THE SISTER DOMINION

Southland Times, Issue 18990, 11 July 1923, Page 6

THE SISTER DOMINION

NOTES FROM CANADA. RUMOURS OF AN ELECTION. (Copyright, Universal Literary Service). VANCOUVER, June 9. A Dominion election soon is hinted at by the Brookville Recorder and Times, owned by the Minister of Railways in the present Government, Mr George f. Graham. Thia paper states that it has been informed that it is quite likely that the present Parliament would be dissolved and an appeal to the country made on the popularity of Hon. W. S. Fielding’s “middle of the road” fiscal policy. Liberal politicians believe that if Sir Wilfred Laurier had had his own way and appealed to the Canadian people on the question of reciprocity immediately after the introduction of the reciprocity agreement in 1911, he would have swept the country, and these politicians now believe that the same result would happen if an appeal Were made at this time. The Premier declined to make any comment on the foregoing item. TOO MUCH INTENSITY'. The world is rapidly becoming one great madhouse, in the opinion of Dr A. H. Desloges, director of asylums of the department of public health in the province of Quebec. In fifty years or so the vast majority of the civilised world will have become or will be on the way to become insane unless something is done to stop the rapid increase in mental derangement. The past year, the doctor says, has been a record one in the number of cases of insanity treated, not only in the province ol Quebec, but throughout the whole world* Dr Desloges, in common with most alienists, believed this to be the result of the extraordinary intensity and excitement of everyday life. “Nobody works, or plays, or does anything normal these days,” the doctor said. “When we work, we work like mad; when we play, we play like mad; whatever we do, we do it with all the intensity of a crazy enthusiasm. “There is also the general and economic shock of the war which has had its effect everywhere, and has largely given rise to this condition of things. It has left a tendency to lose all sense of balance and proportion, both in work and play. This is increasingly disorganising the nervous system of the individual members of society to the extent that humanity is becoming one of our social evils which have to ba dealt with by energetic measures.” Back to a simpler life is the doctor’s advice. ANTI-ORIENTAL LEGISLATION. Of the fifteen Canadian appeals now before the Judicial Committee of the Privy Council, one is the appeal of the province of British Columbia against tne Dominion Government’s disallowance of the provincial act validating Orders-in-Council respecting the employment of Japanese labour in British Columbia. On a previous occasion the Privy Council sustained provincial legislation prohibiting the employment of Japanese and Chinese on Crown property by timber license-holders, but the point was left undecided as to whether such legislation was ultra vires the CanadianJapanese treaty. The present issue on the Canadian-Japanese agreement was raised by the province of British Columbia submitting questions for the decision of the Supreme Court of Canada. This court decided against the province and the antiOriental legislation was consequently dinallowed by the Dominion Government. If is from this decision that the province oi British Columbia is appealing to the Privy Council. The case is being watched with close interest by the local Japanese and Chinese living within the province. TOTEM POLES DISAPPEARING. The disappearance of Indian totem polfli in the villages along the north-west coast of British Columbia has caused the Canadian Historical Association to ask the Government to assist it in preserving the few remaining totem pole villages. It wae stated that although the carved totem pole to-day has no connection with religion, when Indians suffered a religious revive! they felt it imperative that they get rid of what they considered a sign of their heathen state. In many of the totem villages, the toteme were as tall as fifty feet and elaborately carved with figures representing the salmon, crow, bear, eagle and other animals and birds. The totem pole was a record of the clan and family life of the Siwash Indians of British Columbia, but as they have been induced to forsake their old-time gods, they wish to get rid of all his outward symbols. >