CANADA.

Otago Witness, Issue 3031, 17 April 1912, Page 89

CANADA.

IMPRESSIONS OF A RECENT TRIP. By J. M. R. The first prevailing impression is of a boom in " real estate.'' it is ia the mind and mouth of everyone. The larger " cities " are full of real estate offices, and the most miserable hamlet on the prairie has its own in a wooden shed, probably on the corner, with a flaming signboard or poster. The five cent newspapers—" rags " most of them —devote columns to the " industry." Most of their advertisements flaunt "snaps " in your face, which is their way of proclaiming bargains. On all hands you hear of fortunes made by buying and selling sections, as we would say. In Vancouver real estate agents haunt "the hotels in the evening in search of possible speculators from England and the East. Prices, they say, are going up " all the time," and buyers cannot go wrong. There is another side to the story, however. It is difficult, or impossible, to discover how the 200,000 inhabitants of Vancouver and Victoria subsist. For all intents and purposes the two are one city. The Empress Hotel in Victoria would do credit to the fashionable quarter of London. There is a splendid system of tramways in both, an excellent water supply, drainage, an<] imposing buildings. What is at the back of it all? There are sawmills, fish canneries, and real estate. Little else in the way of industries can bo discovered, and productive rural land is a long way off, on the other, side of the towering forest-clad mountain ranges which encircle the port. I have included real estate among the " industries " because most of the inhabitants do so when cross-examined, but it "has, of course, no right to be there. The shops are good; prices of everything enormous —I would almost be justified in sayfhg extortionate. A dollar counts about the same as one shilling. The position is a puzzle except on an assumption of unbounded faith and hope. I read in r. Vancouver paper that before long New York would distance London in population and importance, with Vancouver a good second ! But I found a man who admitted that it was much easier to buy real estate than to sell it, and that, indeed, there were not too many buyers. Another, a cautious Scotchman, who had lived in Vancouver nearly 25 years, confessed he could not explain the rise and progress of his town. He said lie believed there were more people in it who lived by their wits tlian could be imagined, that there was little loose money, that those counted themselves fools who had no bank overdraft if they could get it, and that real estate with a paper value was the main foundation of the imposing structure. We have seen something similar in New Zealand more than once, and it is not pleasant to cast one's memory back to the outcome of it. I hope I do" our good friends, the Canadians, on injustice when 1 venture the opinion that results for them in the matter of real estate may be so much the more serious than we have experienced, as their powers of " boost" exceed anything we can attain to. On trje verandah of the hotel at Banff, in the Rockies, on a wet morning, I met a man who had some of the manifestations of a countryman of my own. After the ice was broken and he had heard whence I came, he shyly indicated that I might not have heard of his domicile, but it was a town in Scotland called Aberdeen. When he found I knew something of it, and of people who had lived there he told me he had interests in land in Vancouver, and had been advised that they had doubled in value or more. He had thereupon written out instructions to sell, but the answer came that buyers could not be found, although there was no doubt of the value. Whereupon, said he, " I packed my portmanteau and am now on my way to sell my land." I confess I have doubts of his success. The Canadian-Pacific railway, or C-P-R-, is the dominating, corporation of the whole Dominion. It has practically made Vancouver, and many cities of Canada besides. It is nothing short of amazing to think of the boldness, faith, and enterprise of the men who 30 years agn projected this line from the Atlantic to the Pacific, and successfully carried it through. They had the Government at their back, no doubt, and came out millionaires ; but even so, the mere idea and the carrying of it out were worth untold millions to Canada. Nevertheless, a New Zealander cannot escape from a feeling of regret that such a property should be lost to the State. The 6ame may be said of the many tramway systems and other enterprises of public utility which in Canada are so often the property of companies, and many of them owned in England.

I often expressed this feeling, and was invariably met with the reply that if the Government and local public bodies had taken these in hand it would have inevitably led to so much corruption and " graft" that It is better as it is, even though the public suffers. I hope and believe this is an exaggeration, though I often heard it roundly stated that the rank and file of public men are corrupt, and do not hesitate to make their public positions pay. I have said that hard cash is not plentiful. I notice in the balance sheets of several banks that deposits not bearing interest are a small proportion of the total in contrast to the position in Australia and New Zealand, where they amount to nearly one-half. It is evident, too, that for private enterprises of all kinds large sums come from England—again, it weld appear in contrast to Australasia, whose banks have frequently large sums in London earning what interest can be got there. At first eight this looke unfavourable to Canada, a much older colony than ours. But it should be remembered that Canada, west of Lake Superior, is practically a newly-discovered continent. A generation ago, before the railway was carried to the Pacific, this was for all intents and purposes a terra incognita. Since that time the population and development of this huge territory have strained the enterprise and resources of the Dominion to the utmost, and still continue to do so. Great success is attending the task, however, but it is not to be expected that the inevitable infantile diseases of youth and growth can be escaped. The seeds of these are being sown, and there is little doubt that a crisis will have to be passed sooner or later, though there is equally little doubt that it will be successfully passed in the long run. The influx of a great population which is constantly going on, and is in marked contrast to our experience, gives security for ultimate success. In spite of six months' winter this population appears to de well, though I think it has yet to be proved whether the country will prove attractive enough for permanent settlement and homes. When I passed through the fiscal question in relation to reciprocity with the United States and England was a burninsr one all over the Dominion, and Sir Wilfrid Laurier's attitude in London as to this and also as to defence and the Empire was acutely criticised. Unfortunately the whole subject was clouded by party bias, and it was not -possible to extract the truth because of the conflict of Liberals and Conservatives, both in Canada and England. In both countries it is largely one of manufacturers against producers from the soil and traders. Sixteen years ago Sir Wilfrid Lauder came into power pledged to legislate in the direction of Freetrader but failed to make greater progress in that direction than is comprised in the reciprocity concessions to England. Immense vested interests have been created under Protection, which have great power and loud voices, and the result of the recent Canadian elections shows that these are too strong to permit any risks to be run. The masses of the people, and especially the pioneers of the West, will have to wait a bit before they secure the advantages of a freer trade with the United States.

In the meantime, and in view of the attitude taken by Sir Wilfrid Laurier at the Conference in London about Imperial defence, some comfort is to be had out of the appearance of a closer Imperial tie disclosed by the recent elections. There are no evidences in the Dominion of anything but the utmost and frankest loyalty to the Empire, as well as pride in belonging to it; but local interests come first to the eye and ear of the observer, and (he Empire can only be said to be a very good second. I believe, however, it is so good a second as to be certain of mounting quickly to the first place in case of need. The Canadian cities are very remarkable evidetnce of enterprise and prosperity. Winnipeg is an extraordinary example of recent growth, and the older cities in the East impress one with their appearance of solidity and bustle. Toronto is an especially attractive town with beautiful suburbs and buildings in the business quarters, which are free from the appearness of newness of even Melbourne or Sydney. The Dominion hotels are much superior to anything in Australasia, and New Zealand more particularly suffers ba-dly in contrast. I am not sure if there is any other country of the same prosperity and general civilisation and in which the population moves about as it does with us that ie so very poorly provided with hotel accommodation as we are. When it is added that we are supposed to do what we can to attract visitors and to profit largely by the numbers we get this is the more unfortunate and surprising.