A New Town. Following is an account, given in September, of a town made to order:

"In the last three weeks there has sprung into existence up in Sierra County, close by the Nevada line, another such town as Pullman-a city built upon and around a great industry. Overton is the name of the town. It is the result of the proposed exploitation of the immense timber tracts in the vicinity which were acquired by the late Walter S. Hobart during the last thirty years of his lifetime and subsequently by his executors. They comprise 70,000 acres of white, yellow, and sugar pine and fir—all a virgin forest. Of this vast area of timber 40,000 acres are to be cut, sawed, and manufactured, an operation which it is estimated will occupy the time of a large force of men and the employment of much machinery for sixty years to come. A broadgauge railroad has been built to Truckee on the Southern Pacific, 7 miles, as well as a standard spur of 2 miles to the timber belt, and 7 miles of narrowgauge track are to be used as a logging road into the hills and mountains."

Centennials.-The hundredth anniversary of the founding of Mission San José by Friar Fermin Francisco de Lasuen was celebrated June 13. An altar was prepared on an elevated platform, and mass was celebrated in the presence of about 10,000 people, after a procession made up of a great number of companies and societies. After the religious services all who were in attendance were provided for at a barbecue in Spanish style in the beautiful Palmdale grounds, which date their beginnings from the foundation of the mission. To the substantials of the repast were added the pure wines of the Gallegos cellar.

An incident of the celebration was the presence of an Indian, Felipe José Marziano, one hundred and twenty years old, who was present when the mission was founded, and remembers the simple ceremonies of that occasion.

On June 24 a similar celebration marked the hundredth anniversary of the founding of the town and mission San Juan Bautista.

Los Angeles. A tract of 3,000 acres has recently been given to this city for a park. It is just beyond the northern line of the city, and includes 24 miles of frostless foothills bordering on Cahuenga valley, 5 miles of Los Angeles river bottom lands, and a beautiful little valley, which was called the Press Colony site; also, with these lands the improvements thereon, consisting of several buildings and water plant, with tunnels and piping. This park will include more than 2,000 acres of tillable land, and some of the most romantic scenery of any park in the world. The land is the gift of Mr. G. J. Griffith, formerly a newspaper man in San Francisco, and is to be called Griffith Park. The giver asks that no railroad that may be chartered to lead to the park shall have the right to charge a fare larger than five cents. The value of the land is between $200,000 and $300,000.

Legislative Session.-The Legislature convened Jan. 4 for its thirty-second session, and adjourned March 21. Thomas Flint was chosen president pro tem. of the Senate, Frank L. Coombs was Speaker of the House, and B. C. Kenyon Speaker pro tem.

In his message to the Legislature the Governor called attention to the need of economy in State affairs, the expenses of which had been steadily in creasing during the past ten years. In regard to State institutions he said:

"The State Board of Examiners found salaries and wages for the same service exceedingly disproportionate; the number of employees excessive; that there was no uniformity in the system of keeping books, warrants, or checks; that attendants in the

various asylums vary greatly in their ratio to the inmates thereof; that employees frequently increased in number and the pay roll was augmented by thousands of dollars, while the number of patients remained stationary or decreased."

Some savings, however, have been effected, the Governor said, during his term, among which was the saving in the expenses of management of the State Insane Asylums of $65,321.31 from their appropriations for the year ending June 30, 1896, and of $20,070 for the five months ending Dec. 1. Other economies and reductions of expense to the State pointed out as accomplished, in accordance with his suggestion on co-operation, were the transfer of the duties of the Viticultural Commission to the University of California at a saving of $30,000; the transfer of the offices of the Horticultural Commission to the State Capitol, saving $20,000; the disapproval of appropriations to agricultural societies, aggregating $193,000; the repeal of the law granting support to aged indigents, saving $400,000 a year, and of the coyote scalp law, saving $100,000 a year. The reorganization of the National Guard has also effected a great saving. The Board of Examiners has eliminated items amounting to $66,362.74, and rejected claims aggregating $682,639. An election of a successor to George C. Perkins in the United States Senate being in order, Mr. Perkins was nominated by the Republican caucus, Jan. 5, and was elected, Jan. 12, by a vote of 74 to 45. The Democratic vote was divided among James G. Maguire, W. W. Foote, John J. Dwyer, B. F. Langford, and Charles Lane. The People's party vote went to T. V. Cator.

The session was conspicuous for accusations and investigations.

