the savage and barbarian peoples of her vast empire, in the wigwams of our own Indian tribes, in the huts of the coloured races of Africa and of India, to whom she was at all times the great mother, the living impersonation of majesty and benevolence. Aye, and there is mourning also, genuine and unaffected, in the farm houses of South Africa, which have been lately, and still are devastated by war, for it is a fact that above the clang of arms, above the many angers engendered by the war, the name of Queen Victoria was always held in high respect, even by those who are fighting her troops, as a symbol of justice, and perhaps her kind hand was much relied upon when the supreme hour of reconciliation should come.
Undoubtedly we may find in history instances where death has caused perhaps more passionate outbursts of grief, but it is impossible to find instances where death has caused so universal, so sincere, so heartfelt an expression of sorrow. In the presence of these many evidences of grief which come not only from her own dominions, but from all parts of the globe ; in the presence of so many tokens of admiration, where it is not possible to find a single discordant note ; in the presence of the immeasurable void caused by the death of Queen Victoria, it is not too much to say that the grave has just closed upon one of the great characters of history.
What is greatness ? We are accustomed to call great, those exceptional beings upon whom heaven has bestowed some of its choicest gifts, which astonish and dazzle the world by the splendour of faculties, phenomenally developed, even when these faculties are much marred by defects and weaknesses which make them nugatory of good. But this is not, in my estimation, at least, the highest conception of greatness. The equipoise of a well-balanced mind, the equilibrium of faculties well and evenly ordered, the luminous insight of a calm judgment, are gifts which are as rarely found in one human being, as the possession of the more dazzling though less solid qualities. And when these high qualities are found in a ruler of men, combined with purity of soul, kindness of heart, generosity of disposition, elevation of purpose, and devotion to duty, this is what seems to me to he the highest conception of greatness, greatness which will be abundantly productive of happiness

and glory to tlie people under such a sovereign. If I mistake not, sucli was tlie character of Queen Victoria, and such were the results of her rule. It has been our privilege to live under her reign, and it must be admitted that her reign was of the grandest In history, rivalling in length, and more than rivalling in glory the long reign of Louis XIV., and more than the reign of Louis XIV., likely to project its lustre into future ages.
If we cast our glance back over the sixty-four years into which was encompassed the reign of Queen Victoria, we stand astonished, however familiar we may be with the facts, at the development of civilization which has taken place during that period. We stand astonished at the advance of culture, of wealth, of legislation, of education, of literature, of the arts aud sciences, of locomotion by land and by sea, and of almost every department of human activity. The age of Queen Victoria must be held to be on a par with the most famous within the memory of man. Of course, of many facts and occurrences which have contributed to make the reign of Queen Victoria what it was, to give it the splendour which has created such an impression upon her own country, and which has shed such a luminous trail all over the world, many took place apart and away from her influence. Many events took place In relation to which the most partial panegyrists would, no doubt, have to say, that they were simply the happy circumstance of the time in which she lived. Science, for instance, might have obtained the same degree of development under another monarch.
It is also possible that literature might have flourished under another monarch, but I believe that the contention can be advanced, and advanced truly, that tlie literature of the Victoria age to a large extent reflected the influence of the Queen. To the eternal glory of the literature of the reign of Queen Victoria be it said, that it was pure and absolutely free from the grossness which disgraced it in former ages, and which still unhappily is the shame of the literature of other countries. Happy indeed is the country whose literature is of such a character that it can be the intellectual food of the family circle ; that it can be placed by the mother In the hands of her daughter with abundant assurance that while the mind is improved the heart is not polluted. Such is the literature of the Victorian age. For this blessing, in my judgment, no small credit is due to the example and influence of our departed Queen. It is a fact well known in historv, that in England as in other countries, the influence of the sovereign was always reflected upon the literature of the reign. In former ages, when the court was impure, the literature of the nation was impure, but in the age of Queen Victoria, where the life of the court was pure, the literature


