Hutchison, Col. William (Ottawa, Ont.), the subject of this sketch, was born in New Edinburgh in 1843, a suburb of the city of Ottawa. He was educated in the Public and Grammar Schools. When about seventeen years of age Col. Hutchison commenced to learn the Milling business with his uncle, the late Thos. McKay, who was then owner of the McKay Mills at the Chaudiere and also a partner in the New Edinburgh Mills. At the age of twenty Col. Hutchison left for the United States where he followed the milling business for several years. On his return he took charge of his uncle’s business and shortly afterwards was made a partner. In 1885 he was elected to City Council, and served for seven years. It was during Col. Hutchison’s service in the City Council that the question of the proper drainage of the city attained its greatest importance, and it is owing to his keen foresight and wise counsel and persistence that Ottawa to-day has the excellent drainage system of which it now boasts, and that is but one of the many happenings for the benefit, progress and beautification of Ottawa that were brought into existence through his instrumentality during his term of office in the City’s Civic affairs. From 1888 to, and including the year 1905, a period of eighteen years, Col. Hutchison was a member of the Board of Directors of the Central Canada Exhibition Association, and from 1895 to 1905, 10 years, he was President. On retiring in 1906 he was elected Honorary President of the Association and has been re-elected to that position every year since. Col. Hutchison, with the assistance of Messrs. Ahearn and Topper, was instrumental in converting the old horse car line to electric, giving Ottawa one of the best street car services on the continent. He ran for the Dominion House in 1896, with the result that both he and his French colleague, Napoleon A. Belcourt, were elected by a sweeping majority. At the time the Conservatives felt that they had a serious grievance, but ere long the good-hearted, good-natured and genial new Member became the friend and companion of both Liberals and Conservatives in the House of Commons. In 1901, when Sir Wilfrid Laurier needed a competent man to travel to all parts of the world to exhibit Canada’s mineral, cereal and industrial resources, Col. Hutchison was asked to accept the position of Canadian Exhibition Commissioner. He accepted and since his appointment he has had charge of Canada’s exhibits at the following times and places:—1901, Buffalo, U.S.A.; 1902, Osaka, Japan; 1903-04 St. Louis, U.S.A.; 1905, Liege, Belgium; 1906, Milan, Italy; 1907, Dublin, Ireland; 1908, Shepherds Bush, London, England; 1909, Seattle, U.S.A.; 1910, Brussels, Belgium; 1911-12, Crystal Palace, London, England; 1913, Ghent, Belgium; 1914-15, San Francisco, U.S.A.; 1916-17, San Diego, U.S.A. The great world war has caused a cessation of the valuable exhibits, but the whole display is located in commodious quarters on Wellington St. in Ottawa, under Col. Hutchison’s special care, waiting and ready to be shipped at a moment’s notice. In 1902 Col. Hutchison was decorated by the Emperor of Japan with the Order of the Rising Sun (with rank of Colonel in the Army). In 1905 he was decorated by the late King Leopold II. of Belgium, with the Order of Leopold, and in 1906 by the King of Italy with the Order of the Crown of Italy, in 1910 he was made Commander of the Order of the Crown of Belgium by King Albert I. Col. William Hutchison is the son of the late Robert Hutchison of Ayrshire, Scotland, who came to Canada in 1830 and in New Edinburgh married Mary McKay, niece of the late Hon. Thos. McKay, who was born in Edinburgh, Scotland. In September, 1874, he married Electa Blanche, daughter of S. T. Willett of Chambly, Quebec. Two sons have blessed the union. In religion he is a Presbyterian, and in politics a high tariff Liberal. He is also a member of the Rideau Club, Ottawa, and his residence is 443 Albert St., Ottawa.
