as to, knowing that the contractor was en- or where lands might be advantageously titled to the printing of all the blue-books of the year, and he requested the Postmaster General to endeavor to push it through the contractor's office as speedily as possible. If the Postmaster General had taken it to another office, the report would have been brought before the House before now, and it was in order to keep faith with the contractor that the delay occurred. As regards the Marine and Fisheries' Department, in order to expedite the work he directed the report proper to be sent to one office, and the appendices to another. The difficulty was very great where the facilities for printing were so limited. Mr. BOWELL said he observed from the imprint on Bills that a large number of them had been printed by the Free Press office, and by Mr. TAYLOR, while Messrs. McLEAN, ROGERS & Co. had the contract for the Parliamentary printing. Hon. Mr. MACKENZIE said the Government were not bound to wait for any contractor for Bills to be presented to Parliament. Mr. BOWELL said his remarks also applied to the printing of the depart mental reports. The subject then dropped. GOVERNMENT LANDS IN THE NORTH-WEST. Mr. ARCHIBALD hoped the House would permit him to ask a question, although no notice had been given, namely, whether any steps had been taken to prevent speculations in land on the line of the Pacific Railway in the Province of Manitoba and the NorthWest, and also whether the Hudson Bay Company had any lands along the route of the railway. Hon. Mr. MACKENZIE The only steps the Government have taken in connection with the Government lands is to pass an Order in Council prohibiting the sale or pre-emption of any lands on the line of the railway until the Government have time to consider the question of the final disposal of those lands in connection with the contracts; and that Order in Council embraces the entire route from Rat Portage westward to Fort Pelly. The Government thought it desirable that a very careful examination of the country should be had in the first place in order to ascertain where a town might be located, Hon. Mr. Mackenzie. reserved, and to take such measures would effectually prevent any land speculators from taking advantage of the location of the railway to the detriment of the public. With respect to the latter question, my hon. friend will find from the language of the treaty with the Hudson Bay Company that they have one-twentieth of the land reserved to them, and that they are entitled in the Sascatchewan country to choose land on the north side in preference to the south side in certain places that they desire it. We have considered the position they occupy relative to the Government with their lands. It is impossible that we can interfere with the rights they have under the agreement made and sanctioned by Parliament, but the Government have been considering and will consider further during the recess whether it is not desirable in these quarters, at least, to endeavor to extinguish the rights of the company to any of the lands. Mr. PLUMB was glad to hear from the hon. the First Minister that the Government proposed to withdraw their land from sale, and that a full examination had been made. He hoped that when such examination had been completed the land would be put up for competition of which ample notice would be given-so that every one would have an opportunity of competing for the lands. asked for Hon. Mr. MITCHELL explanations of the expressions of the hon. the Premier in regard to extinguishing the claims of the Hudson Bay Company to the North-West lands. Hon. Mr. MACKENZIE-We cannot of course force the land from the company; but I have already taken the ground that it is extremely inconvenient to have a company the proprietors of a very large extent of land in the North-West, and if Parliament could make an arrangement for Canada to become the sole proprietors of the soil in that country, it would be of advantage. The question was one for Parliament to consider. Sir JOHN MACDONALD said that while on the one hand, great dissatisfaction had been expressed at companies owning immense tracts of country, as was seen in the case of the Canada Land Company; on the other hand, it should be remembered that the Hudson's Bay Company, were a powerful body in England with large political influence and might become Emigration Agents for the settlement of the country. Hon. Mr. MACKENZIE said that all those points would have to be considered by the Government, but the tendency of public opinion in Canada was wholly against land companies controlling very large portions of the public domain. He thought at the time the arrangement was negotiated with the Hudson's Bay Company, as he thought now, that it was not desirable that such a state of affairs should exist. It would be for the Government to consider whether any such advantage as the right hon. member for Kingston had suggested would be likely to accrue from the company owning large tracts of land in the North-West, and the Government would consider the propriety of submitting a measure dealing with the subject to Parliament at its next session. Sir JOHN MACDONALD asked for explanations as to the arrangement with the Hudson's Bay Company in regard to the taxation of land. Hon. Mr. MACKENZIE said the company were liable to taxation after they had taken possession of the land. The Government must first survey the land, and then the company must take them up, after which the land become subject to taxation, but only to such taxation was imposed on lands owned by other proprietors. as Mr. D. A. SMITH remarked that one of the provisions of