Pity the sorrows of some Union men, Whose unwise steps have borne them to your door; Whose days politically are but a span, 0 give relief! And tax our bread no more.
Those scattered ranks, extremety bespeaks, Those Customs locks do justify the Antis fears; And many a furrow in our grief worn cheeks Has been the channel to a flood of tears.
You have erected on the rising ground With ‘miles of cornice’, drew me from the road; These sinecures a residence have found, And grandeur a magnificent abode.
Hard is the fate of fishermen and poor, Here as our members voted taxes off our bread, Saw Canadians growing corn around their door From produce of my farms they shall be fed.
O! take us to your hospitable dome, Keen blows the opposition wind and cold; Short is our passage to the friendly tomb, Our cause is poor and we arc badly sold.
Pity the sorrows of poor Union men, Whose blinded steps have borne them to your door; Whose days politically are but a span, O! grant respite and tax our corn no more.
“Highly emotional” is an interesting term used here, thieving and thievery can certainly arouse “emotion” in all those whose goods, or whose rights, have been absconded. I assume this language is used in order to paint the anti-confederate as illogical, as opposed to the non-stop mendacity and “licksplitterism” which has continued to be the trademark of “the Canadians”, bereft of “emotion” except for that which is their contrivance, which suits their interests.
“CONFEDERATION WAS IMPOSED upon Nova Scotia in 1867 over the opposition of significant groups of people within the province. There were many reasons for their opposition to union, and a great deal has been written concerning the nature of the struggle and the ultimate success of the Confederates. That Nova Scotia’s response to Confederation was highly emotional has not gone unnoticed.”
Hush my babes, be still and trusting Sooth your fears and soundly sleep. My biggest bubble’s almost bursting, But soothing Syrup’s blessed cheap.
Sleep soft dupes and trust in Tupper; Retrenchment’s but a naughty dream, The sad effect of too much supper, He never thought of such a scheme.
Hush, that’s not the cars you’re hearing: ‘Tis but the mind – you silly pup, Longley’s only ‘electioneering’; He’s tore the cursed Railroad up.
Soft my babes, let music charm you; ‘Quebec Scheme’s’ a blessed thing; Not a Fenian will dare to harm you, When under Canada’s wing.
Happy days, devoutly withed for! Our independence loosly sold! Every knave in the place is fished for, And your poor dupes, left out (in the) cold.
“As a man, as well as a map-maker, Ambrose F. Church was an interesting figure. He retained his United States citizenship even though he resided in Nova Scotia for many years. It is alleged that he was a deserter from the United States army and that that was one reason why he came to Nova Scotia and never returned to the United States to live. He was not only a respected resident of Nova Scotia but a great family man…”
“When Ambrose Finson Church moved from Maine to Nova Scotia in 1865, he had a wife and one daughter, Alice Isabel. Probably after living in Halifax for a time, they took up residence at Ochterloney Street in Dartmouth by 1868. There they lived until they moved to Bedford, Halifax County, Nova Scotia. The family was still living in Dartmouth at the time of the census of 1871. Ambrose Church was then 34 years of age and his wife was 30, and they were listed as Methodists. Their daughter Alice Isabel was seven years old; Nina Elizabeth and Harold Ambrose, who had been born in Nova Scotia, were, in order, three years and less than a year old. Subsequently, Ambrose Finson and Nancy Anne (Saunders) Church had two additional daughters, Charlotte Zelda and May Evelyn”
“His maps, particularly his County Maps of Nova Scotia, are his memorial.”
“Though Murdoch was a lawyer by profession and for several years a successful practitioner at the Bar, his tastes were essentially literary and historical . It was as a scholar and a gentleman that he impressed his contemporaries . One of these writing in the Acadian Recorder of October 11, 1863, under the pseudonym of Max, gives a very sympathetic view of Murdoch in contrast to other lawyers of his day. He describes him as, not tall, with a finely moulded head, considerably bald, soft hazel eyes, a kindly intelligent face, and a mouth that has “a peculiar twist while listening.” Capable of conversing volubly yet quietly, eager to talk of the present as well as the past, he is courteous to a fault and willing to impart information without fee. “He is, I believe,” continues Max, “a pretty sound and well-read lawyer. He has epitomized the laws of this province, and his book has done good service to others if not to himself. He is not unfrequently in the court, but always with an easy smile and a quiet voice and the demeanour of a gentleman .”
