CANADA'S PROBLEMS.

Auckland Star, Volume XLVII, Issue 168, 15 July 1916, Page 13

CANADA'S PROBLEMS.

RACIAL, RELIGIOUS, SOCIAL

SER RELATION TO THE

EMPIRE

FKEDEKICK STUBBS, F.K.G.S.).

"The part that Canada is playing in the war is so prominent and honourable that I feel sure many readers will he "lad to learn more about that great British Dominion. My own knowledge was gained in the course of somewht .xtensivo travels in the year 1914, partly after war was declared. I am afraid that few New Zealanders reaiise how va at a country Canada ». its area is nearly one-third of that of the whole British Empire. It is as large as the S£ States; twice the size of British 5 a 30 times as large as the Lmtad Bn'dom, and almost as large as the Xic of Europe. It is true that much nf the territory is incapable of cultivation and unfit for human habitation; io°v much is at present unknown. But When this is allowed for, Canada is capable of supporting, and some day Will support, as will Australia also, an immense population. The name Canada is Indian, and was originally applied to the region of the St. Lawrence Valley only, Avherc tlie £ rs t French settlers made their home; now it includes practically the whole of the northern part of North America. Jt is a land of rocks and forests, shaggy with primeval woods; a land of innumerable streams, of great mountains barm" their rocky foreheads to the winds; of = vast lakes" and magnificent waterways. When I stood on the banks of the Kiver. and was told that one coufd take a boat there and sail in a straight line for 1.600 miles; when I steamed on the great lakes which contain more than half the fresh water of the globe, I began to understand what an important feature of Canada her great water system is. Besides carrying her commerce for thousands of miles, it affords an enormous amount of electric energy, producing some 1,600,000,000 kilowatt 'hoiiT* (equal to the production of 367.000.000 tons of coal), -with transmission lines spreading over the border. "73,000.000 kilowatt hours being transmitted to UJ3.A., whilst, in addition to this, much hydro-electric energy is generated for domestic consumption only, there being stations at Mont Teal. Toronto, Quebec, and Winnipeg. It ie anticipated that 5.800.000 horse power Trill be ultimately developed and used for manufactures, etc.

HER COMMERCE.

The commercial importance of Canada is already assuming proportions that command the attention of the civilised world. The value of her total trade in m 1913 -n-as nearly £240.000,000. Her _ exports amounted to £SO,000,000; her < imports, roughly speaking, to £120.000,- v 000. Last year her exports rose to & £112.000,000. Her food products were j Tilned at £50,000,000. She is one of s lie world's largest producers of wheat, \ po'ducing in 1015 250,500,000 bushels, be- ( tides iH0.000.000 bushels of oats, and s 40,000,000 bushels of barley. Her tim- \ lers yield £37.000,000, nearly half going ■( to Great Britain. Iron and steel manufactures amounted in 1015 to £25,000,----000; textiles to £27.000,000. Upon her we depend mainly for our paper; tlie 1 Werribee alone recently brought 3.300 ( tone.. During the last twelve months c she has made 4.000.000 shells, and her i war orders for the Allies this year are t Wpected to reach £80.000.000." A fact i that is of importance to us in New Zea- i land is that she is an importer of meat. C Tool and butter. In 1013 she imported i /,000.0001b. of butter from New Zealand, i Canada has over 8.000.000 people, and f tally 2.500.000 slieep: Australia has 1 about 7.000.000 people and 120.000.000 i fheep; and, the British races, being all mutton eaters, there should lie a splen- < "id trade done between Australia and • Canada in this item alonn. HER PLACE IX THE EMPIRE. The above facts go to show that in the ' peat brotherhood of nations called the British Empire, Canada is first in size oi territory (though nearly equalled by , Australia), and with a present populaton of over 8,000,000, bids fair before this century fe out to be first in the number of its inhabitants. She has Wised 250,000 troops for the war; everyone knows lion- magnificently they Sought at Ypres, where, General French declared, they saved the situation. The ! «cent war loan, subscribed by her own I People, netted £20.000.000. She refused to ask England for the money. Even the ! poor Indians offered to raise a regiment I " oversea service, and contributed £3000 to the Patriotic Fund. After travelling thousands of miles, and conversing with many of her public Men, 1 have no hesitation in savin- that Canada's resolve is to remain within | we British Empire. She has undoubtedly «en courted by Uncle Sam, and many ! advantages would accrue to b t . r by join- \ wg the great Republic. Within her own borders there was. half a dozen years ago, a small party favourable to "such a union. But it appears to mc that Unada has definitely decided to remain I ■British. She is not compelled to do so; "to is a self-supporting State; her cHoice ]g a free one. But her sentiments . Md .deals, as well as her pride of race, incline her to Britain, and the vast saeri«es she has made durinir the present war, her sons fi g htin» besides, and pourffl g out their blood along with ours, has set the seal upon her decision. After all «£ ?" Canadia » 3 ha™ done and Buffered ,n order to preserve the Empire from the Teuton onslaught, they can lever desert it. It is their Empire as •*ell as ours; they themselves Lave voluntarily paid a part of the price. As w Robert Borden. their Premier £,d:-'-w hen Engand is at war, Canada 15 it war." It is remarkabe that the British North American Act, which S ranted the confederation of the Canadian rovineea and Beacon*«M thought meant separation Ila , been We means not only of making \, PT a unit, ™t aleo of strmathenins her desire to lZl\ net from tl,c ° tlier s rt ' at ff acro Sfl the borPortions of the British E mpire may thX a , et s y m P ath y and support in »S™V f Canada from domi - mZ i al5 ° that the T;,lilPf ' States foe n Tr theaidof Canada, and thereaiad Britain > in any attempts C at + J 0U T r T na- '- * United State s> Canada, "•iXK&a., and New Zealandj having th(j

