THE DEVELOPMENT OF CANADA.

Press, Volume LX, Issue 11486, 20 January 1903, Page 4

THE DEVELOPMENT OF CANADA.

"Bigb*ly or wwmgly, every Canadian Mmiatry makes ih© proeperity of agriculture ite greatest concern." So said Mr Fiafoer, iha Canadian Minister for Agricultore, Iβcently, and so far m the present Government is concerned S*« eympafcbetic attitude towsadß the farmers of Uws Dominion has been demonstrated agiiin and again. A cable message which we jmblieh this morning affords an excellent illustration of the alertness of the Canadian Government in regard to the encouragement of immigration nnd the agricultural development of the oountry. A mission consisting of forty successful llanitoba farmtrs will, it is stated, be sent to England shortly by the Government, in orJer, if possible, to induce war reßervJste to settle in Canada. The problem of >fche unemployed soldier has grown to serious dimensions in England since tie war, and if the Canadian mission can help to relieve the situation in tbe manner suggested, their efforts will no doobt -be wetccmed by the British Government. The Manitoban farmers will deliver lectures in the agricultural centres of Great Britain, drawing upon their personal experiences to present such a picture of successful prairie-farmiag in the Great North-West as may attract a stream of emigrants across tthe water to follow their example. Undeveloped Canada, it ia well-known, offers for the poor man willing to work a splendid opportunity, and the members of tihe mission will doubtless have a glowing Me to tel of the remarkable progress of the country and its splendid possibilrbiee. During tthe past three or four years the * settlement of the fertile landa of the north-western Canada has made wonderfully rapid strides. In 1891 tie population of tihe North-West was 98,967, in'l9ol.it was 160,000, and the present total is estimated at about 250,000. Emigrants are flocking by thousands across tihe border from the United States, miHions of acres are being, cut up for settlement, and production, it Iβ stated, is now "reckoned "by tens of millione instead of by han"dreds of ihoueainde." So great was the yield of wheat, hadey, oats, and; other crape ia Manitoba and the neighbouring territories in I*l, that the railways were blocked for montsha, while in 1902 * the amount of grain handled exceeded by nearly 40 per cemt. tihe total for the previous yeat , . Jb.verything pointe, moreover, to a continuance of the exceptionally thigh degree of prosperity wMoh the country now enjoys. Bub the development of Canadian agriculture ie still only in its, infancy. In noxtii-western Ontario, in Manitoba, and is the territorial of Alberta, Assinaboia, and Saskatdaewan, tlie area, available for fanor lands is estimated at 250,000 square miles. A* yet only about one-eighth of this vast territory is occupied 1 . In Manitoba alone, there are some three million acres under cropk but another twenty-two million acre* of cultivable laod are strll awaiting eettlement. The development of Canada's mag-' nifioent wsourcee ie greatly handicappedi by the want of settien. Phenomenal as the rush to the -Nortii-Weet has been from all parts of America and: from Europe, tie fertile .prairies are still, comparatively speaking, a vast solitude. The Canadian Governmenb is doing what it can to aseiet the farmer, and the railway' companies are strengthening their branches in all directions kk order to oope with the steady growth of trade. But emigrants are wanted, end capital is wanted, to develop the land* and m>t till tbese requirement* aw met can tie Domkaon nope to take; advantage of a tithe of iher resources.