CANADA.

Press, Volume LXIV, Issue 19448, 23 October 1928, Page 8

CANADA.

A DOMINION WHICH IS OPTIMISTIC. MR NOSWORTHY'S IMPRESSIONS. [THE PEESS Special Service.] WELLINGTON, October 22. The Hon. Mr Nosworthy returned today by the Makura from Canada, where he and the other New Zealand delegates (the Hon. Mr B. Gow and Messrs T. W. Rhodes and W. J. Jordan) took part in the tour of Canada under the auspices of the Empire Parliamentary Association. The party consisted of fifty delegates, representing all the Parliaments of the Empire, and nearly all political parties. Almost all of Canada was visited and a conference was held at the chief centres. The party had met almost alhthe leading Parliamentarians and business men in the principal centres, and had obtained a wonderful insight into the vast resources of a huge Dominion. "We found the people of Canada very optimistic indeed regarding the future of their country," said Mr Nosworthy. "Capital and population are their requirements at present, and T think that the tour will have done a great deal to stimulate the interest of British investors. As regards population every effort is being made to obtain as large a population as possible of British stock, and as evidence of this we learned that Canada spends in immigration propaganda 16 dollars for eacl\ assisted passenger from Great Britain, as against 16 cents for each foreigner. Last year, of 158,000 immigrants 58,000 were British, 25 000 American, and the remaining 75,Q00 foreigners. "The handling of the Canadian wheat crop is a gigantic undertaking,'.' continued Mr Nosworthy. "It is nowadays really a branch of engineering. The ground .is prepared by tractors and gang ploughs, and the sowing is done by motor-tractor. The latest harvesting machines are drawn by tractors, and in one operation gather up the wheat, thresh it, and deliver it into big motoriorries running alongside. To give an idea of the transportation problem, the railways "had at one time assembled in the West 40,000 big wheat cars and 960 engines, ready to shift the grain, and when operations commenced, were moving over ten million bushels a day. Other industries, which we were shown, were mining, lumbering, newsprint-mak-ing, ranching, fox-farming, orcharding, and small farming. "The style of architecture and modernness of the schools and public buildings throughout Canada is very ive. Everyone seems to have faith in the future, and all the buildings are planned to fulfil requirements for years to come. To a New Zealander the amounts spent in these directions are amazing. The Federal Parliament Buildings at Ottawa cost in the region of seven million pounds, while the Provincial Parliament Buildings at Winnipeg cost almost two million The Canadians seem to delight in lavishing money on schools, universities and public buildings, but, at the same time, they demand efficiency. "The tourist traffic in Canada has become'an important economic factor in that country. Every year the Dominion is visited by millions of Americans, who are generally amply provided with funds, a,nd demand the best of accommodation and service. At the best hotels the price of a room, without meals, ranges from eight dollars a day upwards. I was informed that the Banff Hotel, with its swimming baths,, golf courses, etc., has cost the Canadian Pacific Railways about fifteen million dollars, and as it is open for only ten weeks in the year, it will be realised that high prices are necessary. However the demand is there, and the railway companies are meeting it." As to the results of the tour of Canada, Mr Nosworthy said that the visit must do a great deal of good in making known to other parts of the Empire the potentialities and problems of yanada.