the deed of surrender expressly set forth that the Hudson's Bay Company's land should not be liable to any exceptional taxation. The question then dropped. CRIMINAL LAW AMENDMENT ACT. sider the resolutions (of which notice was given on Saturday) on which to found an address to HER MAJESTY on the subject of the Naturalization of Aliens; Mr. GILLIES in the chair. Mr. YOUNG said: Mr. Chairman, It will be remembered that I have on several occasions brought before this House the tate of our naturalization laws and pointed out the desirability of some amendment being made with respect to them, and some progress has been made in that direction. I do not, therefore, propose this afternoon, as there is a feeling manifested that the House should adjourn at an early hour, to do more than state very briefly the present position of the matter and the action which I desire by these resolutions the House to adopt. It will be remembered that in 1873, two years ago, the House unanimously passed an address, founded upon resolutions which I brought forward, the prayer of which address to HER MAJESTY was principally, that Great Britain would negotiate a treaty with the German States by which persons naturalized in Canada, who owed allegiance first to the German States, would thereafter be recognized as British subjects in any part of the world. We received a reply from the Colonial Secretary, then Earl KIMBERLEY, which was laid before the House last session, and it embodied a letter sent by Earl GRANVILLE to the Colonial office, expressing the views which were entertained by the British Government with regard to the address. There is a serious want of information on the part of the public generally with respect to this question. I, therefore, may say that the Germans and other persons naturalized under our laws, while they are protected in their On motion of Mr. IRVING, the order rights as British subjects so long as they On motion of Mr. IRVING, the order remain in our territory, the moment they for the second reading of the Bill to repeal pass beyond the boundaries of the Dominan Act to amend the Criminal Law relat-pass an Act to amend the Criminal Law relation they cease any longer to have any ing to violence threats and molestation, rights whatever as British subjects. The was discharged. ENQUIRIES CONCERNING PUBLIC MATTERS. On motion of Hon. Mr. MACKENZIE, the Bill touching the true construction of the Act respecting enquiries concerning public matters was discharged. NATURALIZATION OF ALIENS. On motion of Mr. YOUNG, the House went into Committee of the Whole to conHon. Sir John A. Macdonald. Owe result is they are placed in a very awkward and unsatisfactory position. It is difficult to say to whom, under such circumstances, they allegiance, whether to Great Britain or to Germany, and if they travel in a foreign country they have not the protection of any Government, being subject to the disabilities of a divided allegiance. Then again, if they return to their native State-I speak more particularly of the Germans who form a numerous body of our population, and many of whom have settled in the county which I represent― after having been naturalised in Canada, for twenty years, they may be called upon to perform military service or other duties as German subjects. They, therefore, feel that their position is a very unsatisfactory one, and there is a strong desire on their part that something should be done to place them in a more favorable position. Moreover, the Germans who settle in the United States, and thereafter become naturalized, are recognized as American subjects in any part of the world; they are protected in their rights as American citizens wherever they go, and this circumstance largely contributes to turn the stream of German emigration to the United States. There is no better class of immigrants than the Germans, who are of industrious and thrifty habits, and so long as they can go direct to the United States and, having become naturalized, be protected in their rights as American citizens in every part of the world, whilst if they come to Canada they are only protected in their rights as British subjects so long as they remain within our borders, we cannot expect to receive such a large flow of German emigration as we would receive if the Naturalization Laws of the Dominion were as liberal as those of the United States. I desire that the most efficient measures shall be adopted to attract as many of the people of Europe as possible to our shores. Within the last ten years our position with respect to the United States has relatively very much improved. There is no part of this continent which has been more prosperous during the last ten years, than Canada, and I wish to have our Naturalization Laws placed in such a position that emigrants from Europe will be attracted. to come here and make the Dominion their abode, and give their help to develop our great national resources. The Government of Great Britain has always been loath to surrender the principle, once a subject always a subject. They have held to this principle with the greatest tenacity-with a tenacity which is characteristic of the British people; but in the Naturalization Law passed by the Imperial Parliament in 1870, they have to some extent waived that principle, and this is the first step that has been taken for very many years in the Mr. Young. direction of liberalizing their legislation on this subject. In the law of 1870 it is provided that any person becoming naturalized in Great Britain will thereafter be protected in their rights as British subjects as if they had been born on British soil within