BRITISH COLUMBIA.

Dominion, Volume 1, Issue 19, 17 October 1907, Page 11

BRITISH COLUMBIA.

RESOURCES AND PROGRESS.

Writing from Victoria (capital of British Columbia) a correspondent of a Homo papei states: — Hero, as in overy othor part of Canada, there is 110 mistaking tho deep and widespread, impulse of loyalty. Indeed, Canada'i loyalty to that for' which ' the British flaj stands requires 110 omphasis. Once and' foi nil it. may' be taken for granted. On the other hand, it is of the utmost importance that a certain scepticism as to the realisation of home statesmen, irrespective of party, af Canada's rights, Canada's interests, should bo removed. British' • Columbians have remained loyal despito what, not without justification, they regard as a contury and more af rebuffs at the hands of the ccntral Govjrnmont. Tliero still'rankles the legend oi how territory and valuable fishing waters ivero allowed to go becauso an Englishman bad asserted that salmon would not rise to the fly in the Columbia River; and much more recent incidents might bo cited in which tho Canadian holds that Britain, has acquiesced in the violation of bis rights. Loyalty here, in a word, so far- from being inconsistjnt.with,.,is tho more convincing and vital ay reason-of. frank'criticism. Tho Canadian lolels in' highest honour the British Consti;ution,\ the., British tradition of justice and iiirity of. administration. That is the beacon iglit which lends, radiance'to his enthusiisms. Nevertheless it should be understood ;hat he is firm In his demand for more consideration for fairer play, in the future than n the past; that tho significance of his re-iqlutely-yoiced cry, "Canada for the ; Canalians," should be clearly recognised by the [mnerial Parliament-.' Though the increased poll, tax of £100 has essened tlio immigration of Chineso, and, it may be added," more-than doubled the wages jf the Chink; there ; aro to-day more Chinamoil'in the'province than evor before. AH employers of labour testify' to the trustworthiness . and excellence of the Chinaman. His ■ word is his bond; what he promises to perform he performs, ■ whether in the salmon janneries, where he enlists the aid of the Indian women, in the household, where his services are invaluable, or as a trader.on his Dwn account. China-town is, of course, one of. : the most interesting, in its way the most fascinating,, features of Victoria. The faces ijf : the pig-tailed men who emerge from , the slose-set wooden houses on to the timbered footway. _seem to tho ■ European, impenetrable; the quaint children—for there are a -few youngsters—might -well belong to -another planet....Centuries of submission have shaped the Ching into a kind of admirable machine, faithful to those for whom, he labours. He does not appear to resent an excursion of the curious into the rather, gaudy Doss House, where his devil-deity is worshipped, into his humble' theatre, upon, whose stage spectators —as in our Elizabethan play-houses—arc accommodated. with places, into his domino clubs,, or, even into the meanly-furnished dens, to which at night he resorts to smoke a few. "pills" of opium. Many /a Chinaman in B.C. pays 20 cents (lOd) a day to the opium den, and for this ho is entitled to ar unlimited supply on the promises. ' Tho habituar smoker requires about fifteen "pills' to;induco the desired oblivion. Then ho sinks back on .the . pillow—and dreams. , But il must not be understood that all Chinamer have contracted the drug habit. Tho proprietor of one opium den wo visited—wlie congratulated a portly member of our partj on his "mucliy fine mandarine"—was noi smoked, to cite a single instance ol many-, for a quarter of a century. There are,' too, in Victoria hundreds of' alert Japs Hindoos, and in tho surrounding country remnants of the aboriginal-Indians. ■■■: After many vicissitudes, after a long perioe of practical isolation, British Columbia.stand: forth to-day as, actually and'potentially, 011 c of the' richest provinces in the Dominion This"twentieth ceiltnry, it has been said, i: to be the contury of the Western Pacific seaboard, as tho nineteenth was: of tho Atlantic However this may be,- British Columbia— which, though threo anel a half times the size of the: United Kingdom;'contains as yei only a quarter*'of<a million l inhabitants—musl reap a generous .sharo in the gigantic ■ ele velopment which lies ' before-• Canada.- Tlu mighty Rockies are no longer a barrier bo tween East and West, and Vancouver is ir the'near'future-likely to be served, n,ot alone by' the C.P.R., but by other Canadian rail way companies. Where a quartor of a cen tury ago wore a few posts of the, Hudson Baj Company and here and there some mining venturers, cities have risen, alive with.traffic, lands have been cleared and made productive, huge fishing industries have been established shafts 2000 feet-deep have been sunk anei successfully worked for minerals., . And s thousand thousand times more remains to, be accomplished. The traveller must, go fai afield to discover- an-immense area of lane 1 and water, so variod anel beautiful, of climate so desirable, and possessed of comparablj rich natural resources, mineral, forest, fishery, and fruit-growing. Tho days of wild-cnl speculation are over , in districts such as Rossland, where the proeluction, of gold, copper iron, lead, etc., is conducted on scientific lines, and this state of; affairs is the herald ol tfliat must occur in other parts of the Province. The lumber , industry, considerable thougl: it bo, is as yet only .in its infancy. _ With the peopling of the plains,, the extension of the cities, it is difficult to 'foreseo any limit tc the increasing demand/; for the settler invariably builds his dwelling of wood.' Salmon —than the Fraser River "sockeyo" salmor thorp is none so fine; in the market—canned under the most scfupiulous conditions, is a third-source of untold wealth to the community.' British Columbian fruit—strawberries; chorries, fine raspberries, peaches, apples, plums, and apricots that grow like grapes on a bunch—aro already competing ivith the-fruitage of Ontario,' and tho supply is eagerly absorbed; nay, demands which can not be satisfied come from homo. As to the minerals', they are called for on every hand. Men of the right kind; capital sure of a liberal return when lieedfully expended: these British Columbia wants—and will indubitably receivo—for her fuller development.