The Auckland Star: WITH WHICH ARE INCORPORATED The Evening News, Morning News, and The Echo. SATURDAY, JULY 2, 1927. A GREAT ANNIVERSARY.

Auckland Star, Volume LVIII, Issue 154, 2 July 1927, Page 8

The Auckland Star: WITH WHICH ARE INCORPORATED The Evening News, Morning News, and The Echo.

SATURDAY, JULY 2, 1927. A GREAT ANNIVERSARY.

For the cause that lacks assistance, For the wrong that needs resistance. For the future m the distance, And the good that we can do.

At a time when few people read history, and fewer still r-emeraber it, the meaning of the national celebrations now in progress in Canada is likely to be lost upon the general public. After all, it is sixty years since the British North American Act was passed, and the circumstances that accompanied and produced the federation of Canada have naturally tended to fade into oblivion. So far back as 1840 the two provinces of Upper and Lower Canada were formed into a union and received responsible Government. But during the nest twenty years the growth of population and the conflict of rival interests made some further readjustment inevitable. It is the passing of the British North America Act which in 1867 signalised the final consummation of Canadian unity that the people of the great Dominion arc commemorating to-day. There were a great many forces operating in Canada at this time which tended to render the work of efficient administration difficult and, indeed, almost impossible. "The mingled interests and conflicting opinions of Catholic and Protestant, Upper and Lowe: Canadians, French and English, Scotch and Irish, constantly thwarting and crossing one another," eventually broke down the system of party government, and compelled the rival leaders to realise that the one path to progress, security, and prosperity for Canada lay by way of closer political union between its component parts. John A. Macdonald, a Conservative, George Cartier, a French-Canadian, and George Brown, a Radical, laid aside their personal differences and allied'themselves together to secure these ends. At a conference held at Quebec in 1864 there were drawn up certain terms and conditions on which the British North America Act of 1867 was ultimately based. There was one fact which no doubt exercised great influence upon public opinion both in Canada and in Britain in favour of the proposal to federate—the possi le hostility of the United States. After the close of the American Civil War there was a widespread apprehension that the Great Republic, now unified and consolidated, might prove a dangerous neighbour to Canada and this no doubt was one reason that persuaded the Imperial authorities to accept the Canadian proposal. And", fortunately, in accepting the scheme outlined by the Quebec Conference, the British Government paid due heed to Macdonald's warning against the danger of conflict between local and central authority if, as in the American republic, all powers not clearly delegated to the central Government were reserved to the various States. "A strong central Government" was Macdonald's primary requisite, and though he would have preferred complete legislative union, he accepted a federal union as a reasonable alternative so long as the federal authority was firmly founded and its powers well secured.

In many ways, therefore, the inauguration of political unity in Canada was carried out under very favourable auspices. The suggestion eame in the .first place from the Canadians themselves; the change was made with the consent and sympathetic assistance of Britain; and- though the maritime provinces stood out for soma little time, the benefits offered by amalgamation finally proved irresistible. From the time of the passing of the Act of 1867 Canada has never looked back. Like all other members of the Empire, it has passed through periods of storm and stress, and its proximity to the United States even to-day tends to complicate its political outlook. But the patriotic and self-sacrificing efforts of the founders of federation have' not been lost upon their successors, and to-day, in spite of local jealousies and racial rivalries, the people of Canada are already a united nation distinguished not only by their devotion to their own country, but also by their loyalty to the British Crown. .

MILLIONS AND MADNESS. ; The tragic death of a millionaire financier in London this week may serve to bring home to the public-mind once more the futility and folly of the quest for unlimited wealth. Here was a man who started life as a bricklayer's apprentice, and in comparatively few years had amassed, a fortune estimated at £4*000,000. Yet though he had in his hands "wealth beyond the dreams, of avarice," his only occupation in life seemed to be the constant effort to accumulate more. This insensate greed of gain ultimately urged him on to an insane attempt to "corner" the oil market, and when .at the last moment his plans collapsed he was only a trifle of three-quarters of a million short of success—life had nothing left to offer him, and the curtain was rang down. Ever since the earliest dawn of civilisation praaehers and prophets and teachers have expended all fhe resources of righteous indignation upon the frantic pursuit of wealth for wealth's sake; and James White is only one of a great multitude, who by their meteoric rise to fortune and their disastrous fall have helped "to point* moral and adorn a tale." But some of our virtuous indignation may well be directed toward the system of legalised gambling which facilitates reckless speculation and prepares the-way-for such tragedies as this.. No doubt the.Stock.Exchange has its legitimate functions, and even the practice of dealing in "options" and may, under some conditions, serve useful public ends. But those who employ the mechanism of 'the Exchange to "corner" a market, or by "bulling" and "bearing".and the elaborate manipulation of shares attempt to enrich themselves at the cost of ruin to many others, are among fhe; worst "enemies of society" that the civilised world has known, and the tragedy of James White has not been enacted in vain if it serves as a deterrent to any other "Napoleon of Finanee" who strives to follow in his footsteps.