A NATION IN THE MAKING.

Timaru Herald, Volume CXXV, Issue 18613, 8 July 1930, Page 10

A NATION IN THE MAKING.

LAND OF GOLDEN OPPORTUNITY. LIFE HARD BUT PROSPECTS GOOD (By T.C.L.) Canada, the senior of the British Dominions, has done much to develop its natural resources during the past twenty years. At the same time it has not neglected its manufactures. As a result it is in a strong position to-day, and it is confident of the future. It is a vast country, and very thinly populated. Thousands of mililons oi square miles have yet to be explored and surveyed. Millions of acres of known valuable arable land await the settler and his plough. Canada is in the same position to-day as the United States was fifty years ago. “Go west, young man!” was the slogan then. Canada’s might well be to-day, "Go north-west, young man!” In the Western provinces the traveller may go by train through hundreds and thousands of miles of flat wheat land, just now being put under the plough for the current season’s harvest. And such land! Though it is under snow and subject to a temperature as low as 40 to 50 below zero in the winter, it will continue to grow wheat year after year without any fertiliser. For forty years it will do this, so the farmers aver. And from the depth of the chocolate or dark-look-ing soil one would not be disposed to question this statement. Certainly the homes look stark and desolate, and one wonders how the womenfolk “stick it” in such depressing environment during the long, cold winter. But they are pioneering, and they have the pioneer spirit, hoping for the day when they are in a position to spend the winter in the nearest town or city and enjoy the amenities and conveniences it provides. Great Granary. Canada is one of the world’s greatest granaries. Its public men claim it can supply the world with all the wheat it needs. Just now there is a glut of wheat in the markets of the world, due to the abundance of the crops in Europe, Argentina, the U.S.A., and Australia last year. Consequently prices are down to the lowest level known for years. Just a little over a dollar a bushel it is now, and only a few years ago the grower could com- i mand from two to two and a quarter dollars. Like other producers, he felt he was not getting a fair deal, and readily embraced the idea of forming a pool for the proper control of wheatselling. But his hopes so far have not been realised, for prices have ever since steadily decreased, until now they are 20 cents less per bushel than they were a year ago. He has not realises > that the denression in prices is worldwide. that the great consuming nations in Europe are not in full employment and that they cannot therefore pay the prices they have been paying, even for the staff of life. In operation all ( the time, of course, is the inexorable law of supply and demand. But the Canadian is not downhearted. Though of the 300 million bushels of wheat harvested last vear 200 milbushels are still in the elevators and the new season’s crops will soon be ready to harvest (and be up to the 1926 crop, viz.. 560 million bushels), prices, he believes, will soon come right. And if they don’t, well, even at a dollar that has been advanced by the Danks under the State guarantee, the »armer is still able to live and keep his head above water until better times come round again. He knows, too, that Canada has not all its eggs in one basket. It has newsprint manufactures, which rank next In importance to wheat-growing, and bring in tens of millions of dollars yearly from all over the world, but nrincipallv from the United States, where the timbers required for the purposes are being cut out. Canada realises that no country outside Russia is as favourably situated for wood puln l as it is. Are there not millions of acres of spruce, hemlock and fir still untouched, and is not the countrv alI ready cut growing Jurther supplies of j these timbers 1 Tbr countrv with the largest supplies of soft woods is going to play an increasingly important oart in the economic hfe of the world in the future, and 'bis fact is fully realised by the Canadian as well as bv thp Yankee across border. The latter, indeed, is greatly concerned about the future, r * n rt knows that be has to look elsewhere than the United States for bis wood sunolies. He has been to prodithe consumption of his own. and has not until recently thought of conservation or reafforestation. Canadian Orchards. Then Canada is a fruit-growing I country. It has large orchards in BriJ tish Columbia and Ontario, as well as in the eastern provinces. On the Niagara peninsula, around the shores of Lake Michigan, are miles and miles of beautiful orchard country, all well tended, and all bearing a prosperous appearance. To go through in blossom time as the New Zealand Press party did on its way to the Niagara Falls, was one of the ihost interesting and enjoyable experiences possible. Canada, too, is rich in minerals. It supplies the world with much of its nickel, copper, lead, zinc and asbestos; it has huge silver deposits; it produces considerable gold, platinum and other j valuable minerals. It has immeasurable : coal measures and has just tapped oil j in the Alberta province and found in--1 dications of other oil structures along * the feet of the Rockies. These Rockies run right up to the frozen north, or, at least, what we have believed to be frozen, but exploration has proved this to be habitable land. The total value of the minerals last year exceeded sixty millions sterling. Mine developments and the construction of new smelters and refineries now in progress point the way to enlarged outputs. As a mining country no country has a brighter future than Canada. Canada also has large manufacturing interests. It has done much in establishing industries in the past, but it

aims to do a great deal more in the near future. Like its hustling, ambitious friends across the frontier, it aims not only to supply its own needs, but to compete in the world’s markets, and what it is capable of in this direction we in New Zealand have already reason to know. Last year it supplied us with a million and a half pounds worth of motors, £750,000 worth of tyres, £182,000 worth of hosiery, £250,000 worth of boots, and other manufactured products, the total of the whole being just upon five million sterling. In return Canada bought from us £3,350.000 worth of goods, of which butter accounted for £2,707,000. It is now seeking to impose heavier duties on our butter, but that is another matter. Obviously, however, we cannot continue to buy from her unless she buys from us, for how else can we pay her? Canada has the great advantage of abundant and cheap hydro-electric power. Every important industrial centre in the Dominion has its own energy, with substantial reserves for the future. This makes for cheap production of goods, and accounts to some extent for Canada’s progress as a manufacturing nation. Its fisheries, too, are an important factor in its progress and prosperity. Confidence in Country. Canadians have great faith and confidence in the future of their country. Their cities, at least in the Western provinces, are being laid out to accommodate four and five times their present populations. The hotels, especially those belonging to the Canadian Pacific Railway, are mammoth structures, bigger and better equipped than any in Europe, and rivalling the best and biggest in New York. The shops, too, are very fine, some of them covering a whole block, and towering to 15 and 20 storeys. Skilled tradesmen are paid higher wages than in New Zealand, but unskilled fare worse. The cost of living is higher than in New Zealand. House rents are also higher, and how the low paid people live is a mystery to the visitor. Like other parts of the world there has been a good deal of unemployment in Canada during the past winter, and relief work had to be found by the Government and municipalities, whilst soup kitchens were opened in several cities. But the position is improving in this respect, and by the middle of the summer it is expected normal conditions will prevail. The visitor is not impressed with Canada’s prospects as a dairying country. The cattle have 'to be housed and fed during the winter, thus adding to the cost of the products and decreasing the quality. In Alberta one sees a dairy herd or two that in our Dominion would be condemned to the boneyard. In Ontario and Quebec the conditions were better and the stock healthier, but here also the cows have to be housed during the winter. Dairying under such conditions cannot compete with dairying in such a favoured country as New Zealand, and would not unless the politicians interfered. It is just as foolish for us to attempt the manufacture of cars, tyres, etc., that we are now buying from Canada as for the latter to try to compete with us in the production of butter. It is far better and cheaper to exchange the goods for which our natural conditions are suitable. Canada is not free from problems, but her people have been reared under sturdy conditions, alongside a pushful, virile, thickly-populated neighbour, and have developed a self-reliance and independence of spirit that will enable her to find solutions for them all, and march on towards the utilisation and development of her wonderful and extensive natural resources in the fulfilment of her destiny.