Pioneers and Prominent People of Saskatchewan

 

 

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electoral District of Lorne, and the first elected member in the Territories took his seat in the last session of the Legislative Council held under Mr. Laird, in June, 1881. This session is memorable also as being the last session held at Battleford.

 

 

In this year Mr. Laird's term of office expired. It is probable that those who know this country only in its present conditions of civilization and peace cannot realize how much we owe to Mr. Laird's wise and tactful administration. His position was no sinecure. No small portion of his time was taken up receiving deputations of discontented, often defiant, Indians, and of Half-breeds, perhaps less savage, but more cunning. Almost daily reports reached him of battles or outrages at some distant point, happily incorrect in nearly every case, but none the less disquieting. Says one writer of that time, "His residence was the central figure of an Indian encampment, because his wards loved to observe and comment on his every move. His kitchen was an Indian restaurant, where meals were served at all hours, while his guests waited. To add to the pleasure of such environment, his actions and motives were misconstrued and misrepresented by the eastern newspapers, ready with their criticisms, despite their display of a vast ignorance of everything pertaining to the North-west, in the very articles in which they censured the Lieutenant Governor.

 

Following the removal of the capital from Battleford to Regina, the first meeting of the North-west Council was convened in August, 1883, under the

Presidency of the Honourable Edgar Dewdney, Lieutenant-Governor. Six elected members presented themselves, viz.: Frank Oliver, Edmonton; D. H. McDowall, Lome (Prince Albert); J. C. C. Hamilton, Broadview; J. H. Ross, Moose Jaw; T. W. Jackson, Qu' Appelle; and William White, Regina.

 

Only six appointed members came to the Council.

In the following year the elected members were in-

 

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Pioneers and Prominent People of Saskatchewan