IN CANADA

Hokitika Guardian, 21 February 1925, Page 4

IN CANADA

AN INTERESTING LETTER

Mr Geo. McCullough, formerly headmaster of Woodstock School, who some months ago exchanged for service in Canadian schools, writing to a friend in Hokitika, from Rutherford, School Edmonton, Canada, in the course of an interesting letter includes the following excerpts:— Alberta the prairie city in the—well, 1 was going to say making, but it is made as much as one can expect it to be for some time. Ten years ago there seemed no limit to its possibilities but to-day it is in a stagnant state. Maybe the next few years will sec an improvement but when one realises the extent of the taxes etc., one can get some conception of the reason lor its present condition. Imagine a town of (>O,OOO people which labours under a debt of ■ L believe a minimum estimate) $30,000,000 (.07,000.0(H)). That is Edmonton and they tell me that Calgary, south of here, is in worse straits. House properties which in Christchurch j would pay rates of £8 per year, here are burdened with- nearly COO for the same term. Of course this load is increased by the fact that each centre builds its own schools and pays its own teachers. .Moreover, Edmonton has had a mushroom development. Twenty-five years ago the residents were tiring across the river, to my location. at raiding Indian braves. To-day those same Indians live quite inoffensively m the Reserves. They, like the bufialo, are sullenlv and silently watching the grasping incursions of the Europeans and their aids to husbandry. This hurried growth made all expenditures in street cars, sewers, water supply, buildings and street paving I come together. To make matters '*">rs». the place has no available sumey of travel or shingle. All such material must he dredged from the river bottom. Edmonton is built on rolling downs r i<dit athwart the Saskatchewan Hivcr. The Rockies are so far away as to be out of sight. The land is loose, friable and black upon a clay subsoil. Large numbers of poplar and pine trees help to improve the appearance of tin plm e. These trees are native or indigenous and are of fairly slow growth. Crops are now being harvested. line farmers who are,the vertebral column ami the abdomen of the West cut their crops greener than we do. This is partly because they, lour tlm frost which does not aif set the crop once the binder lias done its work. Already we have had a lew light [rusts but on the whole the weather has hem pleasant—some days unpleasantly warm. I have just put on winter vn-der-wear. .

The reports one hears oi -10 and fO degrees below Zero are calculated to strike fear into the liear.s of t'.ieenliorns like we New Zealanders. I believe their stories are true but the dryness of the climate causes the raid to have a less effect.

Every school has a haseinent i* which (in the case of ours) are the latrines, etc., four large playrooms, two coal cellars each capable o': lidding hundreds ol tons i 812 tons in stock to-day and 1 ton is t-’OOOlbs) and four large furnaces, the heated air irom which is conveyed by huge pipes itjn in diameter to the different rooms. During winter the windows uve all duplicated—the storm windows go on in a few days. I am on the .c.ond storey; from my window 1 ga/.e across country to a much larger school of three storeys, while beside it is the leading hotel (the MacDonald, owno 1 1)v the Canadian National Railroad) ten storeys high. Houses too have basements in this country for every home no matter how small, has provsion lor central heating and all conveniences are under the same roof. Iron roofs are practically unknown, as are tiles ami dates; every place has shingle roots ami in main- eases shingle walls displace the usual wooden weather boards. By the way, this is being written while my class are at Manual Training —they attend every second week on Tuesday mornings. Monthly reports occupy u good deal of this time but with that just about completed I have set about answering you. I am pushed for time as I feel like writing a fairly long series of letters. By the way, we have. a Market Square here and in this on Saturday mornings Dagos, liohunks and all the other members of market-gardening, poultry-la ruling, and home cooking lraternity congregate and display their tempting (?) wares to the community. At present one of their dishes is “ Corn on the Cob.” Like other novel dishes it does not appeal to me. On the boat, I experimented with numerous different tropical fruits lint not one ol them appealed tj me more than did these Canadian dishes. Give me the good old X.Z. dishes where one knows what is composing the mixtures. To-day the school team played its first game of the season. Soccer was their complaint

and I who know nothing of it am supposed to be coach. The lads were beaten I—o and were decidedly unlucky. This game is played during the Fall Term. Ice hockey is the Y\ inter pastime and in Hie Spring they are indulging in baseball (bald). " Attn Bov ” (lionby) is the great yell from all fans. I guess these canuelcs would be considered rotten sports in X.Z., and they are too. On the field things happen but the fans boot and jeer incessantly. To tell you the truth I am absolutely homesick lor a good old Rugby flutter. And of the “ All Blacks ” we hear nothing. As a matter of fact I have just been searching the book shops lor something in the shape

of English sporting papers and at a cost or approximately 2s I have managed to get a little information about their arrival in the Old Land. So far there is nothing of their games. We

have one or two old X.Z. people here and they are like me absolutely brok-en-hearted at the neglect of the pa-

pers to get and publish news ol the tour.

ill is place is becoming very pro-Yan-kee and in a few years it is iloubtlul, very doubtful, which .flag will he flying, over the Government Buildings. Of course there are many violently antiYank people but the dissatisfaction with the maladministration in Ottawa is rapidly causing a large proportion of the people to lose heart.

In Calgary we were well received by an ex-South Canterbury woman and her French-C'nnadian husband. It was fine to have someone with whom to discuss Timaru-super-mare. She was at one time a Aliss AlcT.eod, sister of the Inspector formerly headmaster in Temuka.

Here there is another South Canterbury woman married to an ex-N.W. Mounted Police Officer. She is a sister-in-law of Germy Tnit at T.B.H.S. From her, too. my welcome has been of the best. A little about prices here. $1 equals 4s 6d. 1 divide by 5 and then by 4 and split the difference. Shrits $3. suits, ready-made s2o to $35 and tailor-made S6O for the £lO in X Z varietv. Ties $2. boots $5 to $lO. Board is $8 dollars a week. The common tiling is to take a room in a block and eat anywhere. Cafes open enrlv in the morning and close late V decent meal in them costs 50' cents. Some of fruits like grapes are cheaper here,, .Twenty-five cents a lb is the regular price. Motor cars are approximately the same as in New. Zealand, but down across the

border tlioy arc much cheaper. The Canadian Government have a 35 per cent duty on all American cars and ports. Petrol is 40 cents a gallon Every second person lias a ear iii these parts and these streets are lined with parked cars and Fords. To cross to the opposite side of the street one. lias to lie almost as .careful as a mariner negotiating the Antarctic regions. Accidents of a minor character such as collisions, etc., occur daily and as the result there is hardly a car with an unscarred body. . Jt seems strange to see the. electric tram cars (street cars here) equipped with furnaces and chimneys,. On cold mornings they puff along the streets like battleships endeavouring to screen themselves from enemy (passengers) observation. I travel to and frtirf work by street car. The fare is a Hat rate, tii any part of the city for 7 tents; hence my cost of living is increased by nearly $1 a week.