@prefix ns0: . @prefix edm: . @prefix dcterms: . @prefix dc: . @prefix skos: . ns0:identifierAIP "c58882dc-054c-4a37-926e-c6bc9fcd7148"@en ; edm:dataProvider "CONTENTdm"@en ; dcterms:alternative "ACTS OF 1888."@en ; dcterms:isReferencedBy "http://resolve.library.ubc.ca/cgi-bin/catsearch?bid=1198198"@en ; dcterms:isPartOf "Sessional Papers of the Province of British Columbia"@en ; dcterms:creator "British Columbia. Legislative Assembly"@en ; dcterms:issued "2014-08-05"@en, "[1889]"@en ; edm:aggregatedCHO "https://open.library.ubc.ca/collections/bcsessional/items/1.0062527/source.json"@en ; dc:format "application/pdf"@en ; skos:note """ 52 Vic. Acts op 1888. 493 PAPERS Relating to the Acts passed by the Legislature of the Province of British Columbia during the Session of 1888. By Command. JNO. ROBSON, Provincial Secretary. Provincial Secretary's Office, July, 1889. The Under Secretary of State to the Lieutenant-Governor. Ottawa, 19th June, 1889. Sir,—I have the honour to transmit to you, herewith, for the information of your Government, copy of an approved Minute of Council and of the report of the Minister of Justice thereto annexed, with respect to certain Acts, being chapters 35, 39, 41, 42, 44 and 46 of the Legislature of the Province of British Columbia passed in the year 1888. I have, an appeal 52 Vic. Acts of 1888. 495 from such Court of Revision to the Judge or Acting County Court Judge having jurisdiction within the city, who has power to fix the amount of assessment and issue execution for the payment thereof. Section 102 provides as follows :—" The Judge shall be paid the sum of twenty dollars for " every day's actual and necessary attendance at such Courts whilst engaged at the revision of " said lists, together with travelling expenses ; and such payment, and all other charges (not I "otherwise hereinafter provided for) necessary to be incurred in connection with the holding/ " and proper conduct of the business of the Court, shall be paid by the Treasurer of the City^ "upon the certificate or voucher of the Judge as to the service performed, and in cases other "than as to his own fees, as to the nature of the necessity for the service performed." The undersigned deems it, his duty to make the following observations in respect to this Act:— In the year 1869 the Legislature of the Province of Ontario, in the Supply Bill of that year, provided that there should be paid for that year and for every year thereafter, out of the Consolidated Revenue Fund of Ontario, to the President or Chief Justice of the Court of Error and Appeal and to each of the Judges of the Courts of Law and Equity in that Province the sum of one thousand dollars. On the 14th of July, 1869, the Right Honourable Sir John A. Macdonald, who was then Minister of Justice, reported to Your Excellency's predecessor upon this Act, and in his report he stated as follows :—"That the 6th section of chapter 1, being the Supply Bill for 1869, is "also objectionable, as by the 96th and 100th clauses of the Union Act it is provided that the " Governor-General shall appoint the Judges of the Superior Courts, and the Parliament of " Canada shall fix and provide the salaries, allowances and pensions. It would seem that the "Judges of those Courts cannot properly, and without a breach of its provisions, receive " emolument of any kind from any but the power which appoints and pays them the legal " salaries attached to their judicial positions. On these three Acts the undersigned, on the " 20th February last, made a report to Your Excellency, which you were pleased to transmit "to the Secretary of State for the Colonies, for the purpose of being referred to the Law " Officers of the Crown in England, and the Attorney and Solicitor-General have given their " opinion that it was not competent for the Legislature of Ontario to pass those Acts or either "of them. "The undersigned recommends that the attention of the Ontario Government be called to "the two first-mentioned Acts and the 6th clause of the last Act, suggesting that they should "be repealed next session, and no action taken meanwhile." The opinion of the Law Officers of the Crown was to the effect that it was not competent for the Legislature of Ontario to pass the section in question. The report of the Minister of Justice having been approved was transmitted to the Government of Ontario, and subsequently the Legislature