Page:Public School History of England and Canada (1892).djvu/274

matters which were of common benefit and interest. To carry out this principle it was necessary to have local Legislatures or Parliaments, as well as a general or Dominion Parliament. This part of the scheme was suggested by, if not borrowed from, the system of government existing in the United States. But in several very important respects the United States model was not copied. Perhaps the most important difference was the retention of Cabinet or Responsible Government in the management of all our affairs, whether belonging to the Dominion or to the Provinces. Again, in the United States each State is free to make its own laws, so long as it does not go beyond the bounds of the Constitution; but in Canada it was agreed that the Governor-General, on the advice of his Ministers, should have the power to veto, or forbid from becoming law, any measure passed by the local Parliaments, if these measures were thought to be hurtful to the general welfare of the Dominion. The Provinces were given the control of many matters such as education; the appointment of courts of justice (but not of the judges); the management of Crown lands within the Province; asylums and jails; the regulation of the sale of intoxicating liquors; and the general power of enforcing the laws. They were permitted to raise a revenue by direct but not by indirect taxation; that is, they could impose such taxes as were paid only by the people on whom they were placed, but not such taxes as duties on goods coming in or going-out of the country, which are called Customs, or taxes on articles made in the country, which we call Excise. Custom and Excise duties are supposed to be paid eventually by the people who buy the goods and use them, and not by the seller or manufacturer. One of the important benefits expected to come from Confederation was the removal of the barriers preventing the different Provinces from trading with each other. To make it impossible for one Province to tax the goods coming into it from another Province, the Dominion Parliament was given the sole right of raising a revenue by Customs or Excise duties. This, however, would make it very difficult for the Provinces to collect money enough to defray their expenses; therefore it was arranged that the Dominion should pay the Provinces annually a large sum out of its revenue, in return for the right to collect these duties. Besides this right of indirect taxation the Dominion kept the control of the Militia, the Post-office, the currency, the penitentiaries,