THE people of St. John being disappointed with regard to through traffic to Quebec and Montreal by means of the Intercolonial Railway, and finding that the New Brunswick Railway was not likely to be carried further north than Edmundston, began to look about them for a shorter means of reaching Montreal. At this time the Honorable John Henry Pope, the Minister of Agriculture, in the Government of Sir John A. Macdonald, was promoting a railway from Cookshire, in the Province of Quebec, to Montreal. This became in time, the St. Francis and Megantic International Railway, and presently it was proposed, that this line should be carried through the State of Maine to New Brunswick, the St. John and Maine railway being used to make the connection from Mattawamkeag to Vanceboro. After the year 1880, the people of St. John had great hopes of the advantages they would derive from this line, but the work proceeded slowly until after the railway was subsidized by the Government of Canada. The subsidy was in three portions, one covering the part of the railway which passed through the Province of Quebec, the second covering the portion through the State of Maine to connect with the St. John and Maine Railway, and the third, a line through New Brunswick from Harvey in York to Salisbury, in Westmorland. The work was undertaken by the Atlantic and North Western Railway Company, and, after the first two sections had been completed, it transferred its rights to the Canadian Pacific Railway, without doing anything to build the line across New Brunswick from Harvey to Salisbury, to complete the connection with Halifax. As tire Government of Canada, under the terms of its contract, had no power to compel the Atlantic and North Western Railway, to build this part of the Short line, and as the Canadian Pacific Railway declined to build it, a difficulty was presented, which the Dominion Government had to solve. The people of St. John unfortunately, have never had the solid support of some other communities in the Province in their aspirations to be the great Winter Port of Canada. The people of Moncton and Fredericton immediately took steps to demand from the Government of Canada, the fulfilment of the conditions on which the subsidies for the Short Line railway had been given. As the Harvey and Salisbury line was expected to pass through Fredericton, and as the Short Line would take in Moncton, 011 its way to Halifax, these two communities thought that they had been grievously wronged in the matter, and sent delegations to Ottawa, to urge upon the Government the necessity of carrying out the original plan. The pressure on the Government from these two cities, and from Halifax, was so strong, that Sir John A. Macdonald felt impelled to advise the Government to build the Harvey-Salisbury line, and he introduced a bill for that purpose which passed the House of Commons, but was defeated in the Senate. It was understood, that if this line was built by the Government, it would be operated by the Canadian Pacific railway, but the latter corporation was very well content to evade this responsibility, knowing well that a line of railway through the wilderness of New Brunswick, was not likely to be a very profitable speculation for many years to come. While this matter was before the Parliament of Canada, and before the bill had been rejected by the Senate, a bill was introduced in the House of Assembly, to incorporate R. C. Skinner, Ambrose D. Richard and F. P. Thompson of New Brunswick, and Louis G. DeBertrain of New York, under' the title of the Moncton and Harvey Short Line Connection Company. This bill was vigorously opposed by the representatives of St. John, in the House, but it received the support of the Honorable Mr. Blair, and was passed by a vote of twenty-three to ten.

This Act of incorporation never became effective because the line was abandoned by the Government of Canada, after the vote of the Senate. It was explained by the advocates of this measure that if the road had to be built, it would be better to have it constructed by gentlemen who were interested in the future of the Province, rather than by strangers. Under any circumstances, it was hardly likely that the Company thus incorporated would have been entrusted with the work, for if the Dominion Government built it, it would employ its own agents and contractors. The first train from Montreal to St. John arrived in the latter city on the 1st day of June, 1889. The distance from St. John to Montreal as compared with the Intercolonial, was thus reduced by 271 miles, for it was brought to 481 miles, but as Portland, Maine, was only 298 miles from Montreal, the latter had an advantage of 183 miles over St. John. One step had been gained in bringing St. John nearer to the markets of the west, but much remained to be done before that city could claim to be the principal Winter Port of Canada.