of that Province passed an Act intituled "An Act to remunerate certain members of the Court of Error and Appeal," by the first section of which the sixth section of the Supply Bill of the previous year was repealed, but substantially repeating this provision in that Act. Under these circumstances, the Minister of Justice, in a report dated the 19th January, 1870, recommended that the Supply Bill of the Province of Ontario for 1869 should be disallowed, and the same was accordingly disallowed, by an Order in Council dated the 20th January, 1870. Section 102 of the "New Westminster Act, 1888," is open to the same objection as the legislation so disallowed, inasmuch as the Judge therein referred to is a County Judge whose salary is payable by the Government of Canada, under the provision of the " British North America Act." Section 142 gives the Council the power from time to time to pass by-laws on various subjects, a considerable number of which subjects are matters within the exclusive authority of the Parliament of Canada. Authority is given to pass by-laws :— " (6.) For enforcing the due observance of the Lord's Day, commonly called Sunday, "according to law." "(9.) For preventing vice, drunkenness, profane swearing, obscene, blasphemous, or " grossly insulting language, and other immorality and indecency, on any of the streets or in " any public place within the limits of the city." "(10.) For suppressing disorderly houses and houses of ill-fame." "(13.) For restraining and punishing vagrants, mendicants, and persons found drunk or "disorderly in any street, highway, or public place within the city limits." 496 Acts of 1888. 1889 "(14.) For preventing indecent exposure of the person, or other indecent exhibitions." " (16.) For preventing cruelty to animals, and for preventing the destruction of birds." "(23.) For regulating the encumbering, injuring, or fouling by animals, vehicles, vessels, " or other means, of any public wharf, sewer, shore, river, or water." " (38.) For preventing the violation of oemeteries, graves, tombs, tombstones, or vaults "where the dead are interred." "(70.) For licensing, regulating, and governing auctioneers and other persons selling, or " putting up for sale, goods, wares, merchandise, effects, or real estate, by public auction." "(71.) For licensing, regulating, or governing hawkers or petty chapmen, transient "traders, and other persons carrying on petty trades, who have not become householders or "permanent residents in the city, or who go from place to place or to other men's houses, or "otherwise, carrying goods, wares, or merchandise for sale." "(102.) For imposing penalties for light weight, and for imposing a reasonable fee "therefor." (Sic). " (103.) For regulating the weight of bread and preventing the use of deleterious materials " in making bread, and for providing for the seizure and forfeiture of bread made contrary to "the by-law," and "(106.) For preventing the sale of adulterated milk or other articles of food." All the matters referred to in the foregoing list are matters which are more or less within the exclusive authority of the Parliament of Canada. It is possible, however, that, all that is intended by this legislation is that the Council of the City of New Westminster should be invested with the power to make by-laws for the enforcement of whatever laws made by competent authority may be in force from time to time relating to these various matters, and in that view the portion of the Act in question is unobjectionable. The legality of any by-law framed in pursuance of this authority will depend upon its terms. In so far as it may be a substantial provision relating to these subjects themselves, in which case it will probably be invalid ; but in so far as it may contain provisions relating to the enforcement of the laws of Canada, it may be a proper and useful provision. The power to make by-laws in respect to the licensing of auctioneers, traders, and wholesale traders is a doubtful one, requiring an authoritative judicial decision for its final determination. Section 177 authorizes the City Council, subject to the approval of the Lieutenant- Governor in Council, to appoint from time to time, at such salary as the Council may fix, not less than six hundred dollars per annum, and pay a Police Magistrate for the City of New Westminster. By section 179, the Mayor and Police Magistrate