“What I like him for is that he seems to have followed the law more for the love of its science and its literature, and not to amass wealth or climb into the petty places which our politicians have to bestow. I like him moreover because he clings to the past. He is one of the few who have come out of the olden time with the fine aroma and sense of honour which belonged to it . The grasping, avaricious, sordid desires which burn the noble sentiments out of some lawyers’ natures seem not to have sunk into his grain. He has brought something of what is well worth preserving out of the past generation of lawyers to diffuse among the aspiring limbs of today.”
When this character sketch of Murdoch was written he was sixty-three years of age ; but, when he completed his epitome of the laws of Nova Scotia, he was only thirty-two. The Epitome, then, is remarkable not only for its early appearance in Nova Scotia but also for the the youthfulness of its author. It is remarkable, too that another youthful Nova Scotian, Joseph Howe, twenty-eight years of age, who had already lost heavily on the patriotic venture of publishing Haliburton’s history of his native province, should have undertaken to print a work with such a limited market as an epitome of the laws of a single province. But all three youths reflected the spirit of the new age ; and, because of this, our generation of Canadians owes a heavy debt of gratitude to the two authors Haliburton and Murdoch and to the publisher Howe.”
Nelson v. Dartmouth, perhaps part of the genesis for the Trailer Park Boys.
“After the Act of Union in 1840, British opinion mounted for Canada to become responsible for her own defence. At the same time, American pressure on the western territories became severe. The Northern Pacific Railway, chartered by Americans in 1864, had the object of providing transcontinental service. American settlement was pushing ever northward. Without the protection of British troops, American expansionist claims to the west seemed impossible to resist.
The scheme of Confederation was principally designed to overcome these problems. It was thought that a larger, strongly centralized political unit would be capable of (a) re-establishing the public credit, (b) undertaking the considerable public expenditure on transport which was the condition precedent to development, and (c) offering a sufficient defence posture to resist American pressure.”
Cultural and sectional rivalries proved insuperable obstacles to the legislative union foreseen by Sir John A. Macdonald. A federal state, characterized by strong cultural and regional guarantees, was the compromise. But there was to be no question of economic decentralization. By the British North America Act, 1867 the Dominion government was granted legislative power over:
91(3) The raising of Money by any Mode or System of Taxation.
By section 122 of the Act customs and excise, which accounted for the vast bulk of public revenue immediately prior to Confederation, were brought within the central government’s exclusive competence. Section 118 of the Act, since repealed, 4 made provision for payment of subsidies by the central government to the provinces, with the intent that they be “in full settlement of all future demands on Canada”. In the early years of Confederation such subsidies accounted for some fifty per cent of all provincial revenues.”
“Three mechanisms were tried to ameliorate this unsatisfactory constitutional arrangement. The first was dissolution of the Confederation. This was not conspicuously successful. Nova Scotia was the only government to attempt it. Within two years after union, under the leadership of Joseph Howe, the Imperial Parliament was petitioned to release the province from Confederation. The second alternative involved an increase in the subsidies paid under the B.N.A. Act. Despite some early federal willingness to alter the subsidies stated by the B.N.A. Act to be in full settlement of all claims on the central government, several events intervened to make the Dominion government rely on the full settlement clause and refuse further increase. A global depression, beginning in 1873, placed a severe crimp in the central government’s fiscal capacities. The railroads entailed vast expense, creating further federal monetary restraint. From 1873 until 1906 the subsidy payments stood unaltered. Lastly, resort by the provinces to their own powers of taxation was explored. Some means had to be developed to make these significant. The means found was a judicial stretching of the concept of “direct taxation” to encompass modes of taxation which would have been quite unimaginable to the Fathers of Confederation.”