same language, literature, and ideals, will guard the rights and liberties of the Anglo-Saxon peoples in the Pacific. It is surely a significant fact, unprecedented and unparalleled, that the 4000 miles of boundary between the United States and Canada is undefended on either side, showing plainly to the world how strong the bonds of sentiment, ideals, institutions, interests, are felt to be.

THE MELTIXG-POT.

Canada has her own problems to solve. First there is the immigration difficulty. Canada wants population, and has successfully laid herself out to get it. yet ( it will take much time and patience j to weld into one the varied elements ' that are now bubbling lAhin this great j melting-pot. practi- i cally destitute, having borrowed the money for their passage. Many are worthless. A large proportion speak a foreign tongue; indeed, it is said that there are 4S different languages spoken in Canada. The province of Quebec lias 1.700.000 French, and there are hundreds c of thousands elsewhere. In the north- i west there are over 200.000 Rutlicnians; i in the middle west, Italian settlements. ! My readers will be surprised to hear that there are 100.000 Germans, and the wonder is that they have not created : more trouble. Half a million immigrants : came over from L'.S.A. In Alberta thou- ; sands of Mormons have settle,!, and it : is believed that in the near future the Mormons will hold the balance of power in Alberta, as the French do in Quebec. In British Columbia Orientals abound. Hindus, Chinese, and .laps.—and more are knocking at the gate. Even now the foreign population is almost equal !to that of ISritish origin. There are ' 170.000 Jews. The problem is how to weld thiri heterogeneous mass of peoples 'into the life of the country, and to make 'good Canadians of them, with Angloiiaxon ideals and institutions. THE RELIGIOUS DIFFICULTY. Then thore is a not inconsiderable religious difficulty. In Quebec, e.g., the i French population holdd power, and the i Roman Catholic Church is predominant. I Many wish Quebec to be separated from I the rest of Canada, and to become an independent State. The priests have encouraged this idea, and have discouraged emigration to other parts of the country, or the. immigration into Quebec ,of any but Roman Catholics. They fear that unless the French Catholics are kept apart from the Protestant population the Church will lose its hold on them. And so, whilst Quebec does not wish to be governed by any other Power, neither ia it particularly enthusiastic for the realisation of Imperialistic ideals. Even during the short time I was in Canada there was a good deal of friction between the Roman 'Catholics of Quebec and the sturdy Protestants of Ontario. At the Feaet of Corpus Christi the 65th Regiment marched in the procession with their side-arms and rifles against the order of the Minister of Militia, yet the Government dared not take action. In ■ this war, happily, the French-Canadians 1 are almost entirely with us. Another difficulty in Canada is that so 1 many are flockjng into the cities, just as they do on this side of the world, in- • stoa.l of remaining on the land. Labour • ig scarce, too, and women. Many young ' men cannot get married because there i are no available women, and so they toil ' on alone, and directly things go against ; them get discouraged. - In concluding this article, let mc say ; that Canadians as a whole are anxious r to be neither American nor English, but r just Canadians, with English ideals, in--1 stitutions, methods of government, etc. t There is a strong temperance sentiment 1 in the Dominion, and, as a whole, 3 people appear to be more religiously in-* - clined than in either Australia or the s United States. It will t>e a strong, - vigorous, temperate, God-fearing race s th°at will grow up in Canada, They will t not be as pleasure-loving as the Australasians, and will have to work harder. But they will be healthy and prosperous, c and, let us hope, not less happy.