are given jurisdiction to try all offences committed against the by-laws of the city, and by section 180 the Police Magistrate shall have and exercise all the same lawful powers and authorities as have hitherto been had and exercised by any Stipendiary Magistrate of the Province of British Columbia, and by section 181 he has all the powers possessed by two or more Justices of the Peace. This jurisdiction is a much narrower one than is attempted to be given to Police Magistrates by Provincial Legislatures. Section 188 is as follows :— " All fines and penalties imposed under this Act, or for enforcing any law of this Province " made in relation to any matter coming within any other classes enumerated in section 92 of "the 'British North America Act, 1867,' imposed within the said city, and to which the city " may be entitled, and all fines and penalties for offences against the by-laws of the city shall "be paid in to the City Exchequer." The undersigned has grave doubts as to the authority of a Provincial Legislature to enact a provision of this character. The question involved, however, is one which is expected soon to be a matter for judicial decision. Section 207 of this Act is liable to the same objections as were pointed out in reference to section 1 of the same Act. The undersigned begs to observe in reference to the whole Act, that it is doubtless of great public benefit to the inhabitants of New Westminster, and that its disallowance would possibly be productive of inconvenience and injury. The provision it makes for increasing the salary of a County Court Judge may be reviewed by the Legislature, and as a County Court Judge for New Westminster has not yet been appointed, Your Excellency has power to prevent the operation of that provision without exercising the power of disallowance. 52 Vic. Acts of 1888. 497 The undersigned recommends that the Provincial authorities of British Columbia be asked to amend the Act in accordance with the views expressed in this report, and that the Act be, in the meantime, left to its operation. Chapter 44, "An Act to Incorporate the Crow's Nest and Kootenay Lake Railway Company." Section 23 of this Act is objectionable as an infringement of the provisions of the British North America Act, giving exclusive legislative authority to the Parliament of Canada in reference to bills of exchange and promissory notes. This objection, however, is not such as would render necessary the disallowance of this Act by Your Excellency, and the undersigned recommends that it be left to its operation. Chapter 46, "An Act to Incorporate the Kootenay Railway and Navigation Company." The object of this Act is to incorporate a company for the purpose of constructing from the outlet of the Kootenay Lake to a point on Columbia River at or near the junction of the Kootenay and Columbia Rivers, and also for the purpose of building, equipping, and maintaining a line of steamers on the Kootenay Lake and Columbia River, and it gives power to the company to acquire, build, equip, and maintain a line of steamers and other vessels for the purpose of carrying passengers to and from that point on the Kootenay River where the southern boundary line of British Columbia intersects the said river, thence down the said river to Kootenay Lake, and through and throughout said river and its navigable tributaries. It appears to the undersigned that the objects for which the company is incorporated are not "local works and undertakings" within the meaning of section 92 of the British North America Act, but fall within the exceptions "A" and "B" of article 10 of that section. If this be the correct view, the company is one which can be incorporated only by the Parliament of Canada. The constitutionality of the Act, however, is a question more particularly affecting the corporators themselves, and may be left to the decision of such tribunal as may be called upon to deal with it, and is not of such public importance as would necessitate its disallowance by Your Excellency. The undersigned has, therefore, the honour to recommend that it be left to its operation. (Signed) John S. D. Thompson, Minister of Justice. The Under Secretary of State to the Lieutenant-Governor. Ottawa, 24th June, 1889, Sir,— His Excellency the Governor-General has had under his consideration in Council a report from the Honourable the Minister of Justice upon certain Statutes of British Columbia passed in the year 1888, the titles of which are given in the schedule annexed, being numbered from 1 to 34, inclusive, and also numbers 36, 37, 38, 40, 43, 45, and 47, respectively. His Excellency is advised that the said Statutes be left to their operation. I have, &c, (Signed) G. Powell, Under Secretary of State. SCHEDULE. Chapter. 