On September 23d the Witness Building was gutted by fire. In October the Royal Edward Tuberculosis Institute, the first of its kind in Canada, was opened by telegraph from England by His Majesty, King Edward, who gave the name to the building. The last day of the year ended with a gas explosion at Viger Station with the loss of thirty-eight lives.
The year 1910 is memorable for the triumph of civic reform and the establishment of the Board of Control, owing to a change in the city charter, as the outcome of the referendum to the people in 1909, to stop which an aldermanic delegation to the Provincial Legislature had been fruitless.
In the year in question the electors were asked to vote on these two vital questions:
Do you approve of the creation of a Board of Control?
Do you approve of one alderman a ward instead of two?
The answer given to both of the queries was overwhelmingly in the affirmative. The following figures prove this beyond the question of a doubt:
SUMMARY OF THE VOTE
| Votes. | |
| For reduction of aldermen | 19,585 |
| Against reduction | 1,640 |
| ——— | |
| Majority in favor | 17,945 |
| For Board of Control | 18,528 |
| Against Board of Control | 2,413 |
| ——— | |
| Majority in favor | 16,115 |
There was not a single ward, throughout the city, which did not favour the proposed changes and no less than 34 per cent of the entire vote was polled on this memorable occasion.
On May 6th, His Majesty, King Edward, died and loyal Montreal grieved as a city with majestic and magnificent emblems of sorrow over all the public buildings. On the occasion of the royal funeral in Westminster Abbey the city was represented by His Worship the mayor, Dr. J.J. Guerin. In preparation for this event the high commissioner of Canada, Lord Strathcona, in London, protested against the inferior position given to the representatives of autonomous colonies of the Empire and his timely intervention was generously acted upon.