Between 1889 and 1896, the people of St, John derived no advantage from the construction of the Short Line except from the fact that it lessened the distance for passengers going to Montreal and Ottawa. Portland, Me., which had been adopted and equipped, manj7 years before, by the Grand Trunk Railway, as their port of shipment, still continued to handle the freight and was the terminus of their ocean service. The continuance of this state of affairs naturally evoked many protests from the people of St. John, represented by their Board of Trade. It was felt that some efficient action was necessary to be taken before anything could be accomplished towards making St. John the Winter Port of Canada. At that time, there was a branch line from the Canadian Pacific Railway to Sand Point, and there was a small wharf of 180 feet front on the Harbor, connected with it. This line had been transferred to the Dominion Government, but the Common Council of St. John bought it back, and transferred it to the Canadian Pacific Railway, in consideration of their assistance in equipping St. John so that it might be in a position to compete for the winter freight of Western Canada. The Canadian Pacific Railway extended their wharf so as to make it suitable for steamships, while the City authorities proceeded to erect two deep water wharves near it, and equip them with sheds. The city also contributed $40,000 to assist the Canadian Pacific Railway in the building of an elevator. This was the beginning of a system of wharves and other facilities for the carrying on of the export trade in winter, which has cost the City of St. John about one million dollars. Still something more was necessary to bring trade to St. John, and this was supplied by the efforts of the two members for the City and County of St. John, Messrs. J. D. Hazen and John A. Chesley. These gentlemen brought such pressure to bear on the Dominion Government, that they consented to subsidize, to the extent of $25,000, a weekly boat from St. John to Liverpool during the winter of 1895-96. There were 22 sailings of these vessels, aggregating 50,892 tons, and they carried away 272,910 bushels of grain and 6,521 standards of deals. This was the beginning of a trade which has increased to such an extent, that the exports of St. John in the winter of 190809 amounted to about $30,000,000 of which nearly $10,000,000 came from the United States. St. John is now the terminus of the Canadian Mail Steamships, and eight lines of ocean steamships come to it in winter.

Although Mr. Blair was an able political manager he was not without his share of difficulties during the thirteen years that he was Premier of the Province. One of these, of a very serious character, arose out of the union of the Cities of St. John and Portland. Under the old charter of the City of St. John, the Common Clerk, who was the secretary of the corporation, sat as an assessor with one of the aldermen, in a Court of Civil Jurisdiction once a week. This Court had jurisdiction in cases of debt up to the amount of eighty dollars. The Common Clerk was Benjamin Lester Peters, and he had filled that office with acceptance for many years. In 1882 he was appointed Police Magistrate with an additional salary. The Act by which the Cities were united, made an entire change in the City court. The Common Clerk became merely the Secretary of the corporation without any judicial functions, and provision was made for a Police Magistrate who, besides his duties as Judge of a Criminal Court, had the same jurisdiction in civil suits as had been enjoyed by the Common Clerk sitting with one alderman under the old charter. As the office of Police Magistrate was one of more dignity and better paid than that of the Common Clerk, friends of Mr. Peters naturally desired that it should be given to him and this view was shared by two of the representatives of the City and County of St. John. The appointment was claimed by the Solicitor General, the Hon. Robert J. Ritchie, and he received it. The affair produced a great deal of excitement in St. John, and it was increased when Messrs. A. A. Stockton and Silas Alward resigned their seats shortly after the appointment was made. The result was, that at the general election, which took place in January, 1890, the two St. John constituencies, which had returned six members to the Legislature, went against the Government by a very large majority, and among the persons defeated was the Hon. David McLellan, who had been Provincial Secretary for some years. This was a hard blow to the Blair Government, and the gravity of it was increased by the fact that the County of Northumberland which returned four members had elected a full opposition ticket. The question which decided the election in Northumberland, was the rate of stumpage on Crown Lands, which had been $1.25 per M. and which the Northumberland members demanded should be reduced to $1.00. The Government was thus virtually defeated, for in St. John and Northumberland ten supporters of the Government had been replaced by ten opponents. Nothing was left then for the leader of the Government but to surrender. He entered into negotiations with the opposition members elected for Northumberland, and agreed to a reduction of the stumpage. This led to a reconstruction of the Government. The Hon. David McLellan, who had lost his seat in St. John, was elevated to the Legislative Council and became President of the Executive Council. Hon. James Mitchell, who had been Surveyor General, became Provincial Secretary. The Hon. L. J. Tweedie became Surveyor General, and the Hon. William Pugsley, who had been Speaker in the former house, was appointed Solicitor General. The Hon. Mr. Ryan remained in his former position of Chief Commissioner of Public Works. With this combination Mr. Blair felt strong enough to face the Legislature at the session of 1890.

