OUR CANADIAN LETTER.

Auckland Star, Volume LIV, Issue 72, 24 March 1923, Page 5

OUR CANADIAN LETTER.

JFFECT OF RUHR OCCUPATION. t] IMMIGRATION , POSITION SERIOUS. *! la fSpr..-lnl to "Star."! h . VANCOUVER, 8.C., February in. n| The Dominion Parliament, lias mot for lie spring session under political and j, conomic conditions that will go far to f lake its deliberations far-re-aching in f : lie history of Canadian parliaments. - w "lie Dominion of Canada, perhaps more £ han New Zealand and Australia is aleady feeling the effect of the new turn f events in Europe, marked by the '■"rench occupation of the Rluir district. P n fact the demoralisation of the Kuril- ti iean markets, credits and exchanges st iave very largely counteracted the effects cl >f the Dominion's pood harvest, of last a; ear. I «• On the question of immigration alone I f< he popition in Canada is gravely aori- t ms. It is acknowledged almost univrr- I p ally that what the Dominion requires 'Pi or its steady development, is a select I I: mmigration, yet. census figures prove |tl hat between 1011 and 1021 as many i « ■eoplc left Canada as entered it, and later c, igures show that emigration surpasses I mmigration. The Dominion's national leJil is also a matter requiring immediate consideration when it is known tliat f< lie national debt has been increased by li : billion dollars since the armistice, urn! 1 m November 30, 19'2i>, was -1. 391.1>35.81S n lollars. I si The Government was sustained by sub- Q tantial majorities on two amendments 0 the legislative programme fnr the lire- If ■cut session. The more important of the I 11 mendments offered was one providing [l or a lowering of duties. This was .sup- C >orted by the Progressives en bloc d issisted by a minority of the Conserva- n ive party, but was defeated by a major- n ty of 38. A feature of the present ws- ii lion is that the Progressives have alian- I f loned their passive attitude in opposing 7 jovernment measures, and are expected s; .o assume a more aggressive role Hg.untt he Liberal Government. MrRDKRKI) BY THXGS. Travers Allan, of Montreal, who was nurdered while visiting the Valley of Kings, near Luxor, Egypt, where the omb of Pharaoh is to be opened, was a icphew of Sir Montagu Allan ami of .inly Meredith, wife <>t the president of ; :he Hank of Montreal. The story appear- | ing in the Canadian Press concerning the liurder of Travers Allan, is that he t<l! I .ictim to a band of thieves or thugs from ,'airo or Alexandria, for since the stories if great wealth l.eirg uncovered in the •oralis of the eighteenth dynasty monarch iave attracted tourists from all parts of c .he world, adventurers have followed in t their footsteps. It in stated that Allan c nandered away from v private steamer I vvliieh had been chartered to take a party t up the Nile. lie was unmarried, anj -l>> .ears old. , FIREDAMP EXPLOSION, j Thirty-three lives were lost as the re- , suit of a territic lirediimp explosion , which occurred in No. 4 mine of the < Canadian Collieries. Ltd., at Cumber- , land. British Columbia, on February S. , The disaster is one of the worst in the . history of coal mining in this province. SLEEPING SICKNESS EPIDEMIC. ■ I ; An epidemic of sleeping sickness is I , spreading at an alarming rate in Winni- j peg. Manitoba, despite all medical ef- ! forts to combat the disease. There are J ' now over one hundred eases reported | and to date live deaths have occurred. : It is significant of mention that many of those attacked are men prominent in ' public and professional life. DEVELOPMENT OF CHEMISTRY. ■ Dr. 11. E. Howe, euitor of the ".lour- ' rial of Industrial and Engineering (hem- ' istry." New York, and associate technical adviser of the Inked States (iov- ' ernment. in an address before the Mon- ', (real section of the Society of Chemical i I Industry, declared chemistry is the ' leveller of all nations and can make! ! small countries great according to the knowledge its people possess of this '■ science. Emphasising the dose relation of the ' wiener to fi lance and prosperity. Dr. ; Howe pointed out that chemistry hart developed the purple hue which was used by tin , merchant* of Tyre and Carthage. from the secreted Illlid contained in til* tiny shell of a Mediterranean fish, and this lent largely to the riches of the two ancient cities. In later times chemistry held the key to international relations, declared the Inited States expert, and it was now one of the most humane and efficient protectors of humanity it rightly used, and if put to wrong uao a terrible weapon that can destroy its own creators. With the development of chemistry a premium will be put on intcllioence and will enable a small nation with a superior knowledge of chemistry to outdistance her large but slower neighbour. BRITAIN'S FOREIGN POLICY. Lloyd Oeorge's famous appeal to the l!riti«h Dominions on September 11>1 ii of last year, to join England in a military demonstration against Turkey, will be thoroughly aired in the next session of the Canadian Parliament. In political circles it is freely predicted that Canada will demand a more definite understanding as to tire relations between the Dominion and the Homeland, and their responsibility in matters of foreign pol-1 icy. 1~. is significant that Premier King , ! did not see (it to respond to Lloyd George's ' appeal to the Dominions regarding the I Turkish crisis as did New Zealand ami I Australia, and. while, this act might be i construed by some a.s being hostile, or I at the very least indifferent towards j Britain, yet, on the other hand, it mustj be borne in mind that the Liberal Party! j now governing Canada has been tradi- j tionally opposed to committing the Dominion in matters of foreign poliev. Kγ klux klan. 1 Canadians in the province of Ontario ■luive been aroused over the alleged Ku Klnx Klan atrocities in the United States to such an extent that Klan olliicials in New York have announced that imismuoh aa the Canadian people of Ontario were hostile to the Klan through a j false idea, of its ideas, by reports eircu- ' la ted blaming Klan activities for the de. i 'struction of Catholic church building-I 'ami schools in the province of Quebec. : that rather than "smirch the name of | the Klan.'' all or2ani*«lion work in Ontario would be "discontinued for the present. This statement wa-s made throughout the Dominion Press, following the burning of the CiUholie church of S*. Thomas d'Alfred at La Favre. Ontario, and which was charged to the Ku Klux Klan. The church was built in I*7!>. and was valued at 100.000 dollars. PRAYING FOR QUEEN VICTORIA. In the Arctic village of MusToikuk, 150 miles north of For* Yukon, a tribe of Indians wa-s recently visited by nt hurch of England missionary, who found that the tribe was still praying for the health of Queen Victoria, and using a. Kible I translated into their language in 18G4.

