CHAPTER XVI. PRINCE EDWARD ISLAND. The admission of Prince Edward Island to the Dominion was effected by the following Order in Council: At the Court at Windsor, the 26th day of June, 1873. 7HEREAS by the "British North America Act, 1867," provision was made for the Union of the Provinces of Canada, Nova Scotia and New Brunswick into the Dominion of Canada, and it was (amongst other things) enacted that it should be lawful for the Queen, by and with the advice of Her Majesty's Most Honorable Privy Council, on Addresses from the Houses of the Parliament of Canada, and of the Legislature of the Colony of Prince Edward Island, to admit that Colony into the said Union on such terms and conditions as should be in the Addresses expressed, and as the Queen should think fit to approve, subject to the provisions of the said Act; and it was further enacted that the provisions of any Order in Council in that behalf, should have effect as if they had been enacted by the Parliament of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland. And whereas by Addresses from the Houses of the Parliament of Canada, and from the Legislative Council and House of Assembly of Prince Edward Island respectively, of which Addresses, copies are contained in the Schedule to this Order annexed, Her Majesty was prayed, by and with the advice of Her Most Honorable Privy Council, under the one hundred and forty-sixth section of the herein before recited Act, to admit Prince Edward Island into the Dominion of Canada, on the terms and conditions set forth in the said Addresses. And whereas Her Majesty has thought fit to approve of the said terms and conditions, it is hereby ordered and declared by Her Majesty, by and with the advice of Her Privy Council, in pursuance and exercise of the powers vested in Her Majesty, by the said Act of Parliament, that from and after the first day of July, one thousand eight hundred and seventy-three, the said Colony of Prince Edward Island shall be admitted into and become part of the Dominion of Canada, upon the terms and conditions set forth in the hereinbefore cited Addresses. And in accordance with the terms of the said Addresses relating to the Electoral Districts for which, the time within which, and the laws and provisions under which the first election of members to serve in the House of Commons of Canada, for such Electoral Districts shall be held, it is hereby further ordered and declared that "Prince County shall constitute one district, to be designated "Prince County District," and return two members; that "Queen's County Queen's County" shall constitute one district, to be designated "Queen's County District," and return two members; that "King's County" shall constitute one district, to be designated "King's County District," and return two members; that the election of members to serve in the House of Commons of Canada, for such Electoral Districts shall be held within three calendar months from the day of the admission of the said Island into the Union or Dominion of Canada; that all laws which at the date of this Order in Council relating to the qualification of any person to be elected or sit or vote as a member of the House of Assembly of the said Island, and relating to the qualifications or disqualifications of voters, and to the oaths to be taken by voters, and to Returning Officers and Poll Clerks, and their powers and duties, and relating to Polling Divisions within the said Island, and relating to the proceedings at elections, and to the period during which such elections may be continued, and relating to the trial of controverted elections, and the proceedings incidental thereto, and relating to the vacating of seats of the members, and to the execution of new writs, in case of any seat being vacated otherwise than by a dissolution, and to all other matters connected with or incidental to elections of members to serve in the House of Assembly of the said Island, shall apply to elections of members to serve in the House of Commons for the Electoral Districts situate in the said Island of Prince Edward. And the Right Honorable Earl of Kimberley, one of Her Majesty's Principal Secretaries of State, is to give the necessary directions herein, accordingly. ARTHUR HELPS. SCHEDULE. To the QUEEN's Most Excellent Majesty. Most Gracious Sovereign, We, Your Majesty's most dutiful and loyal subjects, the Commons of the Dominion of Canada in Parliament assembled, humbly approach Your Majesty for the purpose of representing: That during the present Session of Parliament we have taken into consideration the subject of the admission of the Colony of Prince Edward Island into the Union or Dominion of Canada, and have resolved that it is expedient that such admission should be effected at as early a date as may be found practicable, under the one hundred and forty-sixth section of the "British North America Act, 1867," on the conditions hereinafter set forth, which having been agreed upon with the Delegates from the said Colony; that is to say : That Canada shall be liable for the debts and liabilities of Prince Edward Island at the time of the Union; That in consideration of the large expenditure authorized by the Parliament of Canada for the construction of railways and canals, and in view of a possibility of a re-adjustment of the financial arrangements between Canada and the several Provinces now embraced in the Dominion, as well as the isolated and exceptional condition of Prince Edward Island, that Colony shall, on entering the Union, be entitled to incur a debt equal to fifty dollars per head of its population, as shewn by the Census Returns of 1871, that is to say four millions seven hundred and one thousand and fifty dollars; That Prince Edward Island not having incurred debts equal to the sum mentioned in the next preceding Resolution, shall be entitled to receive, by half-yearly payments, in advance, from the General Government, interest at the rate of five per cent. per annum on the difference, from time to time, between the actual amount of its indebtedness and the amount of indebtedness authorized as aforesaid, viz., four millions seven hundred and one thousand and fifty dollars; That Prince Edward Island shall be liable to Canada for the amount (if any) by which its public debt and liabilities at the date of the Union, may exceed four millions seven hundred and one thousand and fifty dollars and shall be chargeable with interest at the rate of five per cent. per annum on such excess; That as the Government of Prince Edward Island holds no land from the Crown, and consequently enjoys no revenue from that source for the construction and maintenance of local works, the Dominion Government shall pay by half-yearly instalments, in advance, to the Government of Prince Edward Island, forty-five thousand dollars per annum, less interest at five per cent. per annum, upon any sum not exceeding eight hundred thousand dollars which the Dominion Government may advance to the Prince Edward Island Government for the purchase of lands now held by large proprietors; That in consideration of the transfer to the Parliament of Canada of the powers of taxation, the following sums shall be paid yearly by Canada to Prince Edward Island, for the support of its Government and Legislature, that is to say, thirty thousand dollars and an annual grant equal to eighty cents per head of the population, as shown by the Census returns of 1871, viz., 94,021, both by half-yearly payments in advance, such grant of eighty cents per head to be augmented in proportion to the increase of population of the Island as may be shown by each subsequent decennial Census, until the population amounts to four hundred thousand, at which rate such grant shall thereafter remain it being understood that the next Census shall be taken in the year 1881; That the Dominion Government shall assume and defray all the charges for the following services, viz.: The salary of the Lieutenant Governor; The salaries of the Judges of the Superior Court and of the District or County Courts when established; The charges in respect of the Department of Customs; The protection of Fisheries; |