Sir WILFRID LACRIER.: that from the clay of her accession to the Throne, the Queen exhibited, under all available circumstances, an abounding and lasting friendship towards that country which but for the fault of a vicious government would still have formed part of her dominions-a friendship which could not fail to touch the minds and hearts of a sensitive people. This was manifest in times of peace, but still more in time of war, and especially in the supreme hour of trial of the United States during the civil war. In the early months of the civil war, as perhaps few now remember, an event took place which almost led to hostilities between Great Britain and the United States. An American man-of-war stopped a British merchant ship on the high sea, and forcibly abducted from it two envoys of the confederate government on their way to Europe1. That act was a violation of the territory of England, because England has always held the decks of her ships to be part of her territory. It not only caused excitement in England, but it caused excitement of a different kind in the United States. The action of the commander of the war vessel in making the abduction aroused a great deal of enthusiasm among the people of the United States, which was reflected even on the floor of Congress, and evoked many meetings and resolutions of commendation. Lord Palmerston was at that time the Prime Minister of Great Britain, and he was not the man to brook such an affront. He had a despatch prepared by the Foreign Minister, who, if I remember rightly, was at that time Lord Russell, peremptorily demanding the return of the prisoners and an apology. The despatch which had been prepared was submitted to the Queen; and then was revealed the good sense and the kind heart of the wise and good woman at the head of the British nation. She sent back the despatch remarking that it was couched in too harsh terms, and that it ought to be modified to make possible the surrender of the prisoners without any surrender of dignity on the part of the United States. This wise counsel was followed ; the despatch was modified accordingly ; the prisoners were released, and the danger of war was averted. That act on the part of the Queen made a most favourable impression on the minds of the people of the United States. But that was not all. Three years, or a little more afterwards, at the close of the civil war, when the union of the United States had been confirmed, when slavery had been abolished, when rebellion had been [DOT] put down, the civilized world was shocked to hear of the foul assassination of the wise and good man who had carried his country through that ordeal. Then the good heart and sound judgment of the Queen were again manifested. She sent a letter to the widow of the martyred president-not as the Queen of Great Britain to the widow Sir WILFRID LAURIER.
of the president of the United States ; but she sent a letter of sympathy from a widow to a widow, herself being then in the first years of her own bereavement. That action on her part made a very deep impression upon the minds of the American people ; it touched not only the heart of the widowed wife, but the heart of the widowed nation ; it stirred the souls of strong men; it caused tears to course down the cheeks of veterans who had courted death during the previous four years on a thousand battlefields. I do not say that it brought about reconciliation, but it made reconciliation possible. It was the first rift in the clouds; and to-day, in the time of England's mourning, the American people flock to their churches, pouring their blessings upon the memory of Britain's Queen. I do not hope, I do not believe it possible, that the two countries which were severed in the eighteenth century, can ever be again united politically ; but perhaps it is not too much to hope that the friendship thus inaugurated by the hand of the Queen may continue to grow until the two nations are united again, not by legal bonds, but by ties of affection ns strong, perhaps, as if sanctioned by all the majesty of the laws , of the two countries; and if such au event were ever to take place, the credit of it would be due to the wise and noble woman who thus would have proved herself to be one of the greatest of statesmen, simply by following the instincts of her heart.
Sir, in a life in which there is so much to be admired, perhaps the one thing most to be admired is that naturalness, that simplicity in the character of the Queen which showed itself in such actions as I have just described. From the first day of her reign to the last, she conquered and kept the affections of her people, simply because under all circumstances, and on all occasions, whether important or trivial, she did the one thing that ought to be done, and did it in the way most natural and simple. Thus, on the day of her accession to the Throne, when she had to hold her first Council of State, when she had to meet veterans of the army and dignitaries of the church and the state, she performed all her duties in such a way as at once to win the hearts of all present. The Duke of Wellington expressed his gratification in the blunt language of an old soldier by remarking that if she had been his own daughter, he could not have expected her to have done better. So it was on the first day, so it was every day, so it was on the last day of her reign.
She was a Queen, she was also a wife and a mother. She had her full share of the joys and sorrows of life. She loved, she suffered. Perhaps, though a Queen, she had a larger share of the sorrows than of the joys of life, for as Chateaubriand somewhere says, we have come to know how much there is of tears