“In Nelson v. Dartmouth a municipal by-law imposed a license fee of $15 per month on operators of mobile home home situated in the mobile home park. The by-law was attacked as ultra vires in that it overstepped the limits of section 92(9). Counsel argued that the legislation was enacted for the colourable purpose of imposing a personal property tax upon the owners of mobile homes situated in the parks in question. Mr. Justice MacDonald, in considering this submission, held as follows:
In my view, a genuine licensing-tax provision imposed for the primary purpose of revenue or for revenue purposes incidental to valid provincial regulation of such an operation as that of mobile home parks-as is the case here-is not invalidated by the circumstance that the tax may be indirect in its general incidence (See Laskin, Canadian Constitutional Law, 2nd ed., pp. 754-5; and Reference re Farm Products Marketing Act…).
There is no requirement in this case that the indirect taxation by way of license fee be limited to the expenses of the regulatory scheme, nor is there any indication that the fees were so limited. The only limitation referred to by the court is that the license fees must be in relation to the regulation of mobile home parks and not in relation to the raising of revenue by indirect taxation.”
“In the early-1860s the increase in the number of carpenters, the building boom with its opportunities in a larger market for specialization, and local labour tension all contributed to formal subdivision among carpenters. Incorporation of the House Joiners’ Union Society of Halifax and of the Shipwrights’ and Caulkers’ Association of Halifax and Dartmouth in 1864 marked a trade consciousness which was demonstrated in a carpenters’ strike for higher wages later that year.”
An Act to amend the several Acts relating to the Dartmouth Common.
(Passed the 21st day of September, A. D. 1868.)
SECTION.
1. Trustees of Dartmouth Common to be a Body Corporate. May grant fee simple to lessees. Shall invest proceeds.
2. Interest to be employed in improvements.
3. Streets to be under control of Commissioners for Dartmouth
5.(sic) Trustees may lease portion of Common for military purposes.
5. Trustees may execute deed to P. Leahy, on payment of $80.
6. Trustees may sell part of Common on requisition of two-thirds of rate payers at meeting called by notice in newspapers 20 days.
7. Proceeds to be invested, and interest to be expended in improvement.
8. Inconsistent Acts repealed.
Be it enacted by the Governor, Council, and Assembly, as follows:
Trustees of Dartmouth Common to be a Body corporate. May grant fee simple to lessees Shall invest proceeds:
1. The Trustees of the Dartmouth Common shall be a Common to be a Body politic and corporate, and shall have power to give releases under seal in fee simple, of such parts of the Common as are held under lease, upon receiving from the lessees at the rate of sixteen dollars and sixty-seven cents for every dollar of rent payable by such lessees, respectively, and shall keep the moneys so arising continually invested in securities on real estate or in the public funds.
Interest to be expended on improvements:
2. The Trustees shall expend the interest of the money Interest to be so arising in the clearing, draining, and improvement of the Common.
Streets to be under control of Commissioners for Dartmouth:
3. The streets already made in and around the Common Streets to be shall be under the control and management of the Commissioners of Streets for the Town of Dartmouth.
Trustees may lease portions of Common for military purposes:
4. The Trustees shall have power to lease to the Government such parts of the Common as are now used, or may of common tor hereafter be required, for military purposes.
Trustees may execute deed to P. Leahy, on payment of $80:
5. The Trustees shall have power to execute a Deed in Trustees may fee simple to Patrick Leahey of a lot of land, being part and parcel of the said Common, and described as follows: -Commencing on the eastern side of Dartmouth Common, at the north-west angle of property belonging to the estate of the late Thomas Boggs; thence by the north-west line of said Boggs property north fifty-nine degrees east, forty-eight feet, to the western line of property belonging to said Patrick Leahey ; thence north-easterly by the western line of said Leahey’s property, until it meets the southern side of the entrance to Wolf’s road, so called; thence southerly by a right line to the place of beginning ;—on the said Patrick Leahey paying to the said Trustees the sum of eighty dollars, being the appraised value thereof.