A scandal arose in the beginning of the session in regard to the temporary organization of the Assembly. It was charged that the chief clerk, who had the authority to appoint the necessary clerks, porters, etc., had put upon the list almost 100 persons more than are required by law for the House when fully organized; that these persons were placed upon the pay roll and allowed mileage and per diem for several days for the purpose of paying political debts. An investigation was ordered, and the committee reported that the charges were substantiated. The total amount expended needlessly was found to be $4,215.

Still another scandal of the session was that concerning the "coyote scalp bounty claims." This bill appropriated $287,000 for paying back claims for coyote scalps. "The bulk of the coyote claims," said the "San Francisco Chronicle," "has been known for years to be fraudulent, and on that account principally the bounty law was repealed in 1895. Thousands of coyote scalps were taken from county to county, certified in each, and not destroyed. Coyote farms were established, especially in Kern County, where, according to the report of Expert Moore, 20,000 fraudulent scalps were entered at a charge against the State of $100,000. Eastern wolf scalps, or scalps collected among furriers in Eastern markets, were brought West during the years when the bounty was in force, and made to yield from $5 to $25 each by collusion with county officials." The bill passed the Senate by the casting vote of the Lieutenant Governor. In the Assembly it was defeated, but there was a call of the House and 15 men changed their votes. The Committee on Commissions, Retrenchment, and Public Expenditures was directed by the Speaker to investigate the charges of bribery. The committee took possession of the telegrams sent and received in Sacramento March 5 and after; among them were found 14 which had a direct bearing on the bribery charge; the committee submitted these

to the Assembly with the report that their belief was that money had been used to pass the bill. There was a protest in the House against the reading of the telegrams, because they were obtained by seizure; and threats of prosecution were made. They were read, however. Most of the dispatches were from lobbyists to interested men in Bakersfield and Tulare. The action of the committee in securing the telegrams was approved by vote of the House. The Governor did not sign this bill for coyote claims.

An investigation was also made of the State printing office. The Governor vetoed a bill for $75,000 deficiency, and made charges of extravagance, which were investigated and pronounced unfounded. The bill appropriating $275,000 for the work of the office for the coming biennium was vetoed; also those of $6,000 for the printer's salary and $40,000 for the support of the State school text-book department of the office.

The State printer said that, as the Board of Examiners can only grant for a deficiency where an appropriation has been made, nothing could be allowed him during this biennial period, and he should therefore close his office on July 1 for the remainder of his term.

Still another investigation was made in connection with a bill for the government of State normal schools. It was charged that the bill was tampered with at the instigation of the president of the Board of Trustees of the San José Normal School. The findings were that he had sent a telegram to the State printer asking him to blockade the bill, and a similar one to the chief clerk of the Senate, and had corresponded on the subject with the Assembly clerk. The bill twice reached the Governor improperly enrolled and with an amendment which did not belong in it. The strong point in the bill is that it provides for a continuous board of trustees, one to be appointed for one year and one each for two, three, and four years. As the law now is the entire board is changed at the will of the executive, and any teacher may be forced out of employment. The changes made in the bill were amendments which had been proposed in the Assembly but receded from, making the law operative in 1899 instead of 1897, and omitting the clause giving the president of a school the right to nominate teachers. The trustee was removed. The bill was finally approved in its correct form.

The San Francisco "Examiner" having published a communication charging Senators with having been bribed to pass a certain bill, the managing editor and two of the legislative correspondents were called before the Senate. They refused to disclose the source of the information, and two of them were committed to jail for contempt, by a vote of 26 to 12.

A bill involving the expenditure of $300,000 provided for dredging Sacramento river. There was much opposition to this bill, on the ground that its real object was to benefit the owners of a patent dredger, the purchase of which was provided for in the bill, and to drain for private owners swamp lands that were acquired from the State for little or nothing, with the understanding that they were to be reclaimed by the owners themselves; and also on the ground that it is not the province of the State "to expend money upon the improvement of navigation in California."

In speaking in favor of the bill, a Senator said that all the bill sought to do was "to demonstrate with the $300,000 what could be done, so that Congress would be stimulated to take up the work." A proposed amendment to make the bill general and extend its operation to all the navigable waters of the State, apportioned according to the amount

of commerce on them, was rejected, and the bill passed by a vote of 27 to 12 in the Senate and 41 to 36 in the Assembly, and was approved by the Gov

ernor.

