OUR CANADIAN LETTER.

Otago Witness, Issue 3034, 8 May 1912, Page 81

OUR CANADIAN LETTER.

(FEOM OCB OWN CoBBESrONDENT.) OTTAWA, March 1. At the Colonial Conference of 188* Mr Lee Smith was asked what New Zealand oould send to Canada in the way of trade. He said: " We can send you die finest mutton in the world, and we can send you gums for the making of varoiah, as well as wool." Sir Mackenzie Bowell, who had undertaken the mission to Australia in the year previous, knew something of JSew Zealand mutton, and just why he knew that something is a story which I must tell, even at tlhe risk of spoiling this introduction. Sir Mackenzie and the writer were Captain Stuart's only guests at table during the voyage on'the Arawa from Sydney to Vancouver. The first day out, at luncheon, the captain asked what we would like tor dinner, and this question led to the mentioning of New Zealand mutton. Sir Mackenzie said he would like to try it. lhat night we had a leg of mutton for dinner. Next day, and every day succeeding, the question of dinner came out, and Sir JUockenzie would say, " Weil if you don t mind, I would like some more of that Isew Zealand mutton, with the result that for <2l days of the 23 we were at sea wo dined ol mutton. I can say in all sincerity that the taste of that mutton still lingers in my mouth. But to return to the trade question. . _ „ , " Mutton," said Sir Mackenzie Bowell to Mr Lee Smith, "why, we have plenty, ot that in Canada.' It is not as- good as ; yours; but our farmers would not stand for too importation of New Zealand mutton. Neither they would, as Sir Mackenzie learned at the next election, when a few tine of mutton, brought in as an experiment, were hawked about the country and shown to rural audiences as a sample <>i what the Government was permitting to enter the Dominion in competition with the domestic product. Those tins of mutton constituted one of the factors which defeated the Government. So mutton was discounted by the conference; but I fancy a considerable quantity of New Zealand mutton come. into Canada last year, and, if the cost cf staple food products continues to rise as it has been doing for the past 15 years ve shall be compelled to buy a great deal more. This by the way, and a little further op I shall return to the subject. Mr Lee Smith did not, however, mention butter. That would have been about the last thing to occur to his mind. In 1894 New Zealand had very little butter for export', and it was several years later that our antipodean brothers borrowed Mr J. A. Ruddick from Canada to teach them the art of making the highest quality of cheese and butter. My friend Mr Ruddick seems to have done his work very well, for while Canada in the very year Mr Lee Smith was here exported 600 0001 b of butter, and went on increasing the amount year by year until 1905, New Zealand now has a large volume available for export, and Canada is one of her customers. Just faccy the great agricultural country Canada importing butter from New Zealand! Mr Lee Smith •was regarded as somewhat of a docamer when he was in Ottawa in 1894; but that was not one of his dreama. Yet the other morning, as I walked up to mj office, I saw two large cards in as many shop windows announcing: "New Zealand butter, 40 cents per lb." That made me rub my e J es - . , U J The Citizen, Ottawa s morning paper, had the following to say on the subject:—"New Zealand butter has arrived in Ottawa. Probably for th e first time in history the capital is new using butter from another colony, and one of Canada's keenest rivals for the British market in dairy produce. The Antipodean butter, ajter its long voyage over land and ocean, arrived in the city yesterday. The New Zealand article is full-grass butter, and is equal to the very best Canadian June butter. Already written orders for a second and much larger consignment have been sent in. The butter is pasteurised, and is in every way of the very first quality ._ "The importation of dairy produce into a country that is one of th© greatest dairy producers of the world and from a country thousands of inile3 away is a notable event in the' history of Canada. The cause is a scarcity of the Canadian article, due to a great scarcity of grass last season in the pastures throughout this country. Canadian butter is now retailing at 40 cents a pound in Ottawa and other f astern cities, and runs as high as 65 and 75 cents in Cobalt and other points north. It is higher than it has ever been before, and the same high prices prevail in the case of cheese. " The New Zealand butter can be brought to Canada and sold at 40 cems also. The effect of its importation, according to dealers here, will be to keep the Canadian price from going any higher. The New Zealand butter can be secured at almost any of the large retailers of groceries, and the Murphy Gamble Company are to-day placing on sale some of the first, which is selling at 40 cents." What transpired in Ottawa with respect to New Zealand butter occurred in other large centres in Canada. Ottawa is nearly 3000 miles from the Pacific coast, and all the way inland the keen demand for butter must have led to many tons being put on sale. Of course, 40 cents per lb is about the highest price Ottawa has ever paid for butter, and it may bo that only such an exceptional figure would lead to importations from New Zealand; but we are fast changing our notions as to what in exceptional and what is normal in relation to the cost of necessaries. The fact remains that Canada, which has spent large sums to develop her dairy interests, is now an importer of butter, and New Zealand is the seller. What has happened in this year of grace may go on happening, and the thing which seems to us so extraordinary to-day may to-morrow cease to excite surprise. It would rather look as if we would continue to import increasing quantities of New Zealand products, and, as things are going, bo glad to get them. Touching the matter of mutton, it does not seem at all improbable that Canada •will, from absolute necessity, become a considerable importer of this staple. The annual meeting of the National Live Stock Association took place in Ottawa during the past month, and it was there solemnly declared, and crystallized into a resolution, that the beef cattle industry was very much on the down grade. This conclusion coincided with the published declaration of the Live Stock Commissioner of tho Dominion Government, Dr Rutherford, to ■which reference was made in my last letter. This situation is reflected in the unprecedented price of beef in the open market, and the people are crying out for relief. If the basic industry has been neglected, it

