government. And he concluded by
alluding to the contemplated union of the two provinces which, if
effected, would extend the field of legislation. In the course of the
session, the Assembly represented to the Lieutenant-Governor that they
found the travelling expenses of the Judges too high, and that the
salaries of all the officers of the government and of the courts were
too high. It was recommended that there should be retrenchment, and it
was suggested that the scale of remuneration, which existed previous to
1796, was sufficient. The Governor would not hear of a retrenchment,
which could only have the effect of placing respectable men in the
situation of struggling against actual penury, with the gloomy prospect
of starving in old age. A second representation was made by the
Assembly, to the effect that confusion resulted from the manner in
which the public accounts were kept. There was a want of detail which
should be obviated. Sir Peregrine Maitland was quite indignant at this
representation. He was answerable for the necessities of the public,
and the House of Assembly approached him with the deliberate intention
of misrepresenting his administration. Any information, solicited by
the Assembly, to be afforded by him, as an act of courtesy, would have
been most cheerfully afforded. He did not care for secrecy, and any
information desired concerning the public accounts he would, at any
time, on a proper application, afford. The House respectfully informed
His Excellency that they had not the slightest intention of
misrepresenting his administration, but merely ventured to suggest an
improvement in the mode of keeping the accounts. So the matter ended.
The parliamentary session was rather a protracted one. The Kingston
Bank Bill had been a long time before the House, and almost at the
close of the session some amendments were made to it. An Orange Society
Bill was thrown out of the House, by the casting vote of the Speaker.

Mr. Gourlay, when in Upper Canada, in 1819, strongly recommended, in a
letter to the _Niagara Spectator_, the advisability of constructing
canals for the improvement of the navigation of the great lakes and the
St. Lawrence. His views were most enlightened. He advised the
construction of canals on a scale to admit vessels of 200 tons burthen,
large enough to brave the ocean, and not inconveniently large for
internal navigation. Should it be deemed advisable, says Mr. Gourlay,
to have larger ve