Gibson, Brigadier-General Sir John Morison, K.C.M.G., M.A., LL.D., K.C., born January 1, 1842, township of Toronto, in the County of Peel, and is therefore a “Peel Old Boy.” His father, William Gibson, a farmer, came from Glamis, Forfarshire, Scotland, in 1827. His mother, Mary Sinclair, was born in Scotland. Her people had settled in the township of Nelson, in the County of Halton. The family removed from Toronto township when the subject of this sketch was only eight or nine years of age to the County of Haldimand, where he had some experience in the Log School House education of the primitive settlements of that County in the early 50’s. He afterwards went to the Central School in Hamilton, the late Dr. Sangster then being Superintendent and Head Master. In due course, and working against great disadvantages, he became head boy of the public schools of Hamilton, a position which he maintained until he passed the matriculation examination of the University of Toronto in 1859. As head boy of the school, he with the second boy, was selected to open the waterworks system of the city of Hamilton in 1858. His course at the University was a very successful one, taking scholarships all the way through the various years, and graduating in 1863 as the highest honor graduate with the Prince of Wales Prize, then given for general proficiency, including honors at graduation, the Silver Medals in Classics and Modern Languages, and the prize in Oriental languages, including Hebrew, Chaldee and Syriac. After taking his B.A. degree, he commenced the study of law in the office of the late Sir George Burton in Hamilton, at the same time taking the law course of the University, and receiving the degree of LL.B. in 1869 with the gold medal. One thing of note in connection with General Gibson’s life is that he has always endeavored to repay the educational institutions from which he received his education. For many years he was a member of the Board of Education in Hamilton, and was its Chairman for two years. During that time the Collegiate Institute was brought into prominence as one of the leading secondary educational institutions of the country. He served as a Senator of the University of Toronto, being elected at the first election of graduates in 1873 and re-elected in 1878 and 1883. He subsequently founded a general proficiency scholarship for matriculation candidates. When a student of the University during the Trent affair, he joined the University Rifles, being one of the first to sign the roll of that company in 1860. He has been in the Militia ever since, for now nearly 59 years, and at the present time is the senior officer in the Canadian Force among all who are not following military life as their regular occupation. In 1863, he transferred to the 13th, and has served from private up through all the ranks to the position of commanding officer, which position he held for 9 years, and at the present time is the Honorary Colonel of that corps. He was present at Ridgeway as a lieutenant. He subsequently commanded the 15th Brigade, having headquarters at Hamilton, and later on at the beginning of the great war received the rank of Brigadier-General. As a marksman he always has had a very high reputation, having been a member Canadian Wimbledon teams in 1874, ’75, and ’79, being a frequent prize winner, and taking the much coveted Prince of Wales prize in the last-named year. He took part in several of the early international long range rifle contests with British, Australian, and American rifle teams. In 1881 he commanded the team which defeated the British team in the competition for the Kolapore Cup. He was president for three years of the Ontario Rifle Association, was also President of the Canadian Military Rifle League, and from 1893 for thirteen or fourteen years was President of the Dominion Rifle Association. In 1907 he again commanded the Canadian rifle team at Bisley. He has also been President of the Canadian Military Institute, and was President of the Canadian Red Cross Society from its original organization throughout the South African War, and subsequently for a period of about 14 years, and has been throughout the recent great war one of the most active members of the Executive Board. He was for two years President of the Hamilton St. Andrew’s Society. From an early age he has been a very prominent Freemason—was Grand Master of the Masonic Grand Lodge of Canada during the years 1892 and 1893, being now the representative of the Grand Lodge of England, and for nine years was Sovereign Grand Commander of the Supreme Council of the Scottish Rite Masons in Canada. He has always taken a prominent part in politics. As a young man he was Secretary of the Hamilton Reform Association, which position he held for many years. He was first returned to the Legislature in 1879, representing Hamilton for a period of 19 years, and afterwards East Wellington for 7 years. He entered the Government as Provincial Secretary in 1889, became Commissioner of Crown Lands in 1896, and Attorney-General in 1899. He was an honorary A.D.C. to their Excellencies, Lord Aberdeen and Lord Minto, when Governors-General, and in 1897 was selected by the Militia Department to proceed to England in connection with the celebration of the Queen’s Diamond Jubilee; was present by invitation, at the coronations in Westminster Abbey of the late King Edward VII, and of the present King George V. He has always taken a leading part at the Bar, and was made a Queen’s Counsel in 1890, is a Bencher of the Law Society of Upper Canada, and as a young man was an examiner in the Faculty of Law at Toronto University. In 1903 he received the honorary degree of LL.D. from that institution, and subsequently also from McMaster University. In 1908 he became Lieut.-Governor of the Province of Ontario, being the last to occupy the old Government House on King Street West, Toronto, continuing for over six years. During his term, on the recommendation of His Royal Highness the Duke of Connaught, then Governor-General of Canada, he was created a Knight Commander of the Order of St. Michael and St. George. As a public man he shrank from prominence in the public eye; he was most industrious and faithful in the performance of any duties he undertook to discharge. He had an excellent training for many years under the greatest of law makers this country has ever produced, Sir Oliver Mowat. While a private member of the Legislative Assembly he was selected as Chairman of the Private Bills Committee, which for fifteen years he presided over with eminent ability, fairness and impartiality. During the short period when the license branch was under his control some of the most advanced measures of temperance legislation were introduced by him, including the local option law, the validity of which was stoutly contested, but in the end affirmed by the Judicial Committee of the