ia obvioiM that it cannot be revived in a day. Meanwhile, the number of domestic consumers is being rapidly increased by immigration, thus - intensifying the trouble; so that the outlook is discouraging. Mutton oould not be made to take the place of beef at a jump, but necessity is a stern educator, &nd our own people would soon learn to make the substitution, at least in part. Public sentiment is always a powerful factor in such matters. Whenever in the past it has been proposed to lower the duties on meats, an adoo has been raised on behalf of the home producer. But two things have occurred to stifle that cry. In the first place, it is pretty well recognised that the farmer is the chief beneficiary from the existing scale of prices; and in the next place it is clear that we shall soon be pushed to famine figures for necessaries if we are compelled bo rely wholly on our Gainadian farmers. They are getting unheard of prices for all they can produce, and cannot meet the demand. This means that the time has come when the interests of consumers must be regarded as supreme. Hence it seems probable that the bars will soon be let down, and this would be done with all the better grace when it became assured that our new suppliers would be fellow colonists. In other words, our need must create New Zealand's opportunity. The ice has been broken, as we say here with climatic pointedness, and business energy will do the rest. Our people axe really very much alarmed over the rising cost of living. In addition to the buying of New Zealand butter, immense quantities of potatoes 'have been bought m from Ireland, and have retailed as high as lis a bag. Fortunately, the capacity to buy has gone ahead of the need; but that does not apply to all classes with equal force. Wage-earners and the salaried class are pinched very severely, the latter more severely, by the existing scale of prices. They constitute a large and important section of the great body of consumers. Salaried men cannot make themselves felt as a political force, because they have neither cohesion nor organisation ; and this question to some extent is political. How long matters will remain in this position, no one may say. We hear a great deal about the manufacturers and farmers at election times; but the interests of consumers are utterly without a champion. As a mere problem in probabilities it seems unlikely this will continue, and when that day comes in which the consumers enter the arena in organised form they will be, must be—a force to reckon with. In order that the facts with regard to the cost of living may be before our brothers at the Antipodes, the following semi-official statement is given:—"That Canada will this year establish for herself a high-water record for the generation in the cost of living is the opinion entertained after careful investigation and compilation of statistics by the Labour Department. In 1890 the department selected 261 articles of representative character throughout the entire field of production and consumption, and divided them into 13 groups. From the average cost of those a standard of 100 was 6et as the index figure. That index figure to-day stands at 131, which is the highest record since.the standard was formed 1 , and for many years previous to that time. As a simple indication of the rapid rise it is noted that the retail prices for the last year have averaged o per cent, higher than for the previous year. Though this rise in prices may be taken to indicate increased commercial prosperity to a certain degree, still it is particularly serious from the standpoint of the higher cost of living, and as affecting the consumer depending upon salary." . What has saved the situation in part has been tho enormous outlay of capital throughout tho Dominion for railway construction and public works. The prevailing prosperity has brought about great commercial activity; the building trades have had their hands full; employment at fair wages has been abundant; there has not been idleness on the part of any class, and this has made for toleration of conditions which would under other circumstances have created general and grave agitations In view of the concerted opinion of economists that the top level has not yet been reached, it will be interesting to watch the trend of events Reference has just been made to the large sums of money which have been expended during he past 10 or 15 years bv Government and by private enterprise. The subject of the new Transcontinental railway caino up in Parliament the other day. This is the section of the Trunk Pucific, 1805 miles in length, between Mcncton and Winnipeg, which tho Federal Government undertook to construct. It will bo completed in 1914. The cost is now estimated by the engineers in charge at £52,000,000, or £29,000 per mile. No such outlay was contemplated at the outset, and this result is due to unforeseen difficulties which have arisen in building through a wilderness, far from bases of supply and availability of labour Tho Grand Trunk Pacific Railway Company has meanwhile been constructing the western section, from Winnipeg to the coast, a distance of ovc 1500 miles. The capital expenditure at, that end has exceeded £25,000.000. Dur ing the decade over 3000 miles of additional railway have been built, at a cost of many millions, so that from the railway standpoint alone some notion will be had of thf volume of capital which has been in cir dilation as an antidote to the high prices for necessaries. The bitter and dangerous agitation which has arisen over the no temere decree Ly his Holiness the Pope, affecting the law with regard to marriage, bids fair to be allayed. That decree declared invalid the marriage of two Catholics by any other minister than a priest of the Roman Catholic Church, and it was interpreted by a judge in the province of Quebec to nullify such a marriage. The question therefore became sharply an issue between ecclesiastical and civil law in Canada. ■ Catholics maintained that the decree was wholly domestic in its application, and concerned only persons of that faith; but the action of a Montreal judge in declaring civilly invalid the marriage of two Catholics by a Methodist minister was scarcely consistent with that view. As everyone knows, it does not take much to fan smouldering prejudices into flame, and that is precisely what happened in this instance Parliament has referred the whole matter to the courts, and will ultimately obtain the judgment of the Imperial Privy Council. Mr Lancaster introduced a bill declaring the civil law supreme throughout Canada, and the question of jurisdiction was at once raised. The Minister of Justice proposes to have an adjudication upon that point, and also upon the issues involved in the following questions: r (2) Does the law of the Province of

