Canada.

Timaru Herald, Volume XIIIC, Issue 14216, 4 June 1910, Page 4 (Supplement)

Canada.

LECTURE BY REV. FATHER FAY. There was a large attendance in the Boys' Catholic Club. Temukaj on Tuesday night, when Rev. Father Fay gave a lecture oil the above subject. The president of the Club, Mr E. B. Gillespie, presided. Ihe speaker at the outset said it was not possible for him to adequately deal with the subject as he would like, oning to the fact tlt-ifc any one of Canada s special features would take up an evening. He briefly outlined the geographical features of Canada, and related the incident of many years ago. when a well-known monarch bartered the great Dominion away as a few square miles of snow. It is in the shadowy realms of myth and tradition that Canadian history seems to have its beginning, in the Icelandic sagas that tell of tho voyages and adventures or I th * *arth Vikings, Eric and Leif. and Thorfinn to tbe new lands. Undoubtedly on the shores of North America is found tho earliest record of contact with Europeans—with what is now known as Canada. Reference was made to the voyage of John Cabot sailing from Bristol under a charter from Henry VII.. five years after L-olumbus had opened a new world to European conquest, and exploitation, E- n i i planting of the standard of tngland. on the shores of Newfoundland, whereon rested the claim of "rent Britain to America. Fisheries were established a few years after this voyage, and they appear to be the first fruits of the great North continent. English, Basque and Breton fishermen swarmed there for many years. The nest discovery was one that carried the flag of France—Verrazano, in 15-24. Other . navigators followed in 1034j 1542, and at various intervals from then on early records show that Carter Lieut. de Robernal, Martin Frobisher' Sir Francis Drake, and Sir Humphrey Gilbert visited and founded settlements on the great snow mainland. At various stages from 159S attempts were made at and with small success until the French and English met in armed "hostility just prior to. and about 1629. From th»n on conflict continued until the New "World was in lfiD7 handed back to the F.nb'sh by the Treaty of ed back to the English by the Treaty of fion, for in 1702 the war of the Soanish Succession broke out, and l>loodv border warfare was resumed. Nicholson caotured Port- Ivoval, and onlv tbe I wrecking of Sir Horeden "Walker's fleet saved Quebec. Marlborough's victories at Blenheim, Oudenarde and Malplaquet. decided tho fate of Arcadia, which together with Newfoundland, and the JT"dson Bnv territory. was codec! to En'-lnnd ~bv th" Treaty of "Ctxetch in 1713. Po.soe reigned for a period. The French th«n | s«t out to extend their possessions in tho North "West, and at the same time forrpod a cordon of settlement about . +h«. Fnj-!:sh holidings. The latter for ■>ii yy-r* no attempt to acquire _ " r '■ T [»,-• -lif ■ = broke out air a in I Tv iritr Oenrfe's war, and ■ ' ] v . ' <'f Aix-la-Chanpelle, '' o /" French. , r a fe "' Tears. ' i rc i], zr .,) + lisifc a trreater struggle w='s nm ] th k tightened tlieir on Nora Scotia.

Both powers fortified their possessions, and advantages, and a conflict was only a matter of time, as no definite line <>i territory had been laid down by iho Treaty of 1745. Encounters bad taken place at Groat Meadows, and Fort Necessity in 1754, hut the following year the hostilities broke out in earnest, though it was not till May 1706 that war was actually declared. Tho campaign continued, and the battle of 13th September, 1759, on the Plains of Abraham, and the subsequent capture of Quebec and Montreal, made England supreme on the North American continent. "New France" ceased to exist, and by the terms of the Treaty of Paris, 17u3, France ceded to Great Britain, Canada and the Cane Breton district, arid all the land east or the Mississippi, except the city and district of New Orleans, and formally renounced all claims to Arcadia. "Until 1807. iho history of the Canadian North-West was little more than a history of iho fur trade, the original HudsoVs Bay Company being organized under a charter of Charles 11. in 1670. The lecturer devoted much time to the various cntcrpr.ses that had snrung up with the object of increasing and capturing the fur industry. and gave a minute account of the famous explorer Alexander Mackenzie, an agent of tlie Nor'-Westers. who in 1793."" after four (years' attempts successfully reached the Pacific shore, and was the first known [ white man to cross the continent north of Mexico. Hie establishment of Fort F razor. Winnipeg, tho Bed River Colony, Manitoba, and manv other important centres, was described, showing the perilous times experienced! through attacks by ihe Indians, trio hardshios of climate, and shortage of food. These however, wore all survived, and a rapid development soon saw the great Canadian Dominion separated into flourishing provinces, and in the last quarter of a century its gigantic r.rngross has liot been equalled by any other country in the world. The lecturer next treated of the political and physical feature--; of Canada, touching upon its constitution, form of Government, and the social condition of the neople, tho ranul increase in its population, its educational system, and its productiveness. Tie instanced the great work done by the Jesuit Fathers as pioneers, from 16-'-,:'. onwards, and quoted Bancroft. the historian, who said that "tho historv 0 f their labours is connected with tho origin of every celebrated town in the annals of French America. It was a Jesuit Father, (Father Marquette) nho discovered Lake Superior, and the Mississippi." Father Fay dealt exhaustively with tho wheat-producing provinces, and outlined the great and deeply interesting systems of centralising the grain production of tho Bominion. He devoted much time to iho lake and canal systems, and outlined with much interest the manner in which the Canadian waterways are uttilized. He concluded hv giving a descriptive account- of his trip from Vancouver to Toronto, and gave l his audience n fine idea of the magnificence and beauty of the Frazer River, and the lumber mills of the Canadian West. Many humorous incidents helped to make" the lecture (which occupied two hours) all too j short. i

Father Fay resumed his sent amidst anpljuisc, and on the motion of the chairman was accorded a heart v vote of thanks for his interesting address.