, in addition to
the cost of maintaining the fiscal, postal, and other charges of the
province. The revenue was raised by customs duties, sales of crown
lands, royalties, or export duties. The devotion to indirect taxation,
which is not absent from provinces with municipal bodies, was to them
an all-absorbing passion. The Canadian delegates were unsympathetic.
John Hamilton Gray describes the scene:

Agreement seemed hopeless, and on or about the tenth morning, after the
convention met, the conviction was general that it must break up
without coming to any conclusion. The terms of mutual concession and
demand had been drawn to their extremest tension and silence was all
around. At last a proposition was made that the convention should
adjourn for the day, and that in the meantime the finance ministers of
the several provinces should meet, discuss the matter amongst
themselves, and see if they could not agree upon something.[7]

{82} On this committee were Brown and Galt acting for Canada, while the
others were Tupper, Tilley, Archibald, Pope, and Shea. The scheme set
forth in the resolutions was the result. It need not be detailed, but
the sixty-fourth resolution, on which was centred the keenest
criticism, reads as follows:

In consideration of the transfer to the general parliament of the
powers of taxation, an annual grant in aid of each province shall be
made, equal to 80 cents per head of the population as established by
the census of 1861, the population of Newfoundland being estimated at
130,000. Such aid shall be in full settlement of all future demands
upon the general government for local purposes and shall be paid
half-yearly in advance to each province.

The system of provincial subsidies has often been denounced. The
delegates may have thought that they had shut the door to further
claims, but the finality of the arrangement was soon tested, and in
1869 Nova Scotia received better terms. There were increases in the
subsidies to the provinces on several subsequent occasions, and no one
believes the end has yet been reached. The growing needs of the {83}
provinces and the general aversion from direct taxation furnish strong
temptations to make demands upon the federal treasury.

The conference, after adopting the seventy-two resolutions embodying
the basis of the union, agreed that the several governments should
submit them to the respective legislatures at the ensuing session.
They w