CANADA’S LOYALTY.

Otago Witness, Issue 3804, 8 February 1927, Page 61

CANADA’S LOYALTY.

AMERICANISED, BUT BRITISH. . AUCKLAND, ’ February 4. Canada is every bit as loyal to the British Empire as New Zealand is. Let there be no question about that,” declared Mr B. B. Halliday, of Toronto, who is at present visiting Wellington, at the Chamber of Commerce luncheon to-day, when he spoke on “Canada: Its Political and Economic Problems.” Canadians, said Mr Halliday, were very much interested in matters relating to New Zealand, which they looked upon as a part of one great family. He found that in Canada, whenever mention was made of Australia or New Zealand, intense interest was aroused. New Zealand, he added, made a very fine display ot its products at the Canadian Exhibition held at Toronto last year, visitors being greatly impressed. The population of Canada had been at a standstill for some times past, the natural increase drifting across the border to America, where employment was more readily obtainable than in Canada. The few English sections in Quebec were being crowded out by the French-Canadian, who was a great propagator. Referring to the tariff question, Mr Halliday remarked that British Columbia, which was dependent upon fishing, shipping. and lumbering, and to a small extent mining, believed in a protective market, while Quebec, which was somewhat differently situated, had not expressed an opinion on the question. There was no such thing as prohibition in the United States, or in Canada for that matter, where the question was a provincial one and not a Dominion matter. . There was a law, but that was all. Liquor was procurable at any time, but there was no doubt that its use had been curtailed considerably. “Now, in regard to the question of annexation,” he added, “we do not want it, and I do not think any reasonable man in the United. States does either. We are intensely loyal to Britain. Americans are in and out of our country by the thousands every day, with the result that we have become practically Americanised, but when it conies to loyalty to the British Empire let there be no doubt on the matter. We are every bit as loyal to Britain, and every bit as proud of her institutions and accomplishments as you in New Zealand are.”