OUR CANADIAN LETTER.

Otago Witness, Issue 2840, 19 August 1908, Page 11

OUR CANADIAN LETTER.

- HH R S3s s^* 9™* CoBBES f oistoent.) .; { "' OTTAWA, June 13. *" "\j£h&^ past Jnontb has not_deyelop_d any> %^ng.- of conspicuous interest \n the" life g|_t&L_. Dominion,, The' weather has been favourable for plant growth, . which means much td a people who; are dependent for Jheiy food, and largely "for what they have to sell, upon the sunshine concentrated psvithin five months out of the 12. Dur^ jing the early part of May, frosts were ; 'experienced jn' the Western Provinces, f)ut beyond a slight injury to oats they J did no harm. The wheat, happily, was *iot affected. This brings us into June, ,which is nearly always the hottest month of the year, under curcumstances which give promise 'oi an. abundant harvest. All Other considerations are relatively subordinate to this. r Public interest has been centered upoa: • ;£he struggle between parties in Parliament, ' .which has taken a form suggesting serious , difficulties in future. The House of ' Commons has now been in session for more than six months— an unprecedented • term in Canada — and yet the annual sup- . plies have not been ■ voted. This has not been because any fault has been found [ iwith either the' volume or character of the» estimates, but because a measure relating to the preparation of the voters' lists in Manitoba?, brought down by the Minister of Justice two, months or more ago, is , pbjected. to by tlie 'Opposition, They , assert that it, is calculated to give -an ad- ■ .vantage to the* 1 Liberals. -. j It fs d .dase^pi m_t_al dietrust. " The ( lists throughoui'ths Dominion are in the ' bands of the provincial authorities. That ! ' is to say, the voters' lists prepared by I the prQvmces for their own elections are ' adopted for Dominion purposes. But in ! ■Manitoba a difficulty arises which appears J to demand special legislation. For the elections of the province itself, some 44 j constituencies exist, whereas there are ' , : dbut 10 'geate for the Federal House. By j 1 »q arrangement can these 44 ridings be ! ." grouped so as to make the voter's lists j "answer for the purpose of a Dominion " _ election; and _ the primary object of the | bill which has brought about the present l ■ controversy to! deal with this situa- ' tion. " I ...»With an oEjeet so definite, one would < Suppose that an adjustment would be easy. | But the Opposition take the ground that the 'mattex should be left entirely to the j province, , and to this the majority will j not assent. Apart from the merits oi d>he cage, the fact.- that the Manitoba Government is strongly x conservative, yhile the proposed election law has been introduced by the Liberals here, is really the basid «ourse of the existing situation. •The Conservatives say : " Withdraw your . 'obnoxious Election Act, and we will per- ! in it supplies to be voted " ; while the Liberalif yetortj "This is a proper lU«asiife, euid ths majority in Parliament rule,. There the .parties stand, gust' a& $b«y hare been doing for weeks. *,T*he results of ibis deadlock are already •grave. The fiscal year began on April 1, and jjot a dollar has yet been provided for public purposes. Civil (servants are without their pay all over the Dominion. c Sphere is eve^n tUfi danger that services like '_ ,the carrying of njails and the running of j • trains on ihe government railways will be ! , .Stopped, Yet neither party appears to '. iear th^i probable effect of public opinion. VEaclj-think§ th> other will be the sufferer, pf cpiirse," &. compromise will come. Many feugg-eetJona looking to that *end have already. Been made, but the fact that Vgenera^ ' elections in Jtfhe Provinces of and Quebec are now in progress ikeeps the partisan spirit in a stubborn, state. Meanwhile, practicarly all public Xijbu-siness in, Pa-rliament, despite long sit- £ tings, ijs being blocked by the Opposition. .. . /.^Whiie political parties are wrangling, i..jtne trade of the Dominion, in sympathy ?^vith general conditions, is showing signs ,■ of shrinkage. Exports exhibit an improve- %. ment, as compared with last year, but imfl 'Cjports h^ve fallen off consider a o"ly. -The {■^(immediate effect is a reduction in revenue. ij^Jlappily, this decrease in imports is a relative thing, and may be quite ?£ temporary. . Jt fojlows upon more than vd.o yearg of continuous growth, during i; .which period the commerce of the country .~ihfK? gone rapidly upward, reaching la6t /year ft point beyond the expectations of r'^he ftioßt eaftguine. ' Moreover, it is partly f dug. to cautjidnj i<nd partjy to a lowering >of values ab»pad. It will only be signiH^ficaait if it tnould run through the whole I' j^ear* "■ \ • of trade suggests sometßing in , .which' the people of New Zealand will be In 1900 there" were 157 '"r miljfi in Canada, small and large, employment to 6863 persons. Upjf^yrards of J52,060,000 was invested in this j "* Industry! - 'At that time the importation | t- pi woolleH fajbrics- amounted in value to i^|Bl,soo,oQp. 1 &ow there are not more 'riJfchan 100 mills- in operation, and the :f dmporte for J907 exceeded £4,000,000. .• , ?fbeee f a"cts would seem to point to the tha;t the domestic manufacture i 'pf woollens, involving the use of homeyjgrown and foreign wool, is not prosper•V ing. This result is disappointing. In a > ■ country where the wearing of woollen gar\mente ie % necessity during a large part »' jgf the year, and which is capable of pTos "^.ucing raw wool, it is natural that we •should expect to help ourselves in this Scatter. ".•• *■(, A© J have pointed out in previous igtterS;, the difficulty - springs from two icaueest First, the wo_ol grown in Canada ac coarse |n fibre, and is not suitable for i ihe weaving l oi fine fabrics ; second, fashion 'dictates i that' men, ehould wear Scotch- " tweeds pod that women should also pre--ff?f imported yfoollens. Nevertheless- a t'*~ cc&fiderable quantity of cloth is prol m Oajttada which cannot be disisTiejcF JJft&orfed goods, and is jiold 3$ | uo&. Ig wag largely fof jpujrpose tha/t JT l^ ijXLTwrtett a-bouii iQQOJgj' gf fine wool la/st yearf yet' jjttieeek. Very figures woulj| W3»itihe 'horn* ifldustry iA not growing.