Another bill of like character, which also became a law, appropriated $250,000 for restraining dams for the débris from hydraulic mines. The National Government had appropriated $250,000 for the purpose. It was charged that, as the amounts called for by these bills would do scarcely more than make a beginning, the ultimate intention was to secure much larger appropriations in future, which the State would be obliged to make in order that the work now to be done should be made available.

An act in relation to stray stock was passed, which will relieve farmers from the necessity of fencing cultivated fields for protection against estrays.

Another law of special interest to farmers provides for wide tires on vehicles, and prescribes the width for various kinds of wagons. The act is to go into effect Jan. 1, 1900.

An act was passed which embodied the main provisions of the Torrens land system. A bill making new provisions for primary elections, a county government act, a new law for the National Guard, and an act providing for a uniform system of road government in the various counties were also among the enactments of the session.

The political code relative to State normal schools was so amended as to make the Governor and Superintendent of Public Instruction ex-officio members of each normal-school board, and the president of each school an ex-officio member of the local board of the school with which he is connected. Teachers are to be elected upon the nomination of the president of the local board, instead of by the local board, as formerly. Training schools for the kindergarten are added. A joint board of normal-school trustees is provided for.

Among other bills passed were the following: To create a department of highways. This is a re-enactment of the law of 1893.

Providing that persons residing in any county may organize and incorporate mutual fire insurance companies.

Providing for the funding and refunding of the indebtedness of levee and protection districts.

Providing for the cession of lands to the Federal Government for military purposes, including tide lands adjacent to Goat island and lands adjacent to Lime Point and Black Point.

Prohibiting a candidate for legislative office from giving pledges to others than his party convention.

Adding to the list of personal property subject to mortgage goats, the equipments of a livery stable, raisins, and dried fruits; also all boxes, fruit graders, drying trays, and fruit ladders.

Adding to property heretofore exempt from execution one piano, one shotgun, and one rifle. It limits farming utensils exempt to $1,000 in value; exempts one fishing boat and net of $500 in value; scamen and seagoing fishermen's wages not exceed ing $100 and all material purchased in good faith for use in the construction, alteration, or repair of any building, mining claim, or other improvement.

Providing that all instructions given to juries, except such as might incidentally be given during the admission of evidence, shall be in writing, unless both parties request the giving of an oral instruction

or consent thereto.

Adding a new section to the civil code concerning the marriage ceremony.

Allowing counties and municipalities to grant franchises for the construction of paths and roads for the use of bicycles and other horseless vehicles.

Fixing the minimum rate of pay for laborers employed on public work at $2 a day.

Providing that unoccupied town lots in Government town sites shall be open to mineral claims. Repealing the law requiring the translation and publication of laws into Spanish.

Prohibiting a mining corporation from selling, leasing, or mortgaging any part of the mining ground owned by it, or of purchasing new ground, without the consent of two thirds of the stockholders.

Permitting the recording of notices of mining claims without acknowledgment or certificate of acknowledgment.

Repealing the act of 1874 regulating the sale of mineral lands belonging to the State. Prohibiting divorced persons from marrying within a year after the granting of the divorce.

Fixing the age of consent at sixteen years. Requiring that when goods are purchased for the use of the State or any city or county in the State, preference shall be given to those produced or manufactured in the State.

Extending the application of the law on trademarks to those which are copied or imitated, as well as to those which are forged or counterfeited.

Establishing a free market on the water front of San Francisco under the care of the harbor commissioners.

Amending the act providing for the organization of municipal corporations, so that cities mentioned may own and operate plants for water supply and street lighting.

Requiring every corporation doing business in the State to pay its employees at least once a month all wages earned by such employees.

Providing for a public-school teachers' annuity and retirement fund, and amending the law of 1895 relating to the same.

Perpetuating the office of the Public Works Commissioner, who is to have control of the expenditure of the $300,000 for the improvement of Sacramento river.

Entitling railroad passengers to carry bicycles as luggage.

Providing for a commissioner to the Central American Exposition at Guatemala city and an exhibit there, and appropriating $10,000; also for an exhibit at the Hamburg Horticultural Exposition $6,000.

The following joint resolutions were passed: Calling for a constitutional convention. Memorializing Congress to reject the railroad funding bill.

Asking protection in the new tariff for California fruit interests.

Asking Congress for an appropriation of $300,000 to be used for restraining barriers for mining débris, and one of $300,000 for dredging the water ways of the State.

Constitutional amendments were passed relating to the appointment of the Lieutenant Governor; to consolidated city and county governments, the object being to exempt San Francisco from the countygovernment act, and allow the city a large measure of home rule upon the adoption of a new charter; to sessions of the Legislature; and to grammar schools.

