OUR CANADIAN LETTER

Press, Volume XLIX, Issue 14829, 21 November 1913, Page 3

OUR CANADIAN LETTER

(TXOU OCR OWX COKJCKSrOKDEKI.) TORONTO, October 2-1 NEW LIBERAL ORGAN.

i The Hon. \Y. S. Fielding, former ! Finance Minister of Canada, under the Launer Government, has consented to servo as editor-in-chief of the "Montreal Daily Telegraph, , ' which abioroed the "Daily Witness." The "Telegraph" , will bo a straight Liberal journal, xhougu independent of any party organisation. Ho takes tho position witxi the cordial approval ot oir V iifrid Laurier and leading Liberals, and will assume his duties as editor and presiuent of tno Telegraph i'ublisniug Company about tho Ist December, on his return from a short visit to Great iiritaiu. Mr l'ielaing was a jou.na.isc lor some twenty yeais in -Nova csjowa, resigning t!ie position of managing editor or the ''.Uormng Chronicle" to accept tho Premiership of his native province. He was re-elected for Halifax, his nativo city, in the' Legislature in 1664, 1666, IS'JO, and law, being Secretary and Treasurer of the l'ro" vince, and on the formation of oir Wilfrid Laurier's Administration in 189tf he was chosen Minister of Finance, and was elected to the House of Commons for Shelburno and Queens in 189(5, and re-elected until the general elections in 1911, when the Laurier Government was defeated. Ho had the unique privilege in Canadian history of introducing the Budget for sisteen successive- years, in all of which except the first after ho took ofßco he was able to report a surplus. He has been honoured with the degrees of D.CL. from Acadia University, and LL.D. from McGill and Queen's, and in 1902 declined knighthood which the Imperial Government -wished to bestow upon him in recognition of his distinguished services to the Empire. THE WHEAT DUTIES. •Strong pressure is being brought to bear upon the Government by tho AVostorn Conservative members of Parliament to remove the duties on wheat, flour, and seminola, in order to take advantage of tho new American tariff. There are signs that the Government is disposed to listen to those- demands, which arc daily becoming more i:isistent from tho West. ELECTRIC STEEL FURNACE IN TORONTO. . Tho first' stool manufacturing plant in Toronto, and tho first electric steel furnace in Canada, is now operating, and is turning out steel castings at the rate- of about two tons a day. The Molfat-Irving Electric Smelters, 'Ltd., claims to have brought tho manufacture of steel in an electric furnftco to such a point that ii can bo carried on on a commercial basis. Ontario has extensive deposits of iron ore, but the coal necessary for economic smelting of it in tho usual way is lacking, but there is abundance of water power, so a new era L<? about to commence in the steel industry of Canada, if the claims of theso Toronto engineers are borne out. Tests made at tho University of Toronto show tho steel turned out to be of good quality, possessing high tensile strength also free from blow holes, slag, and gas pockets, and of uniform density. The iron ores of Canada are- for the most part low grade magnetites, which cannot be used economically in the blast furnace on account of the low iron content, and to be of any value must be crushed and then concentrated magnetically. Hence tho effort to find another and more economic treatment. RICH STRIKE OF OIL. Canada's oil industry has received a remarkable impetus by the striking of an unlimited eupply of almost pure gasoline by drillers at Black Diamond, twenty-six" miles south-west of Calgary, Alberta, on tho 11th inst. The prospects of this discovery had precipitated a rush, and oil magnates from the Californian and Pacific elope oil fields have been on tho scene for weeks, while a large number of 'Chicago and New York financiers have also been on the spot. The Standard Oil Company has ,had representatives on the ground for a considerable time, but the Canadian oromoters propose to keop out the American oil octopus. All the hotels in the district are full, and mushroom cities aro expected to spring up where but a few weeks ago farmers and • ranchers had been quietly pursuing their vocations, unsuspecting the wealth beneath their feet." The citizens of the vicinity are "oil mad," many •waiting in line for days to file claims. CANADIAN- APPLES TO SOUTH AFRICA.' Ontario has found a new market for her apples, the iirst shipment to Cape Town, South Africa, having been made a few days