1. An Act to amend the "Bills of Sale Ordinance, 1870." 2. An Act to extend the provisions of the "Bridges Protection Act, 1864," to the Mainland of British Columbia. 3. An Act to amend "An Act to provide for the better protection of Cattle Ranges." 4. An Act in relation to Civil Procedure 5. An Act to further amend the "Companies Act, 1878." 6. An Act respecting the changing of the names of Incorporated Companies. 7. An Act to amend the "Assize Court Act, 1885." 8. An Act for increasing the efficiency of County Courts. 9. An Act to constitute County Judges Criminal Courts. 498 Acts of 1888. 1889 Chapter. 10. An Act to amend "An Act respecting Absconding Debtors." 11. An Act to amend the "Trial of Controverted Elections Act, 1871." 12. An Act to enable certain Foreign Mining Companies to carry on business in British Columbia. 13. An Act to amend the "Game Protection Act, 1887." 14. An Act to adjust the rights of Settlers on the former Townsite of Granville. 15. An Act to amend the "Justices of the Peace and Coroners Oaths Act, 1874." 16. An Act to amend the "Land Act, 1884." 17. An Act to further amend the "Land Registry Ordinance, 1870." 18. An Act to amend the "Licenses Ordinance, 1867,' and amending Acts. 19. An Act for the benefit of Mechanics and Labourers. 20. An Act respecting the " Married Women's Property Acts." 21. An Act to amend the "Coal Mines Regulation Act, 1877." 22. An Act to aid in the further development of Quartz Mines. 23. An Act to amend the "Municipality Amendment Act, 1887." 24. An Act to amend the "Municipality Act, 1881," and amending Acts. 25. An Act relating to Pawnbrokers. 26. An Act to amend the law relating to the sale or use of Poisons. 27. An Act respecting a grant of land, for way and terminal purposes, to the Crow's Nest and Kootenay Lake Railway Company, British Columbia. 28. An Act granting to the Esquimalt and Nanaimo Railway Company certain lands for right of way and terminal purposes for Beeeher Bay Branch. 29. An Act to authorize the granting of a certain Land Subsidy for and in aid of the Kootenay Railway. 30. An Act to extend the provisions of " An Act to authorize the granting of a certain Subsidy for and in aid of the construction of the Shuswap and Okanagan Railway. 31. An Act respecting Recognizances. 32. An Act to amend the "Public School Act, 1885," and amending Acts. 33. An Act to amend the "Sheriff's Act, 1873," and amending Acts. 34. An Act to amend certain Statutes. 36. An Act to assess, levy, and collect Taxes on Property and Income. 37. An Act to further extend the powers of Trustees. 38. An Act to repeal an Act, Chap 33 of 1887, intituled "An Act for the Preservation of the Peace within the Municipal Limits of the City of Vancouver." 40. An Act for the protection of Workmen's Wages. 43. An Act to enable the Nicola Mining Company (limited), of London, to hold lands in the Province of British Columbia, and for other purposes. 45. An Act to enable the Esquimalt and Nanaimo Railway Company to construct a Branch Line to Beeeher Bay. 47. An Act to incorporate the Harrison Hot Springs Tramway Company, Limited. victoria, b. c. : Printed by Richarh VVolfkndkn, Printer to the Queen's Most Excellent Majesty."""@en ; edm:hasType "Legislative proceedings"@en ; dcterms:identifier "J110.L5 S7"@en, "1889_36_493_498"@en ; edm:isShownAt "10.14288/1.0062527"@en ; dcterms:language "English"@en ; edm:provider "Vancouver : University of British Columbia Library"@en ; dcterms:publisher "Victoria, BC : Government Printer"@en ; dcterms:rights "Images provided for research and reference use only. For permission to publish, copy or otherwise distribute these images please contact the Legislative Library of British Columbia"@en ; dcterms:source "Original Format: Legislative Assembly of British Columbia. Library. Sessional Papers of the Province of British Columbia"@en ; dcterms:title "PAPERS Relating to the Acts passed by the Legislature of the Province of British Columbia during the Session of 1888."@en ; dcterms:type "Text"@en ; dcterms:description ""@en .