in the eyes of queens. Her married life was one of the noblest that could be conceived. It can be summed up in one word : it was happy. But death prematurely placed her cold hand upon her happiness by the removal of the noble companion of her life at an early age. From that moment she never was exactly the same. To the end of her life she mourned like Rachel weeping for her children, and would not be consoled. After the lapse of forty years, time may have assuaged, but it did not remove her grief ; we can apply to her the beautiful language of the French poet :
Dans sa premitsre larme elle noya son coeur.
(' In her first tear she drowned her heart.') She is now no more-no more ? Nay, 1 boldly say she lives-lives in the hearts of her subjects ; lives in the pages of history. And as the ages revolve, as her pure profile stands more marked against the horizon of time, the verdict of posterity will ratify the judgment of those who were her subjects. She ennobled mankind ; she exalted royalty-the world is better for her life.
Sir. the Queen is no more, let us with one heart say : Long live the King !
I propose to the House that we should unite in a resolution to His Majesty the King, to convey to him the expression of our sorrow at the loss he has suffered-a loss which, we may say with every respect, is ours also.
I propose that we should unite in conveying to the King the expression of the loyalty of his Canadian subjects.
Only a few days ago His Majesty sent a message to his broad dominions across the sea, in which he said it would be his aim in life to follow in the footsteps of his great and noble mother. Sir, we did not want that assurance on the part of His Majesty, to know that the wise policy and the wise conduct of the great Queen whom he has succeeded on the Throne would be his guide. We have believed from the first that he who was a wise prince would be a wise King, that the policy which has made the British Empire so great under his predecessor would also be his policy, and that the reign of King Edward the Seventh would he simply a continuation of the reign of Queen Victoria.
On our part let us offer to His Majesty the King the expression of our loyalty-a loyalty which does not spring from any sycophancy or fetichism-but from grateful hearts, who duly appreciate the blessing of living under British institutions. Let us wish him Godspeed, and let us hope that his reign may be as fruitful of good as was that of his wise predecessor. I now beg to move:1-
To the King's Most Excellent Majesty:
Most Gracious Sovereign :
We, Your Majesty's dutitful and loyal subjects, the Commons of Canada, in Parliament
assembled, humbly beg leave to approach Your Majesty with the expression of our deep and heartfelt sorrow at the demise of our late Sovereign Lady Queen Victoria.
In common with our fellow subjects in all parts of the empire, we deplore the loss of a great ruler whose manifold and exalted virtues have for three generations commanded the respect and admiration of the world.
As representatives cf the Canadian people, we mourn for the beloved Sovereign under whom our Dominion first rose into being, and to whose wise and beneficent sway are due in no small measure its growth and prosperity.
May we venture to add that above and beyond these sentiments which the sad occasion naturally calls forth, there has come to each one of us a sense of personal bereavement which, we say it with all possible respect and duty, makes Your Majesty's sorrow our own.
We pray that the God of consolation may comfort Your Majesty and the members of the Royal Family in the affliction.
It is with feelings not less deep and sincere than those to which we have just given utterance that we hail Your Majesty's accession to the Throne of your ancestors. We beg to assure Your Majesty of our devoted attachment to Your Majesty's person and government, and to express our unclouded confidence that the glory and the greatness of the British Empire abroad, and the happiness and well-being of^ Your Majesty's people at home, will suffer no diminution under Your Majesty's gracious rule.