the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland. But they added something further. They decided to give a permanent passport to persons who had become so naturalized. Under the present law, so far as the Dominion is concerned, passports are only given for one year and a sufficient time afterwards to enable persons naturalized to reach the nearest British port. Under the Act of 1870, it has been decided to give permanent passports to all persons naturalized within the bounds of the United Kingdom, but this exception is put on the passport, that it should not be valid in the State to which the person naturalized formerly owed allegiance. This is a very important exception-an exception which in fact many of those naturalized think of more importance than the benefits which the Act confers. Only in certain contingencies, in case the State to which the aliens formerly owed allegianae, has passed laws by which they can demand themselves of their allegiance, will the Mother Country recognize them as British subjects in every sense of the term; and also in case a treaty should be negotiated with the country to which they owed allegiance, to that effect. Here, there were two ways in which persons naturalized might become British subjects to all intents and purposes. I will read an extract from a letter of Earl GRANVILLE to the Colonial Office in respect to the address which I moved, and which was passed in the session of 1873, relating to this point : "An alien naturalized in the United Kingdom, under the Act of 1870, receives a passport, not limited as to time, but available for any time, or for any number of journeys; but with the qualification mentioned in the 7th clause of the Act, which is endorsed on the passport as follows:-This passport is granted with the qualification that the bearer shall not, when within the limits of the foreign State of which he was a subject previous to obtaining his certificate of naturalization, be deemed to be a British subject, unless he has ceased to be a subject of that State in pursuance of the laws thereof or in pursuance of a treaty to that effect. Now, it is quite apparent there are two Mr. IRVING-When ? Mr. YOUNG-My resolutions state when. It was in 1868, I think, that this treaty was negotiated between Germany and the United States, and it is now in existence. Both these treaties, so far as I am aware—that is, the treaty between Great Britain and the United States and that between Germany and the United States have worked well. No difficulties have arisen on this subject, and, therefore, I cannot possibly see any serious difficulty in the way of negotiating a similar treaty between Great Britain and Germany. ways suggested in that Act by which persons, the United States and Germany to the naturalized can become possessed of rights same effect. and privileges such as native born subjects enjoy, and these are either by the foreign State passing an Act to enable them to throw aside their allegiance, or by a treaty with the State from which they come to that effect. In accordance with these provisions, the address passed by the House in 1873 prayed that a Naturalization Treaty might be entered into between Great Britain. and Germany. Such a treaty was negotiated in 1871 between Great Britain and the United States, and the following year, 1872, a further supplementary treaty was agreed to between the two countries. The effect of these treaties is, that an American can become a British subject with the greatest ease, and thereafter be entitled to all the rights and privileges of a British subject, and a British subject going to the United States can become in a similar way a subject of that country. The whole process is so simple and easily understood that there is no danger of any complications arising between the two countries in regard to the matter. I therefore propose that what has been done so successfully in the case of Great Britain and the United States shall be done between Great Britain and Germany, in order that the large number of Germans who have already and may hereafter become naturalized in this country may not hereafter suffer the disabilities of a divided allegiance, but be protected in their rights and privileges like every other subject of Great Britain. Mr. IRVNG-Has the hon. gentleman considered what are the relations between the United States and Germany in matters of this kind, and what treaty has been made between these two powers because it appears to me that the difficulty that is likely to arise is not by the Imperial Government of Great Britain intervening to make a treaty, but rather by the German Empire declining to make a treaty. Probably my hon. friend will be good enough to inform us what the position of affairs is in this respect at the present time. Mr. YOUNG-I, of course, looked into that point as well, and I found that the coast-if I may be allowed to use that expression is perfectly clear in that direction, for a treaty was negotiated between Mr. Young. Mr. IRVING.