King, Hon. James H., M.D., C.M., F.A.C.S., Physician and Surgeon, Cranbrook, B.C., President, King Lumber Mills, Ltd., Cranbrook, B.C. Born Chipman, N.B., January 18, 1872, son of Hon. G. G. and Ester Briggs King. Educated St. Martin’s Academy and McGill University. Practised Andover and St. John, N.B., 1895-1898. Came to British Columbia 1898; practised Cranbrook since. Vice-President Graduates Society, McGill University, 1908. Attended World Congress of Medicine and Surgery, Budapest, Hungary, 1909, and on this occasion was presented at the Austrian Court. Represented Cranbrook, British Columbia Legislature, 1903, 1907; unsuccessful candidate for Kootenay to House of Commons, 1911; elected to British Columbia Parliament, September 14, 1916; accepted portfolio of Public Works in the new government formed November 29, 1916; one of the original Founders and Governors of the American College of Surgeons at Chicago, 1913. Married Nellie Sadler, Maple View, N.B., 1907. Societies: A.F. & A.M., I.O.O.F., K. of P. Liberal, Baptist. Residence, Victoria, B.C.
Oliver, Hon. John (Victoria, B.C.), son of Robert Oliver, of Derbyshire, England, and Emma Lomas, his wife, of Staffordshire. Was born on July 31, 1856, at Hartington, Derbyshire, England. In April, 1870, his parents, with eight children, of whom the subject of this sketch was the eldest, left the Motherland, and eventually settled on a farm in Wellington County, Ontario. There he worked on his father’s farm in the summer and went to the woods in the winter, and, in his spare time, picked up stone masonry. In 1877, the future premier set out for Victoria B.C., with only a few dollars in his pocket and no particular job in sight. Twenty-three years later he returned to the capital as a member of the Legislature, and forty years afterwards he became head of the Provincial Government. Shortly after going to British Columbia, Mr. Oliver took up land in the Delta municipality, and to-day he is the proprietor of one of the finest farms in the province. Mr. Oliver has always evinced a genius for public service, and has always taken a keen and intelligent interest in public questions. He had not been long in the west before he was elected a member of the Delta Municipal Council, and was later reeve for several terms. He was first elected to the British Columbia Legislature at the general elections in 1900, and re-elected in 1903 and 1907. At the general elections in 1909, as leader of the Opposition, he contested two constituencies, Victoria and Delta, and was defeated in both. A similar experience awaited him in 1911, and again in the campaign in 1912. In 1916, upon the formation of the Brewster cabinet, he was appointed Minister of Railways and Agriculture. On the death of Premier Brewster, after one session in office, Mr. Oliver was called upon by the Lieutenant-Governor to form a Government, which he did, retaining his former portfolios, besides acting as Premier. His reputation as a parliamentarian of the first rank was firmly established by the part he played in the exposure of what was known as the “Columbia and Western Railway Scandal.” He was chiefly instrumental in having grants for some 650,000 acres of coal mining land in the Kootenay district cancelled. Premier Oliver was married on June 20, 1886, to Elizabeth, daughter of William Woodward, of Mud Bay, British Columbia. He is the father of the following children: Robert, William Arthur, John Thomas, Charles Edward, Joseph, Elizabeth Alice, Sarah Ellen, Mildred Emma. Premier Oliver has for years been known as “Honest John,” and his long record for probity and fair dealing justly entitles him to this distinction. Although somewhat handicapped in early life by lack of scholastic training, the Premier was by nature a student, and he became a wide reader. He is a man of rugged honesty, industrious and aggressive, and enjoys a measure of public confidence which is indicated by the title conferred upon him by the people of his province. The Premier’s candour and courage are recognized as his greatest assets, while his long association with public affairs and foremost position in the Liberal party has made his name a household word in British Columbia. The Premier possesses sufficient property, acquired by his own industry, to make him independent of political fortunes. He is undoubtedly one of the most interesting and picturesque figures in Canadian public life.
Ferguson, Hon. George Howard, B.A., LL.B., K.C., M.L.A. (Toronto, Ont.), son of Dr. Charles Frederick Ferguson (Scotch), and Elizabeth Wallace Bell, his wife (Irish). Was born on the 18th day of June, 1870, at Kemptville, Ont. Educated at Kemptville High School, Toronto University, and Osgoode Hall Law School, Toronto. Called to the bar in 1894. Married April 14th, 1896, to Ella Cumming, of Buckingham, Quebec. Was a councillor for three years and a reeve for three years of the village of Kemptville. His father, Charles F. Ferguson, M.D., represented the constituency of North Leeds and Grenville in the House of Commons from 1893 to 1896, when he retired. First elected to the Ontario Legislature at the general elections as the member for Grenville, 1905. Re-elected at the general elections 1908, 1911, 1912 and 1914. A member of the Executive Council of the Hearst Administration as Minister of Lands, and Forests and Mines, December 22nd, 1914. Re-elected after assuming the office by acclamation, January 7th, 1915. He is an Anglican and a member of the Masonic Order; the Odd Fellows; Independent Order of Foresters; Orangemen and Maccabees. The Honorable Mr. Ferguson is a man of fine address and good oratorical ability. He is extremely popular with all members of the Legislature.
Hon. Adelard Turgeon, Quebec.
R. W. Breadner, Quebec.