Entering the building will be seen a large hall, on the floor of which are inlaid the Arms of the various provinces of the Dominion, as constituted in 1904. It will be noticed that one shield is vacant. This was intended for the arms of one new Province, subsequently it was determined to form two, which are now known as the Provinces of Alberta and Saskatchewan. It being impossible to insert the arms of one Province to the exclusion of the other, this shield has remained vacant. The stairway to the right leads to the Senate, and the left to the House of Commons. Elevators are to be found through the little archways underneath the staircases. At the head of the stairway to the right is the lobby of the Senate Chamber; just inside the door, at the left, is a portrait of Queen Victoria, who died in 1901, but who had been thirty years on the throne when Parliament first sat in these halls. On the walls here, and in the corridor at each side of the Chamber, are portraits of former speakers and statesmen. The Chambers of the two houses are identical in design, size and shape, being 82 by 45 feet. The galleries of each chamber accommodate about 1,000 persons. In the Senate the stained glass windows would cast a soft and subdued light but for the corrugated glass roof which greatly intensifies the light. The large lower piers of grey Canadian marble are surmounted, above the galleries, by small pillars of dark Arnprior marble. Under the canopy is the Regal Chair, occupied by the Governor General at the opening and closing of Parliament. The Speaker's chair is placed on the dais immediately in front. To his right are the Government seats, and to his left the Opposition Senators. Portraits of King George III. and his consort, Queen Charlotte, painted by Reynolds occupy the south wall. In the corridor to the right of the chamber are swing doors from which a staircase descends to the corner stone. This stone, which is of white marble, bears the following inscription: "This corner stone, intended to receive the Legislature of Canada, was laid by Albert Edward Prince of Wales on the first day of September MDCCCLX." Re-ascending to the corridor, at the end are the private apartments of the Speaker.
The Reading Room will be seen through the glass swing doors at the end of the corridor. Here are on file some 900 Canadian newspapers and periodicals. Passing through the door to the right, in the centre of the Reading Room, will be seen in the corridor (at the left) a tablet to commemorate the first vessel to cross the Atlantic by steam power—The "Royal William"—which was wholly constructed in Canada. Here is the entrance to—
The Library, a polygon of 16 sides, and 120 feet in diameter. The dome is supported by massive buttresses and beautifully constructed flying buttresses. In the interior the height from the floor to the top of the inside of the cupola is 160 feet. The floor is inlaid with Canadian woods, and the book shelves are richly carved in Canadian white pine. In the centre is a white marble statue of Queen Victoria, by Marshall Wood, the English sculptor. The building was completed in 1876. At the time the Government removed to Ottawa the library contained 55,000 volumes; there are now 350,000. The accommodation for books is now entirely inadequate. The collection of books and pamphlets relating to Canada is very complete. When Parliament is not sitting books may be obtained under certain restrictions. Dur-
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