THE BRITISH COLUMBIAN AFFAIR.

Evening Star, Issue 4281, 15 November 1876, Page 4

THE BRITISH COLUMBIAN AFFAIR.

To the Editor. Sib, —It appears a most extraordinary thing tp pie tfokt facts which are thoroughly well known to millions qf people should be ... distorted apjif falsified to ‘suit .theinterest: of n ’* blindly v rnaheeinWa«oa of error , anent the affairs of Canada, and the threatened; secession of British Columbia from the Dominion, fondly imagining that by so doing it' is showing up ; the evils Of l Centralism m 'that'country. Had the author of the article in question . ever.been in that part of the world, or had he infbrmauon from af higher source' , >hau ''■mf P yhgue descrlbtiqn in the last ? would .haye known that the txvp i parties there are hot advocates of Abolition or Provincialism, but bear the © same names,: and hold the same views as politicians in Great Britain, i e. Gonservativesand Liberals. The real reason for the secession of British Columbia, if such be the case, is this. In 1.87% Sir Johd A. M‘Donald, the leader of the m power, became connected .with the notorious CanadaPacific scandal. Ho; together with-some other influential men, agreed to allow several Americana to buy up a commanding interest in the proposed Canada-Pacific railway ; the Americans, of course, ■ wishing to put hv erj obstacle in the way of its formation, ify Order io : conserve the monopoly of tljo traffic to tboir own side .of the ,frcn%i>;m return for which they were prepared to pay a handsome douceur to Sir John and h^s, colleagues. . This plot was found out, and the Premier saw his speedy downfall and eventual ruin-staring him in the face. However, a happy thought atru.uk him. Knowing the strong- rfeeliqg entertained by Canadians oi sll classes in favor g>£ .Confederation—or Central am, as I sup]«<e :the*‘Guardian* would callit—he offered the pedple of the far western and almost unof the British rafroory, and con-

necting th,#m, with ,til other Provinces in the space of five years, 'if they would Join the Dominion. They consented, and of course never got. their railway, the difficulties, both pecuniary and otherwise, of snoh an undertaking being almost insurmountable, and the space of time agreed, on being, 'at .the outside, one-pfth . of;.that ; wbieh it would, _tate for .its completion. As soon as this was known in British Columbia, the people saw at once how they ■ had been deluded, and I oan easily imagine that they, being cut offj dnr case of a war with the United States, from all communication with the remainder, of thq Dominion, would hardly care to have to support a Government which would be utterly powerless to assist them in their time of trouble. * I hope ;it will be palpable, therefore, that the oasga - of New Zealand and-, Canada are in nowise, analagons, and that only the grossest ignorance, eoinbihed with the blindest subserviance to party, opinion, could the ridiculous article in yesterday’s' 1 Guardiah.’' I am, &c., 1 Canadian. Dunedin,. November 15. 1