Quebec render null and void, unless contracted before a Roman Catholic priest, a marriage that would otherwise be legally binding which takes place in such province ? " (a) Between persons who are both Roman Catholics, or (b) between persons one of whom only is a Roman Catholic? " (3) If either (a) or (b) of the last preceding question is answered in the affirmative, or if both of them are answered in the affirmative, has the Parliament of Canada authority to enact that all such marriages, whether (a) heretofore solemnised or (b) hereafter to be solemnised, shall be legal and binding?" Pending appeal to the Judicial Committee of the Privy Council, and after action in that regard had been takon by Parliament, the Quebec case to which reference has been made came up again on an appeal. The Judge, who was a French-Canadian and a Roman Catholic, gave a sweeping and unqualified decision in support of the civil law. The essential aspects of his decision appeal in the following quotations therefrom : " Tho No temere decree of the Roman Catholio Church does not, and cannot, have precedence over the civil law of the Province of Quebec." " This law does not require that the minister performing the ceremony should be of the same faith as the contracting parties in order to make the marriage legal. A Protestant minister is qualified to marry two Catholics." " Marriage owes its institution to nature, its perfection to law, its holiness to religion." " What essentially constitutes marriage is the consent of man and woman to unite together for common life; that is not only the basis of the contract, but it is the contract, itself. The sacrament gives it solemnity, the civil function gives it publicity, authenticity; and civil effect." " The good faith of the partners, the public possession of the office (held by the clergjmen who marry them), and tho sanction of the Crown (given in the license to marry) prevent such a contract from being taxed with invalidity." It is devoutly to be hoped that this decision and the pending appeal to the Privy Council will quiet tho ferment which has got well under way; for there is nothing which can so disastrously disturb the peace of a people, and create serious and farreaOhing trouble, as a religious conflict. This is particularly true in ' a country tho principal province of which is overwhelmingly Protestant, and the next most populous provinco is almost solidly Itoman s Catholic. We can very well do without a revival of the ancient war between the people and the Papacy. February was an unusually cold month. The tempei-aturc was frequently below zero, and at times there were high winds. Toward the close of the month the heaviest snowfalils of tho winter occurred, and these led to considerable interference with railway traffic and the temporary closing of rural highways. We are accustomed to such things, however, and the increasing volumn of daylight tells us that, long as the winter has been, spring is certainly near at hand. Parliament has listened to two or three debates during the current session on tho question of the State ownership of telegraphs and telephones. A mixed situation exists with regard to these utilities. The Dominion Government has not touched telephones; but in three of the Western Provinces the local government has practically taken over all tho lines. It cost millions to do this In the east, however, telephone interest 3 are wholly controlled by private corporations. The Dominion Government operates a telegraph system in the Yukon County, and alcng part of the Atlantic coast, but all tho commercial lines are in tho hands of nine operating companks. The matter has been held in suspense pending further information, which will be available when Parliament meets again. A return brought down to Parliament recently shows that the Dominion Government; is spending about a million dollars a year on immigration. Tho money has been expended chiefly in literature and the maintenance of agencies. Assistance is not given in any form to settlers. An immense influx is anticipated for the current year Revised ficures of the census show the population of the Dominion to be 7,204,527. By provinces the figures arc as follows: mil. 1901. Inc.

7,204,527 5,371,315 1,833,212

Alberta .174.663 7.1.022 301.641 British Columbia .. .192,480 178.657 213.823 Manitoba 455.614 255,211 200.403 N>w Brunswick 351.880 331.120 20.760 Nova Scotia ... . 402.3.18 450,574 32,764 Ontario .. 2,5?1 918 2.182.047 .140.261 P. E. Island ... . !)3,72fl 103,250 0.531 OaAhec .. 2.0'<2 712 1,648.808 .153.814 Saskatchewan 402.432 01.270 401.153 Yukon 8.512 27.210 18,707 N'.W. Territory K.,051 20.129 3,178