KEIR HARDIE

NZ Truth, Issue 134, 11 January 1908, Page 7

KEIR HARDIE

. IN A FAN-TAR BEN. A Detective Breaks the Window. The Labor Leader's Remarkable Experience.

In the British "Laiaor Leader," Keir Hardie, the leader of tke Labor Party m the British House of Commons, continues his interesting articles describing his tour of the world. In the latest issue of that journal he describes what he saw of the red men of Canada-, and gives an account of a raid upon a Chinese den m Vancouver,' British Columbia, whereby it appears that- the, police gb to greater lengths m their dealings with the Chinese m Canada than they do m this country. Keir Hardie was, himself among the raiders of the gamb-ling-den, and his description of the modus operandi of the raiders is decidedly interesting. The article to which we have referred is as fol-, lows :— Crossing the prairie one sees the full force of Om<ar Khayyam's comparison of the sky' to an invertefi' bowl f-^ *'And that' inverted bowl we call the sky, Whereunder,. crawling, cooped men live and die." -....' Omar was a dweller m the desert, and as far as (the eye reached all round, the brown, ,bare earth would sketch itself out until . it reached the ■rfm of the sky, risingc-dome-libe overhead . In tha land of "hill: and dale this unbroken outlook is ab§e.n,t, : so ( the boWl-like appearance of the sky- does not appear. • Even on the ocean one does not get quite the same ■ effect, since the takes on a- spherical form, and sea and sTiy seem to blend the one into the other. PRAIRIE AND SKY AND THE CANADIAN But on the leveT prairie, , where ■ neither mound nor hillock interrupts tbe nne'of vision, the sky has all the appearance of a bowl, with the edge resting upon earth, and . I can well understand that to those" . living upon it, it assumes the form of a'ri extended prison. Round and . round the prisoner may go, like a mouse m a trap, but not escape. I wonder what effect this feeling has m producing the high rate 'of insanity among farmers' wives. I know that specialists H^e doctor Ernest Hall give the reason as quite other, and much more deplorable, but lam far from being convinced that it is not an important factor. Here is an example of how a Canadian tradesman seeks to. enforce honesty upon his customers. I copy it from a printed . notjee, Jhung; m the smoking car of a %am by which I travelled :— THREE DISASTERS. ' What happened to three of my delinquent" • customers ? One' .of them said, "I 1 will pay you on Saturday night if I live." , HE'S DEAD ! - Another 'Said^'See' you 1 to-mor-row." HE'S BLIND ! Still another said, "I hope to pay you this week or go to Hell." , HE'S GONE ! t , - THE ;RED MAN. ■From Calgary I drove out nine miles to visit an Indian reservation-

The Government of Canada has tried to be fair to the remnants of the red man still left on the continent, but at present it looks as though, m a few generations, the hero of our boyhood will have 'become as extinct as the, buffalo. The way m which they are being preserved is for a tract of land to be set aside for each tribe, within which they roam at will. There is a school m each reservation,, and also a Government instructor, who does what he can to teach these children of the woods habits of' thrift and industry. His , is a big task. Disease, chiefly, lam told, of the venereal kind, brought to them by the superior white man, is playing sad havoc with them, as is also consumption. It is said that the track of Sir John Franklin's expedition could be traced by the trail- of. .syphilis which it loft. fIA'GLE EYE AND HIS KINGDOM. The Garsee Indian reservation measures twelve by . eighteen ' mUrs. through' which, ai river runs. Calgary City 'has tried hard to induce , Eaglo Eye, the old chief, to sell part of it for a , park, provided the buffalo is re-introduced. Some of the members of the tribe? are dicing well as fann*ers, and this year 2so young men were out at the hay whilst I was there,. but the bulk of the people are poor, lriisei'able ' ld.oWing creatures, with nothing of that nobility -with which Femrimore Cooper so. plentifully? endowed them. Each member of the tribte is allowed :a Government grantf, of five dollars a year, with an extra allowance" to the. chiefs. The djjive across the- prairies to the encampment was full of interest. Tiger lifles, dog roses, bluebells, wild sage, thyme, • chrysanthemums and larkspur carpet the ground with a mass of color. On our way we saw a coyote come towards up. He trotted up to within fifty yards of- the .horses and then swung to the right and slouched ambHingly away from pur path.; . : „ CHINATOWN IN VANCOUVER. \ At Vancouver : we visited China Town, under : the guidance- of a couple of 'detectives^ The • overcrowding that prevails cannot possibly be imagined by those who have riot seen it. .Beds on . shelves arid 'benches, and even suspended from the ceiling, are the. rule m every room. It is seldom there Is a window, 'or other means ofventilation. People work,, cook, eat, sleep, and smolae opium m these places, arid withal remain healthy. t . No European >jcpuld survive for a month under such conditions. But the great event of* the evening was a mock raid upon a, gambling den. Chinamen are inveterate gamblers, and biehind an innocent-looking shop front there is often concealed a great liallj reserved for this 'purpose. To get to this room is the problem. Behind a little counter m tthe front shop there sits an impressive figure, apparently waiting for customers to come and buy cigarettes. In reality he is guarding the 'den. A glass door leads out oi the shop into a passage, \and m this passage are 1 three concealed doors, made of 2^ inch solid timbers, and heavily bolted from within with 1