Mr. R. L. BORDEN (Halifax).: I have little to add, Mr. Speaker, to the very eloquent and appropriate words in which my right lion, friend, the Prime Minister, has moved his resolution, beyond saying that it will meet, I am sure, with the cordial approval and support of every member of this House.
The right lion, gentleman has well referred to the condition of this country at the time when Her Gracious Majesty ascended the Throne, and its condition at the present time. Then there were five or six disconnected provinces, having little means of inter-communication, with hostile tariffs between them, with our North-west a wilderness, and with British Columbia an unknown country. Now we find this great country, from the Atlantic to the Pacific, governed by one parliament, subject to the same general laws; and instead of rebellion, we see our volunteer soldiers returning home from fighting the battles of the empire across the seas. It is truly a great change, and a change which has been, to no small . extent, brought about by the influence of Her late Majesty.
I may be permitted to add a word with respect to the interest which Her Majesty always took in her colonies on this side of the Atlantic. We well remember how anxious she was that the measure should pass which resulted in the confederation of these provinces. I may recall the words which Sir John Macdonald addressed to Her Majesty on the occasion of his interview at that time. ' We have desired,' he said.
' in this measure to declare, in the most solemn and emphatic manner, our resolve

to be under the sovereignty of your Majesty and your family for ever.' These words are particularly appropriate for all of us to remember at this time. And this we know, that subsequently, when the great work of binding together the provinces of Canada by a great railway was completed. Her Majesty expressed to Sir John Macdonald, in a letter, her pleasure at its accomplishment, stating that she had watched its progress with much interest, and that she hoped for the future success of a work of such value apd importance to the empire.
Then, Sir, we may well recall the kindly words which Her Majesty addressed to Lady Macdonald on the death of Sir John Macdonald, and not less may we recall the kindness which she exhibited towards the family of the late Sir John Thompson on the occasion of his death in England. We remember that on that occasion she placed on his coffin a wreath of lilies and laurels as a token of her sincere respect for him, and the country of which, at the time of his death, he was Prime Minister.
I entirely concur in all that my right hon. friend has so well said with respect to the influence of Her Majesty, both in public and in private life, and I feel that perhaps one more word may be added in that connection, namely, the great toleration which she exhibited for all opinions, the great sympathy which went out from her to all races and creeds in the vast dominions over which she ruled. Victoria was great enough to recognize the greatness of truth, to know that it had many sides, and I believe that her influence in that respect will survive long in the memory which will be handed down of the achievements accomplished during her reign.
I think we might well quote, as a nation, with respect to her, the touching words which James Russell Lowell addressed to his wife :
Blessing is she; God made her so.
Throughout the empire-not only throughout Canada, hut throughout the empire-we may well say of her who is now gone : Blessing was she ; God made her so.
I believe that nowhere in the empire more than in Canada, will her memory be honoured and revered; and may we not add that in our sorrow for her death, though in the fullness of her years, there is mingled a note of triumph for the character and the example she has left behind her.
With respect to the accession of His Most Gracious Majesty, it might be well to recall that when visiting Canada, and while he was yet a young man. he laid the corner-stone of this very building in which we now assemble. The corner-stone which he then laid might well have been thought a symbol of the great dominion which has since grown up. As the right hon. gentleman has said, there have been great developments during


Robert Laird Borden: the reign of Her late Majesty. The foundations of our great Dominion were laid deep and broad and true during that time. Let us hope, as we all believe, that the structure which will be erected upon these foundations in the reign of King Edward VII. will be a fair and stately one, a structure of which all the empire, and not Canada alone, may well be proud.


[Stage Direction]
Motion agreed to.
The PRIME MINISTER moved :: That a Message be sent to the Senate, informing their Honours that this House has passed an Address to His Majesty the King expressing the deep and heartfelt sorrow of this House at the demise of our late Sovereign Lady Queen Victoria, and requesting their Honours to unite with this House in the said Address.
.Motion agreed to.
On motion of the Prime Minister the House adjourned at 4 p.m.

Monday, February 11, 1901.