POVERTY IN CANADA.

Dominion, Volume 1, Issue 111, 3 February 1908, Page 9

POVERTY IN CANADA.

..•The, financial stringency is producing a serious effect m Canada, particularly in the Eastem -Provinces.-_ Naturally at- this timo there is much unskilled labour out of work but tho distress is altogether exceptional and, it is. contended, should sorve as a warn'"B to ' the rould-bo; emigrant in the Mother Country, Many thousands are out of work, and hundreds are leaving weokly on their return to Europe., The ~■'.'Toronto. Telegram" "states that, .inr ccnsoquenco pf. the Grand Trunk Pacific closing, down construction work he. twaon Port Arthur and Kenora SOOO more men have been discharged. Wages generally "aro. down, and this is driving manv from Canada. There has been a drop of 25 per cent. . Dozens of English immigrants ask every day where the cattle market i 3 in order to get passages on the cattlc sliips to Europe. They aro broke and' anxious to leave the country. Tho lahour market is bad here now." Tho "Toronto Daily Star" stptes thero aro more imnmployed m Montrbal ot the present timo' than for some years past, and it is feared th'oro' will be considerable stress .during tho approaching winter. Mr. Ealjantyiie, President of - the I Canadian Manufacturers' Association, states that .the same . conditions prevail almost everywhere ip Canada. The "Halifax .Herald'.' quote? Mr. Ballantyno as saying that ."there were moro unemployed men walking tho streets of Montreal than ever ■before in the city's history. Tho financial stringency of' the monoy market had caused nearly all the big firms to retrench, and to do this they had to lay off men; with tho result that thousands of men in Montreal* were now out 'of work.''

The officials of the Provincial Immigration Department, say tt. the " Woodstock Impress," do not know how to deal with the question of the unemployed, " which is. one of the most serious which the country will have to face this winter." Even In British Columbia there is distress, due to lack'of employment. JEvery mail brings a batch of letters from emigrants, "notably .froiii Ontario, emphasising the terrible outlook for many families! Olio correspondent writes: " In Toronto at the present time there are about 10,000 men (mostly Britishers) who are looking for work. All the industries, and especially ,the metal trades,-arc-doing little or' nothing, having 'laid off two-thirds of their men because of the money stringency." ) • All the letters urge the cessation at present of wholesale emigration. ■