The Legislature which had been elected in January, 1890, was dissolved in September, 1892. One result of this was the defeat of Mr. Blair and his entire ticket in the County of York, but a seat was found for the leader of the Government in. Queens, by the resignation of Mr. Thomas Hetherington. The resalt in York was said to have been due to some trouble which had arisen in Bathurst over the administration of the School law. This matter was brought up in the House in 1893 by one of the members for York, who moved that a select committee of seven members be appointed to whom should be referred the petition of Henry Chestnut, William Lemont, J. A. Vanwart, Q. C., and 113 other rate payers of the County of York, praying "that such orders and regulations may be recommended as will carry out the purpose of the Free School Law, and that all orders contrary thereto, may be rescinded, and that all may be placed upon a footing of equality, with power to send for persons, papers and examine the witnesses under oath and report to this House." This petition was only one of many that had been presented to the Legislature on the same subject, and these petitions were signed by about ten thousand persons. The petitions alleged that special privileges had been granted to the Roman Catholic Church, by the educational authorities of the Province, that on August 5th, 1875, again on June 10th, 1884, and at different subsequent dates, certain private orders or regulations had been adopted by the Board of Education, setting aside the rules prescribed in the School Manual for the licensing of teachers, and making it possible for the members of certain religious orders of the Roman Catholic Church to qualify for teachers, without submitting to the rule enforced upon other candidates for license.

The petitions went on to state that the employment of the religious orders of any church by the trustees of a public school, is a direct contravention of the School Act and regulations of the Board of Education as published in 1893, but, notwithstanding this fact, members of certain religious orders of the Roman Catholic Church have been employed for many years, in Fredericton, St. John, Moncton, Bathurst, Bathurst Village, and other places, and the salaries of these religious teachers, who wear the Cross, Crucifix and other emblems of their order, and who teach in conventual buildings, are paid for out of the public school monies. The petitions then go on to state that " Your Petitioners are fully convinced that these conventual schools are religious and sectarian, and are conducted in the interests of the Roman Catholic Church. They also state that it is a very grave injustice that Protestants should be compelled to contribute either locally or through the school rates and county fund or provincially through the grants from the public treasury, towards the support of Roman Catholic Institutions." The last section of the petition read as follows:

"That at Bathurst and Bathurst Village, the school law of the Province has been so administered, as to cause a vast deal of discussion, dissatisfaction and ill-feeling among the people of these districts. More teachers are employed than are necessary. Conventual buildings are used for school purposes, while rooms in the public school building are unoccupied, and the . expense of maintaining the schools is excessive. Your petitioners regard it as an outrage, that while the Protestant minority of Bathurst town are compelled to contribute largely towards the support of the Roman Catholic Conventual schools, they should be forced to provide, at their own expense, a private school for their own children."

On the 6th August, 1875, the Government of Mr. King had come to an agreement with Messrs. Burns, O'Leary, Blanchard, Theriault and Johnston all Roman Catholics and members of the Assembly' for the purpose of making the School Law more agreeable to the Roman Catholics, and putting an end to the agitation which had arisen in consequence of its enforcement. By this arrangement members of certain religious orders were eligible for licenses as school teachers, taking the prescribed examination. Buildings which were the property of such orders, or of the Roman Catholic Church, might be rented for school purposes and religious instruction might be given to Roman Catholic children after school hours.

The questions arising from the Bathurst school difficulty, provoked lengthy and sometimes heated discussions in the House, and after being dealt with in committee of the whole, were referred to a commissioner who was to be one of the judges of the Supreme Court. The commissioner selected was the Honorable John James Fraser, who had been a member of the Government at the time the School Law was brought into force, and also at the time when certain of its provisions were modified to make it more acceptable to the Roman Catholics. His report, which was presented with the evidence taken at the session of 1894, did not sustain the charge that the provisions of the School Law had been violated. The matter afterwards came up in the Equity Court before Judge Barker, and his decision on the subject is condensed in the following marginal note : In the case of Rogers vs. the Trustees of School. District No. 2, Bathurst, as reported in Vol. 1. of the New Brunswick Equity Reports.

"It is not a violation of the provisions of the Common School Act of New Brunswick against sectarian education of public schools, for the school trustees to employ as teachers, sisters of a religious order of the Roman Catholic Church, and permit them while teaching to wear the garb of their order.

"The fact that such teachers contribute all their earnings beyond what they use for their support to the treasury of their order for religious purposes, does not affect their right to be employed in the public schools of the Province.

"The holding in a school room, before and after school hours, of Roman Catholic exercises by a teacher who is a Sister of the Religious Orders of the Roman Catholic Church, for the benefit of the Roman Catholic scholars, does not render such school sectarian."