OUR CANADIAN LETTER

Press, Volume XLIX, Issue 14758, 30 August 1913, Page 4

OUR CANADIAN LETTER

(niOM OTTB OWN CORRESPONDENT.)

! TORONTO, July 31. i TAXING CORPORATIONS MORE ! HEAVILY.

i , The new Provincial Treasurer of On--1 tario, Hon. . I. B. Lewis, in his Budget speech in the recent session of the Legislature, intimated the Government's purpose to more equitably apportion the burden of taxation for revenue purposes by increasing the tax upon the large corporations able to meet the demands, and whose prosperity is directly attributable to public patronage. Under the comprehensive amendments to the Supplementary Revenue Act now in preparation for submission at next session, it is understood, the institutions likely to be affected are banks, loan companies, trust companies, insurance companies, telegraph, telephone, and express companies, gas and electric companies, and railways, both steam and electric, operating in this Province. PLENTY OF FARM HELP. For the first time in years the farmers of Ontario face the harvest season with confidence and satisfaction, having plenty of good experienced farm help. Since the spring, according to the state- . ment of Mr H. A. Macdonell, Provincial Director of Colonisation, the Province has received and placed between 2700 and 2800 farm hands through its immi- j I gration policy, and by the beginning of { September he expects the total to exceed 4000, which is far beyond all previous years' records. Last year the total immigration to Ontario of farm hands was 2553. The class of immigration has imprpved greatly, as well as the volume. ' Practically all the farm hands come from the British Isles (60 per cent. English, 25 per cent. Scottish, and 15 per cent. Irish), 70 per cent, being experienced men. HEALTH BOARD'S CAMPAIGN. Dr. Chas. J. C. O. Hastings, Toronto's Medical Officer of Health, is not popular with careless tradesmen of varioua kinds. The Board of Health on .Wednesday. July 9th, endorsed his action in bringing ice-cream makers and vendors within the scope of his strict edicts requiring cleanliness and various sanitary precautions. The Board also backed up the M.O.H. in a new code of rules promulgated for barbers, requiring dean paraphernalia, clean and wellventilated shops, ample supply of hot and cold water, separate clean towels for each customer, hands to be washed before attending to each customer, a roll of clean paper on headrest of overy chair, alum or other astringent only in powdered or liquid form, no powder puffs, and a customer with any inflamed or erupted face to be shaved "only with his own utensils. Dr. Hastings also proposes to limit the number of passengers in each street car to 1 2-oth tlie number for whom seating is provided, with five on rear platform, to require every car properly ventilated and heated, no*plush cushions, but only ! such as can be readily cleaned and disinfected, every car used to be daily washed and cleansed, and straps to bo covered with celluloid or some similar non-absorbent material, and regularly cleaned. The Board of Health also passed these rules on the same day as tho ice-cream and barber regulations. j DEMAND FOR TEACHERS. •i- There is a great demand for teachers in Ontaria and other provinces as welh In eight day's issues, beginning with Ist July, the Globe carried 2060 advertisements for teachers, an average of more than 257 per day. In all some three hundred School Boards are seeking teacherSj, several of them more than one. The problem of efficiently equipping the schools with qualified teachers has become increasingly difficult within the past few years, and while many of the demands will be met before the end of .July, many schools will likely still be

' unsupplied about the middle of August even with the issue of numerous temporary permits to those persons not fully entitled to certificates. A 20,000,000 DOLLAR MERGER. The directors of the Spanish River IJulp and Paper Mills, Limited, have approved of a twenty million dollar merger by deciding to submit a bylaw to the shareholders sanctioning the union of the Lake Superior Paper Company's interests with their own. When this combine is completed, three of the largest paper concerns will be united, viz, tho Spanish River Co., the Lako Superior Co., and the Ontario Pulp and Paper Co. According to the agreement, tho Spanish River Co., receives 30.000 preference shares of the La&o Lake Superior Co. of the par value of three million dollars, and 50,000 common shares of the par value of five millions, and 900,000 dollars cash. In consideration of this the Spanish River Paper Co. issues to the syndicate, 37,000 fully paid preference shares, of par value 3,700,000 and 50,000 fully paid common shares of par value of 5,000,000 dollars, and guarantees payment of principal interest, and sinking fund upon tho present issue of first mortgage bonds of tho Lake Superior Co., amounting to 5,000.000 dollars. The shareholders are also asked to approve an increase in tho capital stock of the company to 20,000,000 dollars. _ The Lake Superior Paper Co., Ltd., ie one of numerous subsidiary companies of the Great Lake Superior Corporation. BREVITIES. The Doukhobors, who were given lands in Saskatchewan, but abandoned them, moving to British Columbia, where they bought lands, thus being not obliged to take the oath of allegiance to King George, which tnoy object on religious grounds to do to any sovereign, are making a claim for 450,000 dollars compensation for improvements put by them u-pon the lands they have left. A branch of the colony which broke off from the rest, because of departing from the community idea, is also claiming compensation for improvements. It is likely that the lands will be thrown open foi homesteading, and that compensation will be paid in some way for the improvements, but whether this should be to individuals or to the community ifc is hard to determine.

•. Northern Ontario is making rapid strides in the breeding of silver-black foxes, and will soon be on an equal footing with the Eastern Provinces, where there are hundreds of ranches. Such is the opinion of Mr R. A. Taylor, of Montague, P.E.1., who controls one of the largest fox ranches in the Maratime Provinces, and is on his way to Vancouver to purchase some animals. Last year. Mr Taylor raised a pair of silver-black foxes ■which sold for 17,000 dollars. He has raised ten pairs in the past four years. His mission to Northern Ontario and the West is to secure animals to etrengthen the strain of the Eastern foxes. Another instance of the importance of the black fox breeding industry, is afforded by the price paid by two Ridgetown (Ontario) men for two fine female black foxes to mate with sonio of the stock on their own farm, viz, 12.000 dollars for the two. They succeeded this year in raising eight nuppies from two pairs. With the object of collecting authentic information for distribution in the rural districts of Scotland, uppr which Canada draws largely, a party of Scottish teachers are on a tour of Canada and the Urited States.

I After being prohibited in Prince Edj ward Island for seven or eight years, automobiles will now be allowed to be fun in the little Province in the Gulf of St. Lawrence in the city of Charlottetown, and what is known as the Royalty district, on three days in the week—Mondays, Wednesdays, and , Thursdays. Tho Island ie noted for its horses, almost every inhabitant owning , one or more fine animals, , hence the opposition to motor-cars*