LIFE IN CANADA.

Marlborough Express, Volume XLII, Issue 276, 20 November 1908, Page 6

LIFE IN CANADA.

SOME OBSERVATIONS OF INTEREST. Life in Canada does not vary except in details from life in New Zealand, in England, or anywhere else (writes the Canadian correspondent of the Otago Daily Times). Whenever conditions are favourable for the rapid enrichment of a few classes it is inevitable that other classes will be made relatively poorer. Nor does this necessarily involve, the direct infliction of wrong, as right and wrong are popularly measured by the prosperous upon their less fortunate fellows. The injury may go on in degree while some slxow is made of generous dealing. For example, the raising of the scale of living,' accompanied by an increase in the actualcost of living, lias borne very severely on sal-ary-earners, although within the period of' growth salaries have been bettered. The betterment has not, however, been nearly equal to the heavier calls upon resources; so that to-day the pinch is keenly felt. The real hardships of modern social life are endured by those who, refined and educated, are' desperately struggling to make an income of £300 a year meet all domestic requirements and provide for the contingencies of old age: Wage-earners have done better within the past ten years—enormously —than the salaried classes. Yet it is difficult to find improvements in their social and economic status commensurate with the advance in wages. This may be due, and probably is, to a corresponding decline in that subtle and complex thing we call thrift. Relatively fewer mechanics, for example, are buying homes for themselves.' Much more deplorable, is an obvious increase in the' drink bill of the working classes as a whole. No doubt .the chief cause of this is the presence in our cities of an increasing proportion of English immigrants. Why it should be so is not explained, but these artisans from the Mother Country are the men who fill our saloons after., pay day, and give rise to the disturbing idea that inebriation is rapidly gaining ground in Canada. These observations, although not directly cognate, bring to mind our labour troubles. The strike of Can-adian-Pacific railway mechanics still continues. The men have stood firm, and the company has proceeded methodically to fill their places. The service of the railway appears not to be impaired, although the men assert that the rolling stock is running down. The strikers are being given financial assistance from across the Line, and Mr Keir Hardie, who has been on a visit to Canada, has rather siiggested that aid will come to them from England. Thus far there has been no violence, although 8000 men are directly concerned. The shops have been recruited at all points from ocean to ocean; but the old employees from time to time succeed in inducing the new men to quit_ work. On the whole, and without prejudice, the indications are favourable to tho company," chiefly because in this instance the men are on weak ground in not having the award of the Board of Arbitration. Just received, at Express Office, "In Memoriam" ca^ds, in very ilioice designs .