Trustees may sell part of Common on requisition of two thirds of rate payers at meeting called by notice in newspapers 20 days:
6. The Trustees shall have power to sell that portion of said Common bounded northerly by Howe street, westerly by the Windmill road, southerly by Parker street, and easterly by Wise street, or any portion thereof, at public auction after notice of such sale for twenty days at least in not less than three newspapers published in Halifax County, and to give conveyances thereof in fee simple; and it shall be ncessary for the said Trustees to obtain authority for such sale by a requisition signed by two-thirds at least of the rate payers residing within the limits of the Town Plot of Dartmouth, present at a meeting called for the purpose by public notice previously given twenty days at least in two newspapers in Halifax County, which Town Plot shall be construed to embrace an area within the distance of one mile measured in a southwardly, eastwardly, and northwardly direction from the Public Landing or Steamboat Company’s wharf.
Proceeds to be invested and interest to be expended in improvements:
7. The proceeds arising from the sales or transfers authorized by or mentioned in the fifth and sixth clauses hereof shall be invested and kept invested by the Trustees in the same manner as is provided in the first section hereof, and the interest arising therefrom shall be expended in the improvement of the Common as the Trustees shall direct.
Inconsistent Acts repealed:
8. So much of the several Acts relating to the Dartmouth Common, and the Acts in amendment thereof previous to this Act, as is inconsistent with this Act, is hereby repealed.
“To amend the several Acts relating to the Dartmouth Common”, 1868 c31
An Act to authorize an Assessment on the inhabitants of the town plot of Dartmouth. (Passed the 7th day of May, A. D. 1866.)
SECTION
1. Inhabitants of Dartmouth may assess themselves for $600 to obtain plan of township. 2. Commissioners of Streets may borrow said amount. 4.(sic) Amount to be repaid in three years, 4. General or Special Sessions may assess for amount.
Be it enacted by the Governor, Council, and Assembly, as follows:
Inhabitants of Dartmouth may assess themselves for $600 to obtain plan of township: 1. The rateable inhabitants residing within the town plot of the township of Dartmouth, in the county of Halifax, may selves for $600 assess themselves, at any public meeting to be called for the purpose by any three of the Justices of the said county, notice of such meeting having been first given by handbills posted up within the limits of such town plot at least ten days previous to such meeting, in a sum not exceeding six hundred dollars, for the purpose of obtaining a good and sufficient plan of said town plot.
Commissioners may borrow said amount: 2. The Commissioners of Streets for the said township are hereby authorized to borrow the sum of six hundred dollars for the purpose aforesaid, by pledging the security of this act.
Amount to be repaid in three years: 3. Such sum and interest thereon, at the rate of six per centum per annum, shall be repaid in three years in the following manner, viz., the sum of two hundred dollars and interest in one year, the sum of two hundred dollars and interest in two years, and the sum of two hundred dollars and interest in three years, from the time such sum of six hundred dollars is so borrowed.
General and Special Sessions may assess for amount: 4. A general or special sessions shall assess such amounts as aforesaid upon the inhabitants of the said town plot, and the same shall be collected and enforced in the same manner as poor and county rates are now collected and enforced.
“To authorize an assessment on the inhabitants of the Town Plot of Dartmouth”, 1866 c56
An Act for the appropriation of Police Fines in the town of Dartmouth. (Passed the 18th day of April, A. D. 1865.)
SECTION
Preamble 1. Fines-how appropriated. 2. Account of fines to be forwarded to Sessions.
Preamble: Whereas, a lock-up house has been built and a Police Court established at Dartmouth, in the County of Halifax, and the expense incurred thereby has been paid by an assessment on the rate-payers resident within the town plot of Dartmouth, so called, and no provision has been made for the appropriation of moneys that may arise from the fines imposed by said Court.
Be it enacted by the Governor, Council, and Assembly, as follows:
Fines – how appropriated: 1. All the surplus moneys arising from the fines imposed by the said court, after deducting the expenses thereof, shall be paid over from time to time by the Police Magistrates presiding therein to the County Treasurer; and the same shall be appropriated to such public local purposes within the town plot of Dartmouth as the rate-payers at their annual meeting may, by resolution, direct; and the sessions for the county shall issue a warrant for such money in conformity with such resolution.