The tax-levy bill fixed the rate at 434 cents, besides a 2-cent tax for the university, which will increase its revenue $224,000 a year. This will raise more than $10,000,000 for the general fund for the two years. The general appropriation bill called for $5,343,178, the schools for $4.629,926, orphans and half orphans for $675,000, and the sinking fund and interest $282,870, which constitutes a total of $10,930,974.

There was a large increase in the appropriation for the National Guard. Provision was made for 5 new companies at $3,380 each for equipment, and 1 company of Naval Reserves at $1,600.

The Governor struck out many items from the general appropriation bill, amounting in all to $603,929.

The appropriation of $10,000 for an exhibit at the Tennessee Centennial Exposition was vetoed, and the appropriation for the State librarian and his two deputies; also appropriations of $10,000 for viticulture experiments and $8,000 for forestry stations, on the ground that the State University can support them hereafter from its increased revenues. The $5,000 allowed for its department of agriculture was also stricken out, as were the following: $25,000 for dredging Alviso slough, $100,000 for improvements to the asylum at Napa, $20,000 for a water supply at Monticello Asylum, $35,000 for the Santa Clara State School for Girls (not yet established), $90,000 for the Yountville Home, $75,000 to establish a polytechnic institute in San Luis Obispo County, $75,000 for a heating and ventilating plant at the Capitol, appropriations for district agricultural fairs, and a bill providing for the sale of State bonds to raise a fund for the use of the harbor commissioners in building a sea wall.

A resolution to cede the Yosemite Valley to the United States was defeated.

The total cost of the Senate was $75,600.40, including more than $4,000 for contested election cases; that of the Assembly was $120,177.40.

Decisions on State Laws.-The Supreme Court decided in May that the section of the county-government bill of 1895 which provides for levying an inheritance tax is unconstitutional, inasmuch as it is an attempt to levy an extraordinary tax, and also that it provides that the fee so collected shall be paid into the county treasury and used for county purposes, whereas the Legislature is forbidden to impose taxes for county purposes.

On application of the Comptroller as to the effect of the veto of the item in the general appropriation bill for the support of the State printing office the Attorney-General decided that the State printing can not be legally done at any other place, and that no deficiency can be created for support of the office. This, if it shall be sustained, will do away with all State printing till the next session of the Legislature.

By a decision of the United States Supreme Court, May 24, in the litigation over the MerrittGarcelon estate, Oakland will receive for a general hospital about $600,000.

According to a decision in the United States circuit court in June, the authority of the Government over the navigable waters of the State “is so absolute that the Federal power may legally intervene to prevent the passage into the Sacramento and San Joaquin rivers and their tributaries of even the light, flocculent matter which invariably escapes even the best impounding dams and makes its way downstream presumably to the sea." If this is sustained, the impounding dams to be built by the State, as provided by the Legislature, may be regarded as trespassing on the property of the Government, should it be found that injury to navigation results from the use of the dams by hydraulic miners.

In a case involving the ownership of San Pedro inner harbor, which was claimed by virtue of an old grant, the decision in May in the United States Supreme Court was against the title. The court holds that where a patentee of land accepts a patent and survey he has not recourse, in case of desire to contest, if the boundaries do not accord with the original lines.

CANADA, DOMINION OF. The year 1896'97 marks an important period in the history of the Dominion. Not only has there been a change of government from the Conservative to the Liberal party, but a change in party policy and a distinct approximation toward Great Britain in fiscal affairs as well as in the sentiment evoked by the Queen's diamond jubilee. The ministry as constituted in December, 1897, was as follows: Premier, Sir Wilfrid Laurier: Minister of Trade and Commerce, Sir R. J. Cartwright; Secretary of State, Hon. R. W. Scott; Minister of Justice, Hon. David Mills; Minister of Marine and Fisheries, Sir Louis Davies; Minister of Militia and Defense, Hon. F. W. Borden: Postmaster-General, Hon. William Mulock; Minister of Agriculture, Hon. S. A. Fisher; Minister of Public Works, Hon. J. Israel Tarte; Minister of Finance, Hon. W. S. Fielding; Minister of Railways and Canals, Hon. A. G. Blair; Minister of the Interior, Hon. Clifford Sifton; Minister of Customs, Hon. William Patterson; Minister of Inland Revenue, Sir Henri Joly de Lotbinisre; without portfolio, Hon. R. R. Dobell and Hon. C. A. Geoffrion. The only important change during the year was the retirement of Sir Oliver Mowat from the Department of Justice and his acceptance of the lieutenant governorship of Ontario. The second session of the Eighth Parliament was opened in state by the Governor General on March 25, 1897. The speech from the throne outlined the policy of the party in power. The following are its significant passages:

"Immediately after the last session the Government of Manitoba was invited to hold a conference with my ministers on the subject of the grievances arising out of the act of that province relating to education, passed in 1890. In response to that invitation three members of the Manitoba Government came to Ottawa, and after many and protracted discussions a settlement was reached between the two governments, which was the best arrangement obtainable.

