SASKATCHEWAN AND ITS PEOPLE

         
                 HON. SAMUEL JOHN LATTA.
         

  Hon. Samuel John Latta, a conspicuous figure in the public life of
Saskatchewan as minister of education, provincial secretary and minister
in charge of the government printing bureau, has also for the past eleven
years represented the constituency of Last Mountain in the legislative
assembly. Aside from his important official connections he is known as
a farmer and publisher of Govan.  He was born in London, Ontario, on
the 3d of April, 1866, a son of John and Eliza (Barrell) Latta, the former
of Canadian stock of Irish descent and the latter of English lineage. Lib-
eral educational opportunities were afforded him. He attended the public
schools of Huron county, the London Collegiate Institute, St. Mary's
Collegiate Institute, the Clinton Model School and the Ottawa Normal
School, all in Ontario; is a civil service specialist and a graduate of the
Ontario Art School.  When a youth of seventeen years he took up the
profession of teaching in Ontario, in which he was engaged for twenty-
three years, or from 1883 until 1905, during which period he was an in-
structor, successively, at Wingham, Exeter, Zurich and London.  When
in 1905 he left his native province to take up a homestead in the west
he was serving as principal of the Colborne Street school in London.
While a resident of Ontario he held the position of township clerk in
Hay township, Huron county, for five years.  During the past eighteen
years he has been identified with agricultural interests in Saskatchewan
and has also achieved marked success as a publisher of Govan. He is the
author of "Latta's Drawing Book", which is used in Ontario.
  On the 15th of October, 1887, Mr. Latta was united in marriage to
Agnes Annie Boyland, daughter of Captain James Boyland of the Mer-
chants' Service in London, England.  They became parents of two chil-
dren: Gretta Estella, who is the wife of William J. Hazelton; and Law-
rence Boyland, who wedded Jean Musgrove, daughter of James Musgrove
of Glasgow, Scotland.
   Politically Mr. Latta is a leader in the Liberal party.  He served as
councillor and secretary-treasurer of the rural municipality of Last Moun-
tain valley, and though defeated as representative of Last Mountain for
the local legislature in 1908, he was chosen at the general election of 1912,
was again the successful candidate at the general election in 1917 and
four years later was reseated by acclamation.  It was in 1917 that Hon.
Mr. Latta entered the provincial government as minister of highways,
while in 1921 he was appointed minister of education.  At the conclu-
sion of the term of the Martin administration he was minister of educa-
tion, minister in charge of King's printer's office and minister in charge
of the bureau of publications.  He retained these portfolios in the Dun-
ning ministry upon its formation on the 5th of April, 1922. His religious
faith is that of the Methodist church and in every relation of life he has
been actuated by the highest principles and most worthy motives. In the
government service, in political circles, in business or in social relations,
he is always the same honorable and honored gentleman, whose worth
well merits the high regard which is uniformly given him.

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