OUR CANADIAN LETTER.

Otago Daily Times, Issue 10731, 20 February 1897, Page 7

OUR CANADIAN LETTER.

(From Oue Own Cobbespondent.)

Ottawa, December 17. ' The year now so near* its close has been marked by no other event so conspicuous, in so far as Canada is concerned, as the change of Government which took.'.place in June last. The dynasty of (he Conservative party had stood undisturbed since 1878. Thus far, however, ifc has nofc involved any radical change of policy. Commercially, the' year 1896 has witnessed steady advancement. Competition has been keen, and weak men have gone to the wall; but, on the whole, Canadian business has been successful. Ido not at the present time know of any large manufactory lying idle Our farmers have had a particularly good year and. their prosperity necessarily giv es I stimulus to the commerce of the whole country. A remarkable feature of the year has been . the „ great development of mining activity in British Columbia. A lar^e number of mining companies have been organised, and capital appears 'to be confident and aggressive in that regard;'" In the meantime the actual production'of. gold, silver, copper and lead gives cause for'abounding hopeful! ness: What we have most to fear is an unhealthy boom. ■' J ■"•

The-winter has now fairly set in, although up to this date we have had but little snow Sleighing, has not begun 'generally; but the temperature has settled below the freezing points,..arid the.mercury hovers ev-ry night close to zero. All the small streams are frozen over, and the swamps are closed up. This means that the lumber industry ib going forward afc full pressure; for without the help of the cold weather it would be paralysed. At the present time thousands of hardy woodmen are buried in the wilderness of northern Canada, engaged in cutting down trees and hauling fchem to points where the freshets of spring will bear them out upon the great arterial rivers and thence to the mills' At some time I may write a sketch of life iii one of these great lumbering camps. For the present it is my purpose to give an outline of the extent of our timber, resources and production. The lasfc accurate, computation of the value of the annual Output was made in 1891, when ib was ascertained tbafc our forest products for thst year aggregated 80 071,415d0l in value. In me same year t*h« ; ex-.oris nmouuted fco 27,707,547d01, sc that aboufc 52,600,000d0l went into home consumption The cut; tor the year amounted to 2,045,073 072 cubic feet—a fabu!ou3 sum. .About 30 per cent, of that production was exported, placing Canada fourth in tho list of'timber exporting' countries Norway and Sweden being first, Au-tria second" aud Russia third. Ou the per capita basis we are tqual with Norway and Sweden. The soft woods, chiefly pine and spruce, represent; the bulk of our exports, and if; is these that are now being sent in considerable quantities to Australia. In recent ye&rs a new and widely diversified use has been found for spruce wood in the production of pulp. Millions of dollars are now invested in the industry. In all the wood.-working industries of Canada 35,000,000dol ; njee paid in wages ulcne every year, and 100;,000,000dol of capital is invested The vasts forests of the Dominion form one of our most; valuable sources of wealth, and must increase iii worth as our neighbours expand in population and multiply their needs. Forest fires are our greatest menace.

From timo to time we reid of psraonal encounters in the Parliaments of Australasia which probably convey a wholly erroneous impression of lhe dignity which ordiuarily characterises your Legislatures. Nevertheless no such incidents hava ever occurred here. When I was iv Sydney the Sergesnt-at-Arms was pointed out to me as a particularly powerful man, aud I very innocehily asked what need there v/as for his strength. J' To handle unruly members," I was'informed in a tone of surprise. Two days later I understood it all when a Minisi.er of the Crown tried to thrash an offensive meaiber of the Opposition aud fell into Sergeant Harnett's hands amid general uproar. Probably similar collisions would occur .here in the heat aud animus of party strife but for our system of taking divisions. Our members do not leave their places, but simply arise one by one and have their votes recorded by the Clerk of the House. In the House of Commons each member haa a desk and chair, as against the benches of your colonial Lagislatures. This, of course, necessitate? a large chamber in order to accommodate the 215 members who compose the House.