Privy Council. Though not himself a practical sportsman, almost immediately after entering the legislature he led a movement for better protection of game birds and fur-bearing animals, first securing the abolition of spring shooting and other improvements in the law, and afterwards the appointment of a Royal Commission followed by a thorough revision of the game laws and the establishment of a departmental branch, with a chief game warden and other provincial wardens entrusted with the enforcement of the laws relating to game protection. While Provincial Secretary he was always an industrious legislator. The laws relating to Joint Stock Companies were thoroughly revised, modernized, and simplified by him. The old laws relating to building societies and loan companies were completely overhauled, and became the present Loan Corporations Act. It was at this time also that he undertook to stem the tide or flood of benefit societies, many of them of the fake order, which threatened to inundate this Province—a subject of legislation requiring at the time very cautious and skilful handling, but which, with the able assistance of Mr. J. H. Hunter, M.A., was ultimately put on a very satisfactory footing. One of the most important laws of comparatively recent years owes to him its existence, and has generally been referred to as the “Gibson Act”—the Act relating to neglected and dependent children—and the establishment of the Children’s Branch, with Mr. Kelso as its chief officer. This law has been most beneficial in its operation, and has been followed more or less closely in most of the other Provinces. During his comparatively short incumbency as Commissioner of Crown Lands he introduced and carried through the House the important legislation prohibiting the exportation of saw logs—a measure affecting very large interests but meeting the entire approval of the public. He also dealt with important changes in the mining laws during a period of great mining excitement in the Province. It is probably not generally known that while Commissioner of Crown Lands he introduced a short but very important measure preventing any absolute alienation by the Crown of Provincial water powers, and providing for leasing same for short renewable terms of years subject to conditions in the public interest. It is somewhat singular that a public man who has often been unfairly criticized as a champion of monopolies should never have been credited with this act directly aimed against and prohibitive of monopoly. In the matter of forest preservation or reforesting, Mr. Gibson aimed at carrying out a programme which probably time would justify as the most effective and productive policy possible. He aimed at the selection and setting apart every year a portion of the Crown domain unfit for agricultural purposes as a timber growing reserve. Many such sections in Northern Ontario, which have been cut over or burnt over, and now more or less covered over by new growth, could be set apart and treated as territory to be guarded as timber growing areas. In the Eastern part of the Province certain old limits were repurchased from the license holders and so set apart, and again another area in Western Ontario. The plan of year after year reserving areas in this way would in a generation or so result in well defined sections of the Province producing a new crop of timber which would not fail to become an extremely valuable asset to posterity. It was in Sir John Gibson’s time that the first steps were taken for the establishment of the Temagami Reserve very effectively carried out by Mr. Davis, his successor. As Attorney-General he had, of course, the responsibility of legislation generally. The assessment laws had been the subject of investigation and report at the hands of two Royal Commissioners, and amid the distressing conflict of opinion on the various questions which arise whenever this subject is touched, the difficulty of framing a generally acceptable measure seemed insuperable. Whatever may be thought of the present act, Sir John Gibson’s tact as a legislator was mainly instrumental in having it passed through the House, and probably as time has passed and the public have become more and more familiar with its provisions it may be considered to give general satisfaction. The collection and revision of Imperial Statutes in force in this Province in the shape of a brief third volume of the Revised Statutes carried out with the aid of a committee of the judges has been a boon to law students, and a great convenience to the legal profession. (The foregoing facts and observations regarding Sir John’s career have been contributed by Mr. James Innes Macintosh, who was for several years his private secretary when a Minister of the Crown.) He was one of the pioneers, along with the late John Patterson and the late John Moodie, in introducing Hydro-Electric power and long distance transmission of same in this country utilizing surplus water from the Welland Canal, and transmitting the power to Hamilton, where very soon many of the industrial and electric railways adopted the same, to the great advantage of the companies. For many years he was President of the Cataract Power Company. He is a Director of the Canadian Bank of Commerce, the Canada Life Assurance Company, the Toronto General Trusts Corporation, the Toronto Conservatory of Music, the Homewood Retreat at Guelph, the Dominion Power and Transmission Company, the Canadian Westinghouse Company, and several other industrial companies in Hamilton. He was married first in 1869 to Emily Annie, daughter of the late Rolph Birrell, of London, who died in 1874; second, in 1876 to Caroline, daughter of the late Senator Adam Hope, who died in 1877; and third, on May 18, 1881, to Elizabeth, daughter of the late Judge Malloch, of Brockville. He had six children, viz., John Gordon Gibson, who died shortly after taking his B.A. degree at the University of Toronto; Eugenia Elizabeth Emily; Margaret Mary Stewart, wife of Robert S. Waldie, of Toronto; Archibald Hope Gibson, Barrister; Captain Colin W. G. Gibson, of the Royal Fusiliers, who was twice severely wounded; and Francis Malloch Gibson, who went to the front as an officer of the 48th Highlanders at the commencement of the war and was killed in action near Armentieres. Sir John’s manner is dignified but affable, his style of speech clear and precise; in his movements he is deliberate, but with the elasticity of well-preserved middle age, while his expression is kindly but alert, with evidence of unlimited determination and unmistakable inclination and power to lead. When an active officer of the Militia he was recognized by his fellow-officers as a master of field manœuvres. The beautiful family residence, “Ravenscliffe,” is delightfully situated on the lower slope of the mountain, looking down Ravenscliffe Avenue, through a vista of stately elm trees.
