The Portland daily press., 1869-01-12
DAILY PRESS.
PORTLAND
Tuesday Morning, January l2, 1859.
Canadian Items,

Canadian Items.
Much indignation is felt in St. John. N
B., in relation to the late Commercial Banl,
failure. The failure of the Directors, at the
recent stockholders meeting, to makeany in
| telligible statement of the affairs of the bank,
is loudly denounced by the journals.
| "A great religious revival is attracting at
tention in Ottawa. 1t is led by Lord Cecil,
an English nobleman, who is very earnest
preacher. Meetings are held at the theatres,
| which are numerously attended, and the va
rious religious bodies have lost some of their
members, who have been attracted by Lord
| Cecil.
| Small pox still continues to be very prev
alent in Canada, and in very virulent form.
The movement for the expectation of sill
yer coin still hangs fire, it is said owing to
| the difficulty of getting tenders.
The Halifax citizen says that on the COM
| pletion of the railway to Annapolis, line of
fast steamers will run from that port to this.
| 1t is calculated that the trip between Annapo-
| lis and Portland can be made in twelve hours,
| and thet through connection from Halifax to
Montreal will be made in thirty-six hours, to
| New York in thirty hours.
The old Order of st. Michael and St.
George, which was originally instituted by
| George Third for his various colonies, has,
by special dispatch from the Duke Of Buck
ingham, been changed so far as Canada is
concerned, and will henceforth consist of
o1a RnsnI,fc Of fha
not to exceed twenty-five in number: Knights
Commanders, not to exceed sixty; and CON-
panions, one hundred in number. The honor
of belonging to one of these three degrees is
to be the reward for having held high or con-
fidential offices in the colonies, or for having
performed extraordinary and important ser.
vices in relation to any of the British Ameri-
can possessions; or, for those who may be-
come eminently distinguished therein by
their talents, merits, virtues, loyalty or ser
vices.
"A snbject which will early come before
the Ontario Legislature will be the i1vesti-
cation into the affairs of the Upper Canada
College. 1t is claimed that this college is
used by many pupils simply on account of its
name, because, after years training in it,
they, ,''can be admitted into the University.
The effort of those who ask the investigation
is 10 show that the great work of education
is done by the grammar schools, and to ac-
complish the disendowment of the college,
which they declare to be a'failure.
"A Halifax dispatch says:
There is likely to be difficulty between
the English railroad firm of Edwin, Clark,
Punchard & Co., and the Dominion, respect
| ing the construction of that portion of the
| Intercolonial between Truro and the New
| Brunswick boundary. The Nova Scotia gov
| ernment contracted with the International
| Contract Company of London to build that
road The company railed, and Edwin Clark,
| Punchard & Co., became assignees and un-
dertook to carry out the engagements, but
owing to some difficulty in locating the line
but little work was done. The firm hold that
| the original contract is binding on them as
| assignees of the International Contract Com
| pany, and on the Dominion government as
successors to the Local government of Nova
Scotia in the management of the railways.
They are prepared to fulfil the contract and
| will protest against the section between Am
herst and River Philip, now advertised, or
| any other portion of the line being let to 9TH
i VI P~AeiSos
An inquiry is being instituted into the
affairs of the Board Of Agriculture for On
tario. The Treasurer has never submitted
s.-I;~f~~S~.y stste.sa.-,+ hr-t sirsP,y eo-tented
himself with giving the receipts and expend-
itures of each year in lump sums. 1t was
thought that an association which welded so
much influence, and drew large annual snm
from the public chest, should not be allowed
to 60 on defyng all attempts to elicit a full
and complete statement of its affairs; there
fore, last year an act was passed making the
Board elective, but lthisl rule does not come
into force uutil some time the present month.
The grant was increased to $4,000, but the
Commissioner of Agriculture failing to OBJ
tain satisfactory statement of affairs, with
held half the grant this year, and now pros
ecutes an investigation in accordance with
the act. Some startling revelations are look
ed for. and clean sweep of the Board is an
ticipated. The Association has been man.
aged from the first, over twenty years, by
nearly the same men.
The St. John Globe grumbles after this
fashion:
The Inman steamer for Halifax touched al
st. Johns, N. F., about nine o'clock, yester-
day evening, and landed the Governor. She
will probably get to Halifax Thursday, and
we may be fortunate enough here to get our
mail at the end of the week-say about nine
or ten days beyond the ordinary time in which
it came by the Cunard steamers. Our mer-
chants ought not to put up with this. We do
not see why they do so, when the remedy in
the winter season is so easy. The English mail
for st. John could be despatched by the Mon
treal steamers, landed at Portland and brought
here in from twelve TO fifteen days from the
time of its departure. Now, it takes nearly
three weeks. Even now, we believe that the
majority Of our merchants send their letters
via Portland, there being very little delay by
that route.
| Abraham Iiucolu MT l1aaner Insfifuf fe.