Account of fines to be forwarded to sessions: 2. An account of all such fines shall be forwarded by the Police Magistrates of Dartmouth annually to the Court of Quarter Sessions for the county.
“For the appropriation of Police Fines in the town of Dartmouth”, 1865 c105
An Act for the establishment of Police Regulations in the Town of Dartmouth. (Passed the 12th day of April, A. D. 1862.)
SECTION. 1. Justices of the Peace at Dartmouth may act as Police Court. Their jurisdiction. 2. Nature of punishment. 3. Limitation of action. 4. Particular form of proceedings not requisite 5. Court may take recognizances to appear in Supreme Court, &c. 6. Process – how signed. 7. Police Constable – appointment of, duties, &c. Court – when held, &c. 8. Penalty for refusing to assist Constable 9. Fees.
Be it enacted by the Governor, Council, and Assembly, as follows:
Justices of the Peace at Dartmouth may act as Police Court, Their Jurisdiction: 1. The Justices of the Peace for the County of Halifax Justices from time to time residing within the limits of the Commissioners of Streets for the Town of Dartmouth, or any one or more of them shall, whenever occasion may require, or he or they may think necessary, act as a Police Court within the aforesaid limits, and shall have and exercise all powers necessary for the preservation of the public peace and good order, the protection of property, and the repressing offences against the Sabbath ; and also shall have power to hear and determine in a summary manner all larcenies where the value of the goods stolen shall not exceed twenty dollars, receiving of stolen goods, assaults, batteries, riots, petty tresspasses, malicious or wanton injuries to property, and breaches of the peace committed within the limits aforesaid.
Nature of punishment: 2. The Court shall have power to punish offenders upon conviction of any offences within their jurisdiction, by imprisonment in the Lock-up House or County Jail, for a period not exceeding thirty days, or by fine, not exceeding in any case twenty dollars and costs of prosecution; and in case of non-payment of the fine and costs, may commit the offender to the Lock-up House or Jail for any time not exceeding thirty days.
Limitation of action: 3. Offences shall be prosecuted in every case within two months after commission.
Particular form of proceedings not requisite: 4. No such conviction shall be quashed for want of form, and no warrant of commitment shall be held void by reason of any defect therein so as it be therein alleged that the party has been convicted of some offence named therein.
Court may take recognizances to appear at Supreme Court, &c: 5. The Police Court shall have power to hold persons recognizances charged with offences under recognizances with sureties to appear and answer in the Supreme Court or the Court of Sessions, and for want of recognizance to commit to the Lock-up House or County Jail.
Process how signed: 6. All process issued by the Court shall be signed by one signed by one or more of the Justices.
Public Constable-appointment of, duties, &c. 7. The Court shall appoint a Police Constable who shall have power within the said limits to arrest any persons who in his presence shall be guilty of any of the offences within the cognizance of such Police Justices and take them before one or more of the Justices; and if such Justice shall consider it necessary the Police Court shall meet and adjudicate upon held, &c. the case, but no person shall be detained in custody from the time of his arrest until the hearing of his case more than thirty hours (except the arrest be made on Saturday) until his case shall be brought to a hearing,—but upon a hearing the person in custody may be remanded for the procuring of evidence or other sufficient cause. But nothing herein shall prevent any person so arrested from being delivered on bail, if entitled to be so delivered.
Penalty for refusing to assist Constable: 8. All persons shall be bound on request to assist the Constable in the execution of his duty; and any person refusing shall be fined not less than one dollar nor more than four dollars by any one of such Justices.
Fees 9. The fees hereinafter enumerated shall be chargeable for the services herein mentioned, viz:
For Affidavit, twenty cents, ” Warrant, fifty cents, ” Service of process, twenty-five cents, ” Recognizance, sixty cents. ” Judgment, twenty cents, ” Warrant of Commitment, twenty cents, ” Subpoena, ten cents.
“For the establishment of Police Regulations in the Town of Dartmouth”, 1862 c42