Mr Hogan, one of the members for Tipperary in the British House of Commons, has been here in the interest of Mr James Huddart and the fast Atlantic eteamship project. It would, however, be impossible to aay what success he has achieved. Personally, my sympathies are profoundly with Mr Huddart in this matter, and 1 speak wifch a full kuowledge of all the circumstances connected with his negotiations from fche commencement to tho present time. Mr Huddarfc took up the scheme after he had established his excellent line on the Pacific, and succeeded in awakening wide-spread interest Iv it. The Colonial Conference pronounced upon it ia strong and definite terms, and finally the Imperial Government accepted Mr Huddart'i plans. They did so, however, subject to the condition that uew tenders should be invited. When these tenders were opened ib was fouud that Messrs Allan, owners of the present fleet on the Atlantic, had made the best offer, and the Government of Sir Charles Tupper, in its lasfc hours, awarded them the contract. The Messrs Allan had been Mr Huddart's most powerful opponents in all the early stages of the negotiations. Tho incoming Government held the Allau contract in suspense, and there the matter.rests. Mr Hogan's efforts have been put forward to secure consideration of Mr Huddart as against the Allans. Action must ba taken one way or the other during the approaching session of Parliament.

During the past month a committee of Ministers has been going from city to city with a view to a;cartaiu the opinion of manufacturers and importers in relation to the tariff. Thus far the weight of testimony has beeu in favour of maintaining the. existing scale of duties or of increasing them. This puts fche Administration in a somewhat awkward position. During the past 18 youra they have opposed the policy of Protection, but in the interim industrial development has gone on steadily and the revenue needs have become

more pressing. How to keep up the public income and afc the s-ime time materially alter the tariff policy in vogue is a problem' which mu^fc be met in some way. Popular judgment leads to the view that nothing will be done by the present Government which will in any way oisfcurb the status oE our manufactures, and in consequence oE this general opinion there does not seem to be any anxiety as to the result when Parliament meets. The question bf prohibition in Canada is not receiving thafc degree of attention which mi<-ht °? expected, in view of the pledge given °by the Government to submit a plebiscite to the p-Jople in the near future. Your New Zealand papers contain more on the subject in one week than could be found in all the papers of Canada in two months ; yet I am convinced tbat if a vote were taken afc any time a majority wonld declare in the affirmative. There is room, however, to fear tbat the verdict would .bs given largely in the dark. Some months ago the Globe—perhaps the foremost paper in Canadaopened its columns to the extent oE one paa'e sach week for answers to the single question as to how the revenue loss could tie met. The opinions were as diversified a? they were unsatisfactory. No one seemed willing to submit to direct taxation, aud no one came forward with a comprehensive or practical scheme of indirect taxation, nevertheless, righfc afc the thresbhold of the matter hss ihe^ dollars aud cunts, view, that must be dealt wifch, quite apaifc from the problems of enforcement and compensation. If a sober finding is to be reached, and one. that will abide, the people, it seems to me, should clearly grasp tne question in its practical as well as its sentimental aspects. lam a prohibitionist, and favour direct taxation as a means of recouping the Treasury; bufc when I urge this view upon my friends most of them wave ifc aside, and ask me to count up the number of drunkards' graves in Canada. During the calendar year 1895 the amount of life insurance effected in Canada reached the : sum.of 44,3+1,198d01, as against 4-9,555,257dbl in 1894. It is probable this falling off was in same measure due to the increased activity of mutual and benefit societies, whose figures are not included. Of this total, 27.909.672d0l was done by Canadian enmnanies, 3,337,638d0l by British, and 13,093.888d0l by American. The falling off was almost wholly with American companies. . This left the amounfc of life insurance in force by stock comoar-ies at 319,257,581d01, as against 149.962,146d0l 10 ye&rs ago.' The .division of the total is as follows :—Canadian companies, 188,326,057d01, British^ 34,341,172d0l and American 95 590,352d01. The premium income for the past, year was 10,887,501d01, or the' largest in the history of iniurance in Canada. Tbe sum of 5,862,447d0l was paid during the year to policy-holders, or 5385 per cent, of the receipts. Of this latter sum only 3,148.951d0l was to meet death claims, the remainder being endowments, annuities, dividends (not on stock), and surrenders. Under the Insurance Acfc of 1838 the Government takes from companies of all classes—life, fire, accident, &a., — doing business iv Canada a percentage of their receipts, and holds it as a protection to policy-holders, allowing a fixed rate of interest thereon. This fund amounted at the close oE the year to 30,820,523d01, which gives a stability to the business that was not enjoyed in earlier years. The fire insurance companies received 6,943 382d0l in new premiums, and paid out 4,993,750d0l on losses during 1895. Including renewals the gross fire insurance taken during the year amounted to 667,639,048d01. on which premiums to the extent of 8,243,605d0l were paid in. British companies did two-thirds of this business. The marine insurance transactions for the year were unsatisfactory^ the losses having exceeded the income by more than 10 per cent. Two weeks ago a melancholy tragedy occurred in St.' Martin street, Montreal. A young man of good connections, bamed Homer Howell, had become enamoured of. the 24-year-old daughter of Mr Henry Sims.' Neither the young lady nor her family seemed disposed to encourage bis advances. On the morning of the tragedy he c< me to see Miss Annie Sims, and when alone in the parlour he shot her dead and then shot himself. When the family rushed in they found both weltering on the floor. -

