UP to the year 1878, the old party names of Liberals and Conservatives, did not cut any great figure in Provincial politics. Confederation had been carried by leaders of both parties, and although there was always an anti-confederate element in the Legislature, it was not of sufficient importance to give it any standing. The first real difference of opinion in political matters in the Legislature arose over the free school law, and after that had been disposed of and had been confirmed as the result of a general election, there was no great question to divide the members of the house. At the election of 1874, 28 members who claimed to be Liberals were returned, and only seven Conservatives, but at the general election of 1878, the parties were more equally divided, there being 21 Liberals, 17 Conservatives and three who announced themselves as independents. In the meantime the Liberals were certainly losing ground throughout Canada, as was seen by the result of the Dominion Elections of 1878, when the Government of the Hon. Alex. MacKenzie was defeated. The principal issue in that contest was the national policy, so called, which aimed to build up the industries of Canada. Such an issue was the very natural result of the policy pursued by the United States which abrogated the Reciprocity Treaty in 1868, and defiantly announced, through its official organs, that it was the intention to so hamper the trade of Canada by hostile tarriffs that it would be forced to seek annexation to the United States. The direct result of this policy was to harden the hearts of the Canadian people against any closer union with the United States, and to demand of the Government the imposition of such duties on foreign imports as would enable the industries of Canada to stand alone. The period between 1874 and 1878 was one in which men felt themselves free to change their views on Dominion politics. When the Hon. George E. King, the leader of the Provincial Government, was elected in 1874, he announced himself to be a Liberal, but at the election of 1878, he contested the County of St. John for the House of Commons as a Conservative, opposing Messrs. Isaac Burpee and C. W. Weldon, who were supporters of the Government of the Hon. Alexander Mackenzie. In Provincial politics there never was up to that time, any hard and fast line. The Government of New Brunswick which went to the people in 1878, contained six liberal-conservatives and three liberals. The Hon. Robert Young, President of the Council, was a Conservative, and so were the Attorney General, Hon. John J. Fraser, Hon. P. A. Landry, Chief Commissioner of the Board of Works, Hon. Michael Adams, the Surveyor General, and the Hon. Daniel L. Hanington and Robert Marshall. The three Liberals in the Government were the Hon. Wm. Wedderburn, Provincial Secretary, Hon. J. Herbert Crawford, and the Hon. Wm. E. Perley. The House elected in 1874 was dissolved on the 14th of May, 1878, and the elections took place immediately. The result was favorable to the Government who were able to meet the House in 1879, with undiminished strength. The best proof of the loose manner in which party ties were held is, afforded by the election returns, St. John City returning one Liberal who was a member of the Government, and a Conservative who was a supporter of the Government, while St. John County returned two Liberals who supported the Government and one who was opposed to it, and one Conservative who was a supporter of the Government.

The county of York returned three Conservatives, one of whom was the leader of the Government, and another a supporter of the Government, while the third, Mr. A. G. Blair, became leader of the Opposition, and after he became Premier appeared in the Parliamentary Companion as a Liberal. The fourth member for York was an undoubted Liberal, and was opposed to the Provincial Government.

On February 6th, 1880, the Lieutenant-Governor of the Province, Honorable Edward Barron Chandler died, at the age of 80 years. He had held the office of Lieutenant-Governor for less than two years, having been appointed in July, 1878. Governor Chandler had been an exceedingly active force in the political life of the Province, especially at the time when the Province was endeavoring to obtain control of its Crown Lands. He took a very active interest in Confederation, but declined a seat in the Senate of the Dominion. He was appointed a Commissioner for the construction of the Intercolonial Railway in 1878. He had been a member of the Executive Council of New Brunswick from 1842 to 1858, and from 1867 to 1869. Governor Chandler was succeeded by the Honorable Robert Duncan Wilmot, who held the office of Lieutenant-Governor, until November, 1885.

The Legislature had been called together for the despatch of business on the 25th of February, 1880, but on that day the Parliament building took fire and was practically destroyed. This building was a wooden structure which had been in existence for about seventy-five years, and which had certainly outlived its usefulness. The building consisted of a main structure and two wings, and afforded accommodation to the House of Assembly, the Legislative Council and the Supreme Court. The eastern wing contained a room for the Judges and the Law Library, while the western wing had committee rooms, and a room for the clerk of the House. It was fortunate that none of the Departments were located in this old wooden building, they having their offices in two stone buildings close to the Parliament building. The legislative Library was in the rear of the Parliament building, and a good many of the books in it were destroyed. The original sessional papers, in the room of the Clerk of the House from the year 1786 down, were fortunately saved.