Ten years ago we imported neaTly 12,000,0001b of wool, and for the last decade our purchases abroad were lees than, for the preceding ten years. All through our trade figures the phenomenon is apparent of heavy imports ,of wool in years marked by v low cost. "As the market price has gone up importations have gone y down, and if all the facts were available it would probably be shown that in those years when a lesser quantity was bought in a larger volume of Canadian-grown wool was used. It is the practice to mix domestic and foreign wools at the mills, a.nd this is done so skilfully ac to almost defy defection. As wealth increases, however, the popular demand for fine woollen goods, j composed wholly of merino, is more and more positive; but only an expert could tell whether or not any Canadian wool liad been used in the production; of a particular sample. In the importation of hosiery and fine yarns there has been large increases, while the volume of , tweeds has aleo grown considerably. Flannels also show a marked advance. | Three days a|go a • dam on Current River, near Port Arthur, on the main line of the Canadian-Pacific, broke and caused' great damage. The rushing waters ' washed away nearly a mile of railway track, and a freight train passing along i (i as the flood struck that 4 point was destroyed. Five lives were lost. Heavy rains were the cauee. On the day following' a farmer and his wife and three children took refuge under a bridge from ' a storm.. A cloudburst occurred, causing ! a huge wall of water to sweep down the j bed of the stream, and the man and woman were drowned. This happened ' near Orangeville, Ontario, and illustrates ' the tropical nature of the storms which j occur at times during the Canadian summer. Six weeks previously that particuI lar stream still held the ice of winter. I The transition from cold to heart, is often j , very quickly accomplished in our climate, j j The King's Plate was won on the 24th , at_ Toronto by Mr Joseph Seagram's j Seismic. The racing meet, which beiqan j .hart, week, continued daily until yesteri day, and on the 6th prox. two weeks of racing will begin at Montreal. Huge { crowds attend — not such crowds as gather , in Australia, but on occasions reaching j over 50,000. The Kings Plate has been the principal race event in Canada for j many years ; but there were really until I recently few running horses in Canada. i The racing circuits, which have never ! been conspicuously successful, were given [up almost wholly to the trotter. This was the result of American influence, and there is still a preference for the roadster ; but a decided movement has get in along English and Australian, lines. Trotting contests have always suffered from the suspicion of dishonesty, but this doas not ! a PPIy to the running races. A number of startling crimes have marred the record of the > past month. At the military barracks in London, Private Moir came in late one night, was challenged by Serg.. Lloyd, and shot the latter dead. He escaped in the darkness, and was a refugee for many days. Finally the Government offered a reward for his capture, and in the disguise of a farm hand be was located in a distant township. Toward the end of the month James j F. Creighlon, of Owen Sound, butchered I his wife and two step-daughters. He then put two bullets through his own body, but the doctors cay he will recover. His own story of the crime is one of sad domestic infelicity, although the final incentive was a trivial act of disobedience on the part of one of the daughters. He wished her to refrain from wearing a certain hat to which*!' he had taken a dislike. The family is well connected, and was living in comfort at the time of the tragedy. The case of Captain Harbottle has attracted widespread interest. He was for many year secretary of the Toronto Club, a very ariatrocratic organisation. He had refined tastes, and was a commanding figure in the social life of the city. He was very fond of horses, and much of his time was given* up to racing. • Several months ago he disappeared from Toronto, and an investigation revealed the fact that he was £3000 short in his accounts with the club. Owing to special circumstances in the case a very determined effort was made to secure his airest. He wa6 followed from point to point by detectives, snd two weeks ago he whk run down in Jamaica. On being brought back to Toronto he plead-ed guilty to embezzlement, and has just been sentenced to a term of three years. On the llth inst. a serious strike took place in Owen Sound among the freighthandlers of the Canadian Pacific. Strikebreakers were brought from Toronto, and tihis lead <o an outbreak of violence on the part of the strikers. A force of upecial officers accompanied the Toronto contin- } gent, and for seve-ral hours a despeiate struggle took place between the opposing elements. Finally some one fired a shot, and this was the signal for a general fueilade. Five men w ere more of less seriously wounded, and the Riot Act had to be read. A^, trace was established, fresh negotiations were opened up, and within an hour after the bloodshed a satisfactory settlement had been reached. No trouble has since been experienced. A serious accident occurred on the line of the Ottawa Street railway on Sunday last. A heavily laden car ran into the rear of another car, and 20 passengers were injured. Although no deaths have yet occurred, five amputations were necessary, and a number of the injured are lying in a very precarious condition at this moment. The cause of the accident j is attributed to the crowding of passengers I on the front platform, making it difficult for the motorman to handle the brake in the emergency which arose. It is now proposed to make riding on the front plat" form illegial. Reference has been made in these letters to the drastic means being taken in Canada to. stamp put .robbery with violence. The offenders jp. stfch ca^ep ar^ jn.ya.rjably low Europe! T^ othej day J*e{>?g,e Stack was convicted of & crjjne gl this $la£S^ M^

