JOHN NORMAN BAYNE.
Only two men have been in the government service of Saskatchewan
longer than John Norman Bayne, commissioner of the local government
board, and no one stands higher than he as an efficient public officer and
admirable private citizen. He has been officially connected with the
prairies since he was offered and accepted a position in the local improve-
ment branch of the Department of Public Works of the government of
the Northwest Territories more than twenty-one years ago and has done
more than most men now living in Saskatchewan toward developing this
region from a frontier community into its present highly organized state.
John Norman Bayne was fortunate in the influences that surrounded his
youth. Born at Ottawa, on the 21st of September, 1876, he is the son
of John and Margaret (Dunlop) Bayne. His father, a farmer by occu-
pation, was a native of Perth, Scotland, while his mother was born near
Perth, Ontario, and lived in her native province all her life. John Bayne
was a natural student, a wide reader and lover of literature, who liked
to have books about him. There was always music in the Bayne horne,
for the father was a fine singer and had a good appreciation of the bes~
in that art, while the moral and spiritual influences that obtained in hi~
household were those of a vigorous, Puritan Presbyterianism. Politically
he was a Liberal, but did not take an active part in party affairs.
John Norman Bayne is the youngest of the family of nine children
seven of whom are living. After obtaining an elementary education it
the public schools he attended the Kemptville high school, Prescott mode
school and the Federal Business College of Kemptville. His first occupa-
tion was that of a teacher and he was principal of the Roebuck public
school for four years. Subsequently he was senior teacher for more than
a year in the Regina Indian Industrial school, which had an attendance
of about one hundred and twenty Indians, ranging in age from six to
eighteen years.
When at the close of 1902 Mr. Bayne was offered a position in the
local improvement branch of the Department of Public Works in the
Northwest Territories, he gave up his teaching position to accept this
offer. About two years later he was made clerk in charge of the branch.
At the time the Territories were divided into the provinces of Alberta
and Saskatchewan, Mr. Bayne was made clerk in charge of the branch
of local improvements in Saskatchewan, under the Hon. Walter Scott as
Minister and F. J. Robinson as Deputy Minister of Public Works. At
that time the branch included all the municipal activities carried on by
the Territories and their successors, the provinces, but with the develop-
ment of Saskatchewan, which made rapid strides in population, it was
found necessary to form a separate department to care for the work of
municipal development and organization. Accordingly, the. Department
of Municipal Affairs was created in November of 1908, with the Hon.
A. P. McNab as Minister and J. N. Bayne as Deputy Minister. In his
new position Mr. Bayne played an increasingly important part in the
municipal growth of the province. When he began his work there were
but two rural municipalities in the Territories, but when he left his posi-
tion as Deputy Minister in 1919 there were over three hundred such
municipalities. Likewise the number of a few scattered villages
had increased to three hundred and twenty, most of which he
had helped organize. Among them are Battleford, Moosomin, Estevan,
Qu'Appelle, Yorkton, Indian Head and Maple Creek, which are now lead-
ing towns. Until 1908 there were no cities in the Territories; now there
are seven. The rural Municipal Act as it stands today is largely Mr.
Bayne's work, for he had much to do with framing it as it was eventu-
ally passed by the legislature.
Exactly ten years to the day after he became Deputy Minister of
Municipal Affairs, Mr. Bayne was asked by the government to accept the
post of Commissioner on the local government board. This body was
created at the request of the Union of Saskatchewan Municipalities to
supervise and scrutinize all applications by municipalities to borrow
money for municipal improvements. Mr. Bayne's name suggested itself
In connection with this board, for his long experience in municipal affairs
made him more familiar with local government conditions in the province
than probably any other man. The appointment, non-political in its
nature, is made for a period of ten years, of which Mr. Bayne has now
served four. He is also the third oldest man in the government service
today, David McCall, in the Department of Education, and Mr. Windeatt
in the Department of Agriculture, being the two men who have been
connected with the government longer than he.
In 1914 Mr. Bayne was united in marriage to Miss Kathleen Weir
Duff, daughter of Murray McCheyne Duff. Mrs. Bayne was born in
Spencerville, Ontario, and comes from a Scottish Canadian family, her
father and mother being Canadian by birth. Mr. and Mrs. Bayne belong
to the Presbyterian church. Mr. Bayne is a Royal Arch Mason and has
been very active in his fraternity, a member and past master of Wascana
Lodge, No.2, A. F. & A. M., next to the oldest lodge in the province.
In 1906 he assisted in the organization of the Grand Lodge of Saskatche-
wan when it separated from the jurisdiction of Manitoba. He likewise
belongs to the Sons of Scotland, of which he is past chief. As a younger
man Mr. Bayne played football and took an enthusiastic part in curling
games. He still retains his interest in outdoor sports and plays a great
deal of golf, belonging to the Regina Golf Club. A great reader, he
doubtless inherits this taste from his father, and like him wishes to have
his book friends about him. He not only keeps in touch with the trend
of literary development of the present, but he renews old acquaintances
in the world of books and keeps on familiar terms with the masters of
literature he knew as a boy.
Bibliography follows:
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