As there was no place available for the use of the Legislature, its meeting was postponed until March 9th, and on that day the members of both Houses met in tlie Normal School Building. The principal feature of the session was the attempt that was made by the people of St. John to remove the seat of Government to that city. This attempt was not looked upon with much favor by the representatives of the other Constituencies, for, however unfortunate the original choice of the Capital had been, it was felt that to remove it at that late date, when the very existence of Fredericton as a community, may be said to have depended upon, it would have been cruel and improper. The friends of Fredericton mustered in force and defeated the proposal to change the seat of Government, the leader of the Opposition, who was a representative of the County of York, joining forces with the Government in that vote.

Among the matters which were referred to in the speech of the Lieutenant Governor was the visit of the Governor General the Marquis of Lome, and his wife, the Princess Louise, daughter of Queen Victoria. Their reception everywhere was a most hearty one. The people of all the places visited vying with each other in their efforts to show a due sense of the honor done them by this visit.

During the summer of 1880 the Province was visited by two gentlemen who were connected with Agriculture in the. United Kingdom, Professor Sheldon, who was on the staff of an Agricultural College in England and Mr. Sparrow, an English tenant farmer. These gentlemen had been brought to Canada by the Government of the Dominion, for the purpose of reporting on agricultural conditions in Canada both in the East and the West. The Government of New Brunswick very properly took them in hand when they reached this Province, and carried them over some of its best agricultural areas, including the Counties of Carleton and Victoria, the Counties of Kings and Westmorland and portions of the North Shore. Among the places visited was the new Danish settlement of New Denmark. In his report Professor Sheldon spoke most favorably of the agricultural prospects of New Brunswick. He said, "In many parts of her beautiful country, New Brunswick has soils easy to cultivate, deep in staple and rich in the accumulated fertility of many centuries, many of the soils in the districts bordering on the St. John River, have every indication of being well adapted to stock raising, especially bovine stock. They are in many cases sandy or gravelly loams, seldom needing artifical draining, varying no doubt in depth and quality, but hardly anywhere good for nothing. It is probable, in fact, that with the exception of Prince Edward Island, New Brunswick has quite as large, if not a larger proportion of cultivable soils than any of the Provinces east of the Great Lakes. This, however, is obviously a question to which I cannot pretend to give a definite opinion until I have had a better and longer opportunity of inspecting all of them with a view to that end, an opportunity, which I fear is not likely to arise. So far, however, the settled portions of the Province are chiefly along or adjacent to the banks of the rivers, those mighty arteries of the country, or around the bays and inlets of the sea, — but there are millions of broad upland acres not yet appropriated, as good in all probability for agricultural purposes as those that are, if we make exception of the dyke and intervale lands. Look, for instance at the youthful settlement of New Denmark. This locality seven years ago was covered with a dense forest of hardwood, intermingled with pine and other softwood trees; now it is producing abundant crops of vegetables and grain, some of which are of superior quality and it supports a happy and flourishing colony ; hero too the soil is a loam, enriched with the dead foliage of the forest primeval.

"Take Carleton County again, much of which consists of a light friable loam, well adapted for a variety of agricultural purposes, for mixed husbandry and the like. This is an older settled district, with pleasantly laid out farms, and a wealth of live stock; and wisely or unwisely, exporting large quantities of hay. If well-built houses and farmsteads are a safe criterion, it is clear in this district — on the way, that is, from Florenceville to Woodstock — the farmers are prosperous, and so contented. Or we may go to the Scotch settlement of Napan, on the Miramichi river, and find a thrifty and well-to-do people with well laid out and cultivated farms and homesteads bespeaking prosperity. The soil here is not so friable as in the other settlements, but the farmers are not content with less than a ten-fold yield of oats. Away up the river again, we find farms, to-wit, that of Mr. Whitney, which promise to make a good return for all the skill and industry which, are applied to them.

