ing 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 have 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 halfyearly 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 postal department;

The protection of fisheries;

The provision for the militia;

The lighthouses, shipwrecked crews, quarantine, and marine hospitals;

The geological survey;

The penitentiary:

Efficient steam service for the conveyance of mails and passengers, to be established and maintained between the Island and the mainland of the Dominion, winter and summer, thus placing the Island in continuous communication with the Intercolonial Railway and the railway system of the Dominion;

The maintenance of telegraphic communication between the Island and the mainland of the Dominion;

And such other charges as may be incident to, and connected with, the services which by the "British North America Act, 1867." appertain to the general government, and as are or may be allowed to the other provinces ;

That the railways under contract and in course of construction for the government of the Island, shall be the property of Canada.

That the new building in which are held the law courts, registry office, etc., shall be transferred to Canada, on the payment of sixty-nine thousand dollars. The purchase to include the land on which the building stands, and a suitable space of ground in addition, for yard room, etc.;

That the steam dredge boat in course of construction shall be taken by the Dominion, at a cost not exceeding twenty-two thousand dollars;

That the steam ferry boat owned by the government of the Island and used as such shall remain the property of the Island;

That the population of Prince Edward Island having been increased by fifteen thousand or upwards since the year 1861, the Island shall be represented in the House of Commons of Canada by six members; the representation to be readjusted, from time to time, under the provisions of the "British North America Act, 1867;"

That the constitution of the executive authority and of the legislature of Prince Edward Island, shall, subject to the provisions of the "British North America Act, 1867," continue as at the time of the union, until altered under the authority of the said Act, and the House of Assembly of Prince Edward Island existing at the date of the union shall, unless sooner dissolved, continue for the period for which it was elected;

That the provisions in the "British North America Act, 1867," shall, except those parts thereof which are in terms made, or by reasonable intendment may be held to be specially applicable to, and only to affect one and not the whole of the provinces now composing the Dominion, and except so far as the same may be varied by these resolutions, be applicable to Prince Edward Island, in the same way and to the same extent as they apply to the other provinces of the

Dominion, and as if the colony of Prince Edward Island had been one of the provinces originally united by the said Act.s

That the union shall take place on such day as Her Majesty may direct by Order in Council, on addresses to that effect from the Houses of Parliament of Canada and of the legislature of the colony of Prince Edward Island, under the one hundred and forty-sixth section of the "British North America Act, 1867," and that 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, shall be such as the said houses of the legislature of the said colony of Prince Edward Island may specify in their said addresses.

We, therefore, humbly pray that Your Majesty will be graciously pleased, by and with the advice of Your Majesty's Most Honorable Privy Council, under the provisions of the one hundred and forty-sixth section of the "British North America Act, 1867," to admit Prince Edward Island into the union or Dominion of Canada, on the terms and conditions herein before set forth.

(Signed.)

House of Commons,

20th May, 1873.

JAMES COCKBURN,

Speaker.

A similar address was voted by the Senate of the Dominion, and by the two houses of the Prince Edward Island legislatures, the latter specifying the electoral districts as set out in the Order in Council.

SP. E. I. has recently been held by the Supreme Court of Canada to be subject to the redistribution clause of the B. N. A. Act; see ante, p. 132.