Archdeacon McDonald, the pioneer of t.he Yukon and Mackenzie missionary of the Church of England, learned the Yukon Indian language and translated the J-iible into that dialect years ago, and as there have been few if any whites in Musrolkuk who spoke their language, the Indians in consequence have been living politically in the middle nineteenth century. Another curious fact concerning the i tribe is that they are citizens of the United States technically, despite the fact that for years they have been praying 'for a' British rule and professed a British creed. CA N A-DIA N-A CRT RA LIA N TRA DE. The Canadian Press announces that Percy "Whitton, chairman of the Australian Commonwealth tariff board,stated that a schedule of items to be included in the proposed preferential tariff, agreement between Australia ami Canada is now l>eing drawn up, and no formal »prwment will be considered until the tentative schedule has. been I passed by the Canadian and Australian Parliaments and given formal ratification I It is not expected here that '.he result of the Federal elections in the Common- ' wealth will interfere seriously with the j contemplated agreement. IMMIGRATION REGULATIONS. Newspapers throughout the Dominion featured the news item that the Australian Government would allow no more Italian immigrants to land in the Commonwealth, following the stranding of I several hundred Italians in the State ot Queensland. Following the strict immigration regulations put into force to prevent the I Hooding of the Dominion by immigrant? from the war-devastated countries of Central Europe, immigration to Canada decreased A _ > per cent during the past nine months, a* compared with the nine montfhs of the previous year In 19U, I immigration figures for the rune months I from April to Dumber inclusive, were 7!).52:5. while last year's figures for the same period are G0,274.