"Instances like these, will, in time, be multiplied all over the Province—the progress of the country and the march of events will bring them to pass, ere long. In certain portions of the Province, there are soils which have certain very remarkable properties and features. The intervale lands the term "intervale" by the way is an excellent one, accurately descriptive; — the intervale lands of the St. John and other valleys, I make bold to say, are among the most valuable to be found in the Dominion of Canada, and they are generally attractive in appearance, sometimes forming beautiful and extensive islands in mid-stream, but generally flanking the river on either side. These intervale lands are annually covered, more or less, and for a longer or shorter time, by the spring freshets of the noble rivers by which they have bee n formed, and are often enriched by the alluvial deposits of mineral and vegetable matter, which is left by the subsiding waters. Generally speaking these intervales are clothed by a thick sward of rich and varied grasses forming a herbage unsurpassed, in all probability, by the natural grasses of any portion of the American continent, and equally valuable for pasturage or for meadow. To the upland farms adjoining, many of which have a frontage on the river, these intervale lands, are I should say, of great value; cutting, year by year, large crops of hay whose quality is good, and, requiring no assistance beyond that which the freshets supply, they provide a large supply of forage for the winter use, and valuable aftermath for pasturage in the autumn. Thus it is that the river maintains the fertility of the uplands ; by first of all covering the lowlands with a sediment which does away with the need of employing other fertilizers, and so the whole of the barnyard manure may be used on the uplands. The river farms strike me as being excellently well adapted to the kindred pursuits of dairy farming, stock-raising and beef fattening, along with all the various cultivated crops, which are essential to the highest profits in these departments of husbandry. I allude to the roots of various kinds, green crops for soiling, clovers, rye, grasses and the like. There can be no doubt that raising stock of a superior kind and fattening it for the British market, with dairy farming as a foundation, in conjunction also with sheep husbandry to some extent, and the raising of a due proportion of cereals, a general mixed husbandry in fact; will in the end prove highly profitable on such farms. Take next, the " dyke land " in the neighborhood of Dorchester, Sackville, Amherst and other places adjacent to inlets on the Bay of Fundy, and we have soils at once singular in character and extraordinary in fertility. They yield, as in the case of intervale, without assistance other than that supplied by nature, large crops of grass, though it is unlike the grass of the intervales, very coarse in quality, yet better than it looks. It is at the same time true, however, that careful draining, generous cultivation, and discriminating manuring, would somewhat increase the quantity, while they greatly improved the quality of the products of the soil. "

The testimony of Mr. Sparrow in favor of New Brunswick is equally emphatic. He said, Taking into consideration its noble rivers, their navigable character, the rich intervales of the St. John, the fine lands around Sussex, the rich marshes of Sackville, the fertile lands of many other parts, much richly timbered with hardwood, pine, hemlock, hackmatac, spruce, etc., its valuable fisheries, healthy climate and pure water, and its excellent harbor for ships at St. John, I do not think that New Brunswick can be excelled in any part of the Dominion of Canada except by some of the choice parts of the Province of Ontario.

"I think that the Dominion Government should give special attention to this fine Province, as regards promoting emigration from the Mother Country. I have a strong impression that many families are induced by the glowing accounts of Manitoba, to settle there, and are continually passing by or near good farms and homesteads in the Province of New Brunswick and other Provinces that would be much more suitable for them if they were to purchase them (especially at the low rate of interest on money) and allow the farmers of the older Provinces to undertake the hardships of locating Manitoba."

These favorable reports from persons well qualified to gauge the resources of the Province, have not had so great a result as was hoped for. The tide of emigration still goes westward, although certainly New Brunswick is a much more pleasant country to live in than any portion of the North-West. That this is the case, we have the testimony of Professor Robertson, who said, in a recent speech, that if he were coming to live in Canada for the first time, he would locate in the Maritime Provinces in preference to any other part of it. No one will presume to doubt his knowledge of the subject or the value of his testimony.

The legislative session of 1881, began on the 8th of February. In the speech from the throne the Lieutenant Governor was able to congratulate the Legislature on the bountiful harvest and on the success of the act relating to agriculture. At this session the line between the supporters of the Government was very sharply defined and a motion made by Mr. Blair, the leader of the opposition, which was virtually a resolution of want of confidence in the Government, had the support of fifteen members in a House of 41 against 24 who voted for the Government. The principal criticisms were of a financial nature, and the motion called for a reduction in the expenditure and the abolition of the Legislative Council, and also a reduction in the number of members in the Executive.

A very important measure of this session was the bill to incorporate the St. John Bridge and Railway Company. The object of this Act was to connect the Intercolonial Railway on the East side, with the line to Bangor on the West side, by means of a bridge across the Falls. This was a very necessary improvement, but there were certain interests which attempted to oppose it and which found supporters in the House of Assembly. Some of the speeches of the opponents of this bill as reported in the synoptic report reflected but very little credit on the makers and probably would be repudiated by them at the present time. Amongst the opponents of the bill was the Hon. Mr. Wedderburn, the Provincial Secretary, and also his colleague in the representation of the City of St. John, the Hon. Robert Marshall. Fortunately the members from other portions of the Province took a more enlightened view of the matter and the bill was vigorously supported by the Hon. Daniel L. Hanington, the Premier, Mr. Elder, and others who felt that such a means of communication across the St. John River was absolutely necessary. The bill was passed, and the bridge was erected within a year or two, and is now an important link in the line of transportation between the East and the West.