W. C. KENNEDY
Windsor
Mitchell, The Hon. Walter George (Quebec City), Treasurer of the Province of Quebec, was born at Danby, in the County of Drummond. He is the son of the Hon. Senator William Mitchell, his mother’s maiden name being Miss Dora Goddard. His early education was matured at the Montreal High School and at the Bishop’s College school of Lennoxville. Thereafter he entered McGill University as an undergraduate, finally taking his degree of B.C.L. in 1901. On being admitted to practice at the Bar, he became connected with the law firm of Greenshields, Greenshields & Heneker. Two years after he became a prominent member of the firm of Laflamme, Mitchell and Callaghan, receiving his K.C. in 1912. In view of his being chosen by the Lieutenant-Governor to assume the duties of the Hon. P. S. G. Mackenzie, who had died suddenly, he was subsequently elected by acclamation as representative of the constituency of Richmond, a county which he continues to represent as Member of the Provincial Parliament, after a second election by acclamation. Prior to his assuming the office of Provincial Treasurer, Mr. Mitchell was in possession of a large and lucrative practice in Montreal. While actively engaged with his professional duties, as a leading lawyer, he did not fail to take an active interest in political affairs, and came into public prominence in the administration of the Montreal Reform Club. Through his efforts in co-operation with his associate members, new and attractive quarters for that club were erected on Sherbrooke Street; and, in 1913, he was chosen, by way of reward for his active services, the President of that flourishing institution, and in the following year was re-elected to the same office. From the date of the famous Drummond-Arthabaska election contest in 1910, Mr. Mitchell became more and more intimately identified with the political life of the Eastern Townships and its various electoral movements. During the winning of the constituency of Drummond-Arthabaska back to the Liberal interest in 1910, he was associated with Dr. Beland, later a prisoner of war in Germany, and was acclaimed everywhere as an eloquent and persuasive pleader in behalf of the naval policy of Sir Wilfrid Laurier. In fact, in 1911, it was to a large extent through Mr. Mitchell’s influence as an organizer, not to speak of his father’s unbroken popularity as a public man, and other influences, that the constituency of Drummond-Arthabaska was won over to the Liberal interest. As Provincial Treasurer, Mr. Mitchell has made a name for himself as a most successful financier, taking a prominent rank almost immediately as a parliamentary debater. Nor has he failed to share in remedial legislation, whenever such came up for consideration in the Provincial Parliament. He has interested himself particularly in modifying the Quebec License Law, fathering amendments to that law restricting the number of licenses, increasing the license fees, prohibiting treating, increasing the age limit, shortening the hours of sale, and urging an enactment to abolish the bars on the 1st of May, 1918, with immediate sanction to the Minister of Militia and Defence to declare any or all districts throughout the Province of Quebec “out of bounds” for soldiers and sailors. At his instance also the Quebec Insurance Act has been amended from time to time, so as to give better protection to the public. One of his most notable and highly patriotic acts in parliament since the war in Europe began, was his presentation of a Bill, asking authority to subscribe out of the public revenues in behalf of his native province a million of dollars to the Canadian Patriotic Fund—a proposal which met with an instant and unanimous approval from both chambers. Under his mature financial advice the Province of Quebec has spent millions of dollars in constructing and improving highways of nearly every district. And yet so prudently have the finances of the province been husbanded under his judicious oversight, that the provincial debt has virtually remained as easy a burden on the people as it ever has been, notwithstanding the large amounts spent on the highways, and the large increase in the grants to education, agriculture, and public works. Altogether Mr. Mitchell has won the highest credit as a parliamentarian and a financier, enjoying the full confidence of his colleagues and of many of his fellow legislators, irrespective of party lines. He was married on February the 4th, 1907, Mrs. Mitchell’s maiden name having been Miss Antonia Pelletier. Their family comprises two sons and three daughters.