A peculiar tragedy occurred among the Indians in the Ray Portage district, and formed the subject of a trial at the Assizes last week. An evil spirit called the Weadigo had beeu troubling the tribe for some time, and at last a number of watchers were set to catch the human being iuto whom ihe had entered. Among the vigilants were the prisoner and his foster father. During one of the nights the young Indian saw a form running from ono point to another, and not receiving an answer to his challenge, he fired. The fugitive fell dead, and when examined proved to be the foster father, who was merely reconnoitring. The slayer was convicted of manslaughter, and will meditate for the next six months in prison upon the folly of believing in genii.

A conspicuous case of bravery occurred here in Ottawa at the beginning of the month. Half a dozen young men were skating on the newlyformed ice of the canal, when it broke, and two of them were thrown into the water. They sank out of sight. The, alarm was given, and several young men from the Collegiate Institute rushed to the scene. Douglas Lyon took in the situation as he ran, threw off his coat, and sprang from; tbe bank into the icy waters. It waß a terrible risk. He dived to the bottom and brought up young Clarke, still alive. He dived again, but could not find Potvin. Then they tied a rope about him, ond once more ho dived throngh the hole. Potvin, however, was not found for half an hour, and subsequently Clarke died from the shock. Lyon has been given the medal of the Humane Society and a gold watch by the City Council. Senator A. E. M'Clelan has been appointed Lieutenant-governor of New Brunswick, and Mr George King has taken his pbice in the Senate. The Hon. David Mills and Mr George Cox, of Toronto, have also been appointed to the Senate.

On Cfie Bth a fice destroyed tbe Barron Block in Montreal, afc a loss of 300,000d01. On fche 3rd, the Ross Company's immense stores in I Ottawa aud three adjoining stores were also! destroyed. Loss, 250,000d01. Subsequently one of the walls fell and killed two men working naar it.

Chief Justice Strong, of the Supreme Court of Canada, has beeu appointed a .member of the Judicial Committee of the Privy Council. He is the first Canadian to receive such an honour. For soma time it was taken for granted that the Hon. Edward Blake would receive the appointment. '

Tbe Rugby football championship of *.ha Dominion was won by the Ottawa College, their opponents in the final match being tie 'Varsity Fifteen cf Toronto. The hockey championship Beason opens in January. Bim" played on ice, this is the most dashing gs.mo oE all the sports.

Motor carriages ara now being introduced iv Canada, tbe tria's at Toronto having proved successful.

. Miss Annie Chin and Mr James Mills were drowned this week while skating at Ma-jog, iv the Province of Quebec. The floating of mmmg1 companies continues to increase. Tk3 fcnfc&orissd capital row amounts to 290,089,975d01. or considerably more than the net debt of the Dominion. Of this sum, nine-tenths spplies to British Columbia.