REGINA  , the

capital city of the province of Saskatchewan, Canada, situated at 1o4° 36' W. and 50 27' N., and 357 M . W. of Winnipeg . Pop . (1907) 9804 . After the Canadian Pacific railway was completed in 1885, the necessity for a place of government on the railway line pressed itself upon the Dominion government . The North-West Territories were but little settled then, but a central position on the prairies was necessary, where the mounted police might be stationed and where the numerous Indian bands might be easily reached . The minister of the interior at Ottawa, afterwards Governor Dewdney, chosethis spot, and for a number of years Regina was the seat of the Territorial government . The governor took up his abode on the adjoining plain, and the North-West Council met each year, with a show of constitutional government about it . On the formation of the province of Saskatchewan in 1905 the choice of capital was left to the first legislature of the province . Prince Albert, Moose Jaw and Saskatoon all advanced claims, but Regina was decided on as the capital . It probably doubled in population between 1905 and 1907 . Its public buildings, churches and residences are worthy of a place of greater pre-tensions .

It is the centre for a

rich agricultural district, and for legislation, education, law and other public benefits . It remains the headquarters of the mounted police for the western provinces, and near it is an Indian industrial school of some note .