One of the first acts of Governor Archibald was to order
a census of the population of the province, preliminary to
an election of members to the Manitoba Legislature. The
leading citizens of Winnipeg waited on Hon. Donald Smith
with a request that he would represent them in the
Assembly. ¹ Writs having duly been issued, he was elected
on December 30th. But the citizens did not stop there.
Mr. Smith was asked to be the Conservative candidate in
Selkirk for the Dominioin House of Commons, and on March
2nd, 1871, he was triumphantly elected. A fortnight later,
on March 15th, the assembled wisdom of the new province
met in Parliament for the first time.

The building which was fitted up for the use of the
Provincial Legislature was the private house of a merchant,
Mr. Bannatyne, who surrendered it to the Government, no
other place being available. In this plain, unpretentious
building, two storeys in height, with attics, the history of
the latest off-shoot of the great Mother of Parliaments
began. The ground floor was occupied by the two chambers,
the attics were used as committee rooms, while the second
storey, we are told, was retained by Mr. Bannatyne for
himself and family. The rooms were all handsomely car-
peted, the throne and chair being tastefully festooned with
scarlet drapery, and the doors leading out of the different
chambers neatly covered with red cloth. A flag-pole was
erected on the roof of the building, and on the day of the
opening of Parliament, the Union Jack was displayed for
the first time.

Towards this humble Parliament House a guard of
honour, consisting of one hundred men of the Ontario
Battalion, accompanied by the regimental band, under the
command of Major Wainwright, marched from Fort Garry
and formed in line in the main street of Winnipeg. A few
moments after the troops arrived a salute of fifteen guns

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