—I am rather under the impression there has been something more recent, and that the present condition of affairs is not satisfactory to Germans in the United States; that in fact they are not released from military service on their return to their native country by becoming citizens of the United States. I have seen some general remarks in the newspapers. within a year or two on this subject. Perhaps the hon. member forSouth Waterloo will be able to state explicitly what that treaty is? Mr. YOUNG—Some difficulties may, of course, have arisen. We know sometimes difficulties do arise under treaties of any nature. When the address from this House went to the Mother Country, it was received very graciously by HER MAJESTY, and Earl GRANVILLE stated in his letter to the Colonial Office that he was prepared to extend the Imperial Act of 1870 to the colonies. The principal objection which Earl GRANVILLE raises to a Treaty is, that the German Government would insist on five years residence, in the country of naturalization. Now, with regard to his proposition to extend the Imperial Act to the Colonies, I am of opinion that it would not meet the case. Under our present law a person going abroad, who has been an alien, is enabled to get a passport for one year, when, of course, his passport ceases. Under the Imperial Act of 1870, he would be enabled to get a passport permanently, but with the proviso already referred on to the back. of it, that he would possess no rights or privileges of a British subject in the State to which he formerly belonged. This is a I believe very great reservation indeed. tion of five years' residence in Canada, I answer they would have to do that now under the law as it exists, the only difference being that the present term of residence is three years. Therefore, their position would be no worse in that respect than it is at the present time. In fact, I consider this no objection at all, and I feel sure, speaking the opinion as I believe I do of a very considerable portion of our German population, they would be quite willing that these conditions referred to by Earl GRANVILLE should be embraced in the treaty, and would be glad to accept that the Germans throughout the Dominion would not consider it any boon or at most a very trifling one, if that Act were extended to the colonies. It would place them in a very little better position than they are already. I took the precaution to consult with some leading Germans in the West on this subject, and they said distinctly that it would not by any means meet the object they have in view. Their object would only be accomplished by their being placed in as good a position as Germans in the United States-viz: making them British subjects to all intents and purEarl GRANVILLE raises the follow-it on these terms if such a treaty could be ing objections to this course : poses. "If, however, treaties were to be negotiated, "in which a fixed period of residence in the country of naturalization (and five years would "almost certainly be insisted upon) were to be made, the condition on which the naturaliza"tion would be recognized, aliens, naturalized "in the Colonies would lose the benefit of the present elastic rule of practice, and would be "liable to be challenged to prove that they had complied with this condition before they could "claim any benefit from their British natural "ization." With regard to the first objection, you will see that it is not very serious. It is urged in the interests, apparently of the persons to be naturalized, and not from the standpoint that the Imperial Government had any objections to such a treaty. He says, in case a treaty were to be negotiated with Germany, it would require a five years residence of its former subjects naturalized in this country. At the present time they have to reside here three years before they can become naturalized. I have no hesitation in saying, you would scarcely find a single person in this country who would not rather wait five years before becoming naturalized, provided when that was done, he became a British subject and was recognized as such thereafter in all parts of the world to which he might go. I am quite sure there would be no difference of opinion on that point. Then again, Earl GRANVILLE urges that they would be deprived of the benefit of the present elastic rule of practice. I have examined this objection and I really cannot see the point of it. It is difficult to say what is meant by the words "present elastic rule of practice." If it is simply what is stated in the words that follow-that they would be liable to be challenged to prove that they had complied with the condi Mr. Young obtained. Since the last address was moved a new Government has come into power in England and it is quite possible, as we know new brooms sweep clean, that they may take even a more liberal view of this matter than the late Liberal Government. It is at all events worth trying. When I look at the attractions offered to the Germans in the United States in consequence of their naturalization laws being more favorable to them than ours, I think it is my duty to propose another Address to HER MAJESTY which will indicate that we are ready to accept the conditions referred to by Earl GRANVILLE, provided we can obtain such a treaty as will secure the great and important objects had in view. I believe the House will adopt these resolutions unanimously as they did the former Address when the hon. member for Kingston was in power. In proposing them, I am not asking the committee to do anything contrary to what is contemplated by the present Imperial Act on Naturalization, nothing contrary to what has already been done between Great Britain and the United States, and nothing, in my opinion, contrary to the welfare and honor of the Empire and its colonies. Right Hon. Sir JOHN MACDONALD -The object of the hon. member is most praiseworthy, if it is only to set at ease the minds of the German settlers in this country. As he has said they are a most valuable acquisition to our population, their civilization, and the education disseminated among them make them a most valuable class of immigrants and, therefore, no steps should be left unattempted to increase their numbers and to satisfy them when they are here. The difficulty, however, is very great. We all know |