inasmuch as he was on ticket-of-leave, he was sentenced to life imprisonment. At Kingston, an American thug was also proven guilty, and he was given seven years with 30 lashes thrown in. The lash is doing m__e to restrain these deeparate foreigners than anything else. It has not yet, however, been tried on the Italians, who have for months past kept .Montreal in a state of terror by thenstabbing affrays. Thus far they have confined their use of the etilletto to each other. i The Olympic trials are practically over, and Canada will send a party of about 20 athletes to London next month. These men will compete in all classes of events, and while there are hopes with respect to three or four of t/hem, it must be admitted that the general outlook is discouraging. Over our vast territory it was impracticable to bring all' the competitors together for the purpose of determining who was really the best in each class, and no doubt the expense of travelling and training kept many from taking part in the trials. Nevertheless, there

is a very general and deep interest in J athletics throughout the Dominion. Nine thousand men are wanted im- , mediately for railway construction in j Canada. A great deal of work of this j character is going on, and it must be carried out between spring and winter, j For more than one "reason this climatic j difficulty is unfortunate. It involves the release of thousands from employment at n time of the year when the labour maiket is glutted, and they gravitate to the cities. This was the case last winter, particularly in Toronto. Of course, these lar-ge under- j takings also create a permanent demand : for labour, 'and in this way the process , of adjustment goes on. j Several of the- principal railways in Canada are making a practical test of the telephone as a substitute for telegraphy in . the handling of trains. Favourable reports of the experiment have already been given out, but it is not inclined to rely i upon this method wholly. It is to be used chiefly as an auxiliary to the tele- ■ graph. *