"A measure will be submitted to you for the revision of the tariff, which it is believed will provide the necessary revenue, and, while having due regard to industrial interests, will make our fiscal system more satisfactory to the masses of the people.

"You will be asked to give your support to a bill abolishing the present expensive and unsatisfactory franchise act, and adopting, for the election of members of the House of Commons, the franchises of the several provinces.

"My Government has determined that the advantages to accrue, both to our western producers and the business interests of the whole Dominion, from the completion of the works for the enlargement of the St. Lawrence canals, should no longer be deferred, and has, subject to the approval of Parliament, taken the initial steps for a vigorous prosecution of those works, and for the perfecting of the canal system by the close of 1898.

"Arrangements have been completed which, if you approve, will enable the Intercolonial Railway system to reach Montreal, and thus share in the large traffic centering in that city. Appreciating the difficulties encountered by our farmers in placing their perishable food products on the English market in good condition, my Government has arranged a complete system of cold-storage accommodation at creameries, on railways, at ports, and on steamers, by which these products can be preserved at the desired temperature during the whole journey from the point of production to Great Britain. "It is desirable that the mind of the people of Canada should be clearly ascertained on the subject of prohibition, and a measure enabling the electors

to vote upon the question will be submitted for your approval.

"I regret that the receipts from the ordinary sources continue to be inadequate to meet the charges against the consolidated revenue. The proposed revision of the tariff and the application of strict economy in the administration of the Government will, I trust, restore the equilibrium between income and expenditure."

Of the measures mentioned, several of the most important were presented and discussed, but were ultimately withdrawn in order to facilitate the Premier's attendance at the jubilee in London. The Drummond railway bill, which proposed the purchase of a short line connecting Montreal with the Intercolonial Railway from Halifax, was the subject of active party hostility and severe criticism. Charges of corruption were freely made, and the Senate finally refused to ratify it unless a committee was appointed to investigate the whole matter. This compromise was accepted by the Government, and the measure went through. An arrangement was entered into with the Peterson Company, of London, to establish a fast Atlantic steamship line, with a Canadian subvention of $500,000 annually. An alien labor act was passed, modeled precisely after that of the United States, but made enforcible only at the will of the Government as to time and place. The Comptrollers of Inland Revenue and Customs were raised to the rank of members of the Cabinet. The Northwest Territories were given complete provincial self-government. Arrangements were made for the regulation and registration of cheese factories, and the provision of cold-storage transportation facilities. A loan of $15,000,000 was authorized, in order to pay for railway and other schemes, and the Government was given power to pay bounties upon iron and steel, and to levy export duties on logs and minerals. There was a good deal of private legislation connected with railway charters and projects, which was made subject to a railway commission which it was proposed by the Government to organize hereafter.

But the most important event of the session was the new tariff. It was introduced by Mr. Fielding in a long budget speech on April 22. He began with a summary of the financial position from the time of the late Government. The changes announced were unimportant in detail, but not in principle. They practically pledged the Government to do nothing injurious to vested interests or inimical to the maintenance of the protective tariff. Duties on iron were reduced considerably, to help the implement manufacturers in their competition with the American finished product, while bounties were given the iron smelters as a set-off to this reduction. On spirits and tobacco the excise and import duties were made very much heavier. Cigarettes were especially affected. In food products little change was made except in flour and sugar, upon which the duties were lowered one half. The duty on coal oil was reduced, and that on bituminous coal was maintained at 60 cents a ton, anthracite being free. It was promised, however, that if the United States Government would lower its duty to 40 cents (the Dingley bill was then pending) Canada would do the same. But the most important point in the tariff schedule, which was a great surprise to the country, was the enactment that when the customs tariff of any other country is made favorable to Canada the duties upon the products of that country shall at once be lowered one eighth, and after July 1, 1898. one quarter. This was at once made applicable to Great Britain and created a most favorable impression in the mother country.