ago, consisting of three thousand bushels of King applos, the chief rival of tho famous Northern Spies. They were tho product of 245 trees in an orchard belonging to Mr Geo. H. Gooderham, M.P., of Toronto. A prominent merchant from Cape Town, passing through tho Niagara peninsula about the beginning of September, was so impressed with the fruit, that he made an offer for the entire output of tho orchard, offering a price about 20 per cent, bettor than Mr Gooderham could obtain in tho home market, besides relieving him of the freight charges. The same purchaser made contracts with several other producers in the same district for apples to be I shipped to South Africa next year, they j having already closed contracts with Toronto commission in on tfor this year's fruit. JNEW CANADIAN ARCHITECTURE. In the construction of Burwash Hall, the new residence for students of Victoria University, named in honour of the .Chancellor who has just rotired after many years' service, and _ Knox College, now in course of erection on its new site adjoining the University of Toronto campus, the collegiate authorities are introducing a new Collegiate Gothic style of architecture, which will bo a credit to the present generation, ! and will contain some of tho finest stone tracery work in North America. L:jiht<?r walls than in the Norman style which characterised the old TJnii versitv buildings, and larger windows, j>to found in the new stylo. Burwash Hall consists of a residence and dining hall attached, which will cr*rt» when J conmleted half a million dollars, and ! yrill.be ready for students at the open- ' ins of the Michaelmas term. The equipment and furnishings aro to be of i very and most comfortable designs, and tbr> kitcfien *v)ntains the last word in culinary appliance?. AN "EQUAL RIGHTS" CLUB. A new idea' in clubdom has taken root in this city. Tho American Club of Toronto, organised in February at an informal gathering ofeo few former I residents of the United States now j living in Toronto, has just opened a commodious home in tho old Union I Bank building on Wellington street West, the renovations, alterations, and J equipment costing 150,000 dollars, but ! the peculiar feature is that the wives of the members onjoy the eanie privileges there as the men themselves. There are two entrances, one for the men and one for the women; the men's lounging room, billiard room, office, and library j are on the first floor, the women's lounging and the dining rooms on the second floor, while the third floor is I divided into ten bedrooms and baths. J Provision is being made for a roof i garden. _ The basement contains a commodious kitchen with 'cold storage and refrigerator plants. The resident of* tie Club has already reached five hundred, and non-resident J sixty. It is estimated that there are i about thirty thousand Americans in Toronto. BREVITIES. The City Council of Toronto has decided to have an administrative survey i made of tho city's methods and ex-

penditures by specialists of the Nt*w i'ork Bureau of Research. Toronto i.s the first city in Canada to undertake such a survey, and the expense. is to be borne entirely by some hundred of tho prominent business men of the city. Tho specialists have already commenced their work. They wiil co-operate with the heads of the various civic departments, and it is hopotl to have a report on tho results of their work by February next. M*ny of the large corporations in the Dominion have en-gagc-d experts to advise them with regard to tho best methods of operating the various departments of their organisations, and similar benefit is expected from the survey.

One of tho newest instances of tho value of wireltss telegraphy was the saving of tho life of a 'fireman aboard the Canadian Pacific Railway's Atlantic liner iioqniouth. on its voyage which terminated at Montreal on the 9th. James Arthur, the fireman in question. was attacked by internal trouble oi some kind, accompanied by violent hemorrhages. There was no surgeon on tho Monmouth, so her commander. Captain Griffiths, got into communication by -wireless with the Allan liner Hesperian, detailing the sufferer's symptoms to the surgeon there, and receiving daily proscriptions. And after tho Hesperian had passed beyond range of the Monmoutti's apparatus, lio managed to cet in touch with the Montrauma of tho same line, and the surgeon of the sister ship continued the coot! work, with tho result that Arthur recovered.