In the month of March, 1855, a distressing occurrence took place. The ice-boat from Cape Tormentine to the island, with Mr. James Henry Haszard, Mr. Johnson, son of Dr. Johnson, medical students, and an old gentleman—Mr. Joseph Weir, of Bangor—as passengers, had proceeded safely to within half a mile of the island shore, when a severe snow-storm was encountered. The boat, utterly unable to make headway, was put about, drawn on the ice, and turned up to protect the men from the cold and fury of the storm. Thus they were drifted helplessly in the strait during Friday night, Saturday, and Saturday night. On Sunday morning they began to drag the boat towards the mainland, and, exhausted,—not having tasted food for three days,—they were about ceasing all further efforts, when they resolved to kill a spaniel which Mr. Weir had with him, and the poor fellows drank the blood and eat the raw flesh of the animal. They now felt a little revived, and lightened the boat by throwing out trunks and baggage. Mr. Haszard was put into the boat, being unable to walk; and thus they moved towards the shore, from which they were four or five miles distant. On Monday evening Mr. Haszard died from exhaustion. They toiled on, however, and on Tuesday morning reached the shore, near Wallace, Nova Scotia, but, unfortunately, at a point two miles from the nearest dwelling. Two of the boatmen succeeded in reaching a house, and all the survivors, though much frost-bitten, recovered under the kind and judicious treatment which they received.
The census taken in 1855 declared the population of the island to be seventy-one thousand. There were two hundred and sixty-eight schools, attended by eleven thousand pupils. The Normal School was opened in 1856 by the governor, and constituted an important addition to the educational machinery of the island.
During the session of 1855 an act was passed to impose a rate or duty on the rent-rolls of the proprietors of certain rented township-lands, and also an act to secure compensation to tenants; but the governor intimated, in opening the assembly in 1856, that both acts had not received Her Majesty’s confirmation, at which, in their reply to the speech, the house expressed regret,—not hesitating to tell His Excellency that they believed their rejection was attributable to the influence of non-resident proprietors, which had dominated so long in the councils of the Sovereign. Mr. Labouchere, the colonial secretary, in intimating the decision of the government in reference to the acts specified, stated that whatever character might properly attach to the circumstances connected with the original grants, which had been often employed against the maintenance of the rights of the proprietors, they could not, with justice, be used to defeat the rights of the present owners, who had acquired their property by inheritance, by family settlement, or otherwise. Seeing, therefore, that the rights of the proprietors could not be sacrificed without manifest injustice, he felt it his duty steadily to resist, by all means in his power, measures similar in their character to those recently brought under the consideration of Her Majesty’s government. He desired, at the same, time, to assure the house of assembly that it was with much regret that Her Majesty’s advisers felt themselves constrained to oppose the wishes of the people of Prince Edward Island, and that it was his own wish to be spared the necessity of authoritative interference in regard to matters affecting the internal administration of their affairs.