312 THE EXECUTIVE GOVERNMENT [PART IT 
State of Canada, Receiver-General, Secretary of State for the 
Provinces, and President of the Council, the latter post 
being akin to the post of President of the Council in England, 
in that it was mainly an honorary ministry, but was not 
without portfolio. In 1873, on the coming into office of the 
Mackenzie Government, there were appointed fourteen 
ministers, two without portfolio, Mr. Blake and Mr. R. W. 
Scott. Subsequently the number was reduced to thirteen, 
but one representative was given to Prince Edward Island, 
which joined the Dominion in 1873. In 1878 the Speaker 
of the Senate received a call to the Privy Council, though 
without portfolio! and in 1880, when he accepted the 
Lieutenant-Governorship of New Brunswick, his successor in 
the chair was so appointed.2 In 1873 the office of Secretary 
of State for the Provinces was abolished, and a new Ministry 
of the Interior created to deal with Indian affairs, Dominion 
lands, and some other matters formerly entrusted to the 
Secretary of State for Canada. The Minister of the Interior 
is also responsible for the geological survey of Canada, which 
is presided over by an officer of high technical qualifications. 
In 1892 immigration was transferred from the Ministry of 
Agriculture to the Ministry of the Interior, but the Minister 
of the Interior still remains without the control of copyrights, 
patents, and trade marks, which the Minister of Agriculture 
retains in view of their close connexion with the subject- 
matter of his office. The Secretary of State for Canada 
retains the work connected with the provinces, and the 
preservation of records, miscellaneous correspondence, and 
the registration of instruments of summons, proclamations, 
commissions, letters patent, writs, and other documents 
issued under the Great Seal and requiring to be registered. 
He is also in charge of the department of public printing 
and stationery, organized in 1886. In 1909 a new office was 
created under the Secretary of State, that of Under-Secretary 
of State for External Affairs, to deal with the many important 
matters in which Canada was interested affecting her external 
relations with foreign powers, and especially of course her 
* Canada Gazette, November 9, 1878. * Ibid., February 12. 1880.