THE WORKMEN'S COMPENSATION ACT

in cases of accident, but it was provided that if at the end of that period it was found that the men in the employ of these companies wished to be afforded the protection of the Act, they would be so included in the following Session of the Legislature. At the expiration of the time mentioned the employees of the companies above referred to made it known to the Labour party of Toronto that they wished to be brought under the provisions of the Act, and a deputation composed of members of the legislative committees of the Toronto Trades and Labour Council, and District Assembly of Knights of Labour, appeared before the Railway Committee of the Ontario legislature, of which the Hon. Christopher Fraser, one of the best men and brightest intellects ever in public life in Canada, was chairman. After a long drawn out battle with the lawyers of the Railway Companies, the labour men succeeded in having the question submitted to a vote of the men working for the two companies, and it was carried by a large majority that they should be included among those coming under the protection of the Workmen's Compensation Act.

In several of the provinces, Labour has also obtained the passage of Factory Acts, which, like the Compensation Act, have since been amended and improved through its influence. Other Acts have been passed, such as the Shops Regulation Act of 1888, an Act to prevent the law of conspiracy being applied to labour disputes, unless a deed is committed punishable under the statutes, an amendment to the Seamen's Act, for the better protection of sailors, an Aliens Labour Law, an Act for the collection of labour statistics, an Act providing for a fair wage clause in all government contracts, Acts for the protection of employees in manufactories, and an Act relating to the protection of persons employed in the construction of railways, were passed in the Province of Quebec.

Ontario is the " banner province" of labour legislation

in the east. In addition to the Acts already mentioned, the following measures have been obtained:-An Act to Facilitate Agreements between Masters and Workmen for the Participation in Profits, The Trades Arbitration Act, an Act to Amend the Law Relating to the Collection of Debts, an Act for the Establishment of Co-operative Societies, an Act to protect the Goods of Lodgers and Boarders against Distresses for Rent by the superior landlord, an Act respecting Wages in cases of Assignment, an Act respecting Exempting from Taxation Workmen's Wages that do not exceed $700.00 a year, an Act respecting Mines Regulations, and an Act placing a duty of $500.00 on every Chinaman entering Canada was passed at the request of organised Labour in the Province of British Columbia. Most of the Acts have been amended several times at the instigation of the Labour party, and scores of minor Acts and Regulations have been passed. The province of British Columbia has been particularly prolific in labour legislation, and successful in obtaining representation in the local legislature.

Another field in which organised Labour has exercised a beneficial influence has been in having clauses inserted in agreements between municipal bodies and private corporations, securing a minimum wage and maximum hours of labour for employees of such companies, and in cases of street car companies, reduced through tickets for workers travelling to and from their work. In this last respect Canada stands in the very front rank of the nations of the earth, and these benefits, like many others accruing from the actions of organised Labour, have been showered upon all workers unorganised as well as organised.

Many of the municipalities have a minimum wage even for the scavengers that clean their streets and the men that dig their sewers. These various laws and regulations have saved many a life, brightened many a humble

MR. A. F. JURY

home in the hour of accident, and fed and clothed many a child that otherwise might have had to suffer great hardship through the negligence of employers or the meanness of public bodies. In pressing effectively for these provisions the working people of Canada have been most ably championed by Mr. A. F. Jury, at present the Canadian Government Agent at Exeter, a man who embodies sterling integrity of character with an unrivalled grasp of political economy and what is still more rare, of the power of applying that knowledge.

CHAPTER VII

THE CHIEF CITIES OF CANADA

THE Census of 1910 showed that sixty-two cities and towns in Canada had each a population of 5,000 persons or more. Of these, twenty-four had a population of 10,000 or over, and of the twenty-four twelve had populations of 20,000 or more. Since 1901 a very large number of towns have come into the line of those containing 5,000 or more, and most of those of 5,000 inhabitants have grown to double their size. In the North-West Territories particularly the growth of the population has been very rapid, as was shown by the census of 1906 in Alberta and Saskatchewan.

MONTREAL

In point of size and commerce the importance of Montreal, with an estimated population of 456,000, stands easily first. Situated on the St. Lawrence, at the junction of that river with the Ottawa River, it occupies a most important strategical position from the point of view of commerce, and its surroundings are most picturesque. The town is situated upon an island some thirty miles long by eight or ten miles wide, formed of the two branches of the Ottawa River, and is built in a series of terraces which mark the former levels of the river. In size it is about four miles long by two miles broad. Behind it towers, 700 feet above the river level, the huge shape of Mount Royal, from which the city takes its name. Montreal is naturally the chief railway centre of Canada ; the Canadian Pacific and the Grand Trunk Pacific Railways have headquarters in the city, and in all ten railway lines run through or have their terminus in Montreal. Montreal has all the characteristics of an English manufacturing town in times of brisk trade.

MONTREAL

The wharves, where fourteen important lines of steamers have their port of call, are hives of energy, and the smoke from hundreds of factory chimneys obscures the air. The river is open for seven months in the year, and the quays can accommodate many of the largest modern liners. By a system of canals which ends at Montreal there is a continuous waterway during the open season from the ports of Lake Superior to the Atlantic. Montreal has been called the "City of Churches." Many of the buildings date back to the early days of French Canada. Dwarfing all the rest is the vast Roman Catholic cathedral of Nôtre-Dame, one of the largest churches in the North American continent, which has accommodation for over 12,000 people.

Of the public buildings at Montreal the most notable is that of the McGill University, which takes high place among the educational institutions of Canada. Not far from Montreal are the celebrated Lachine Rapids which run through the narrow gorge between the Canadian Pacific Railway bridge and the Victoria bridge. Steamers ply upon these dangerous waters, and to shoot the rushing rapids is one of the experiences which one seeks once in a lifetime and remembers ever afterwards. Undoubtedly one of the chief sights of Montreal is the Victoria Bridge which spans the river at a point where it is two miles wide. The present bridge, built about ten years ago, replaced the original tubular bridge designed by Robert Stevenson.

QUEBEC

Over-past in the race for wealth and commerce by its pushing neighbour, Montreal, the old city of Quebec stands apart and most deeply fascinating for the lover of the picturesque and the student of history. Quebec is purely French-French in its buildings, in its churches, in its people; French in its whole atmosphere. The buildings nearly all convey to the mind the fact that one