Rangitikei Advocate. WEDNESDAY, JUNE 26, 1907. SECOND EDITION. EDITORIAL NOTES.

Rangitikei Advocate and Manawatu Argus, Volume XXXII, Issue 8848, 26 June 1907, Page 2

Rangitikei Advocate. WEDNESDAY, JUNE 26, 1907. SECOND EDITION. EDITORIAL NOTES.

A C ORBE3PONDENT iu ,tho- ; , London Timbs gives an" interesting i account o£ Canadian opinion on Cm recent Conference, from which, we j take ill'?. ; following £ 4 Leforos , reaches England the Conference will, 6 probably bo, closed, and people will; < he making Jbp their minds with J 'much argument about it. Here they i , ife minds long ago, before 1 t •St any argument atl j all/rjSH sthfiy have regarded its pra-| j 'with a mild interest mji 'flnd pensgnal almost

— ! —- •• • W i • y f l -' i j sound a hard sayiug, but its truth | will not bo denied iu Canada, :„aud it | . i 3 just as well that people home 5 should 'understand tlie Canadian atti- j tude. Canada has not taken it seriously! One general has j . been given for this attitude, it i that the country is at the present] time doing very well and fully oc- j cupied with.its own affairs. There j is truth in this. The harvest, after j years of diligent sowing, and tend- j ing, is beginning to ripen ; Canada’s j day has come. The tide of immi- j gratiou, so long diverted elsewhere j by what was a series • of accidents . more than anything else, has turned her way at last; and she is getting ( the people needed to develop her vast resources. The rapid increase „oi population and of consequent piodnetion has brought out a series of local problems, and Canadians are exceedingly busy coping with them. The' - railroads are congested and transport must be improved; extensions on a vast scale arc in hand. Similarly, the port accommodation is inadequate to the slapping, and must be increased. Montreal, St. John, and Halifax are ail occupied with this question, and other ports are under discussion. Wealth is flowing back from the newly-de-veloped territories; the demand for everything is increasing; mines, factories, warehouses, and shops arc busy; banks, like railroads, arc more than busy; and this is only a beginning. Still the people come. One day iu St. John 3000 arrived at that port alone. The Western-bound Atlantic boats are crowded ; berths cannot be had iu them, and week by •week long strings -of .special trains set out from the coast to the distantinterior. , With the grow sh <>i cit-ion the familiar city questions connected f with all the paraphernalia of > ‘civilisation’ become insistent—- ’ water supply, lighting, roads, train’r ways, and so forth. Then is education, with its insatiable demands; and there are labour novibh * and litigation over possession of plio growing wealth. is busy, doing, getting, or quarrelling; and over all is the rosy glow of - hitherto unknown prosperity, with unlimited prospects behind it. Wiry bother about politics and the .affairs of other countries?” ■ ALL this is true enough, but it is 3 only a superficial explanation of the apathy exhibited towards the Imperial Conference. If Canadians felt that any real, practical proposal e affecting their Imperial status would be seriously handled iu Loudon, they are not too busy to give their at--3 teution to It. But that is just what , they do not feel Broadly, they may be divided into two groups—the one hopes for nothing from the Oonfer- . ence, the other fears something from it. Those who belong to the first : group go by the results of the last general election iu the United Kingdom, by the attitude of. the British Government and the conduct of individual Ministers.- They say in effect: —“It is obvious that this Government is anti-imperial and 3 will do nothing to further the union I of the Empire; it is pledged to the maintenance of the existing fiscal system, and will make no response , to the Canadian offer and no advance 3’ towards reciprocal trade; what is the good of bothering about it? We will attend to our own affairs and wait until the British people change their mind and are ready to moot us. Meanwhile, we are quite comfortable, we are doing well, and mean to go our own road.” The other section expects nothing, too; . but it also rather fears the Conference as a possible source of embarrassment. It is chiefly formed by, though not identical with, the French [[element, and it is particularly represented by Sir . Wilfrid Laurier. The French Canadians arc loyal enough to the British flag. That is to say, they do not want any other, and are quite content ■with their present situation, in - which they enjoy more religions and other liberty than they could > possiblj do iu any alternative political arrangement. That is, in fact, why they fear the Conference. It ’ might, they think, drag them into k some embarrassing move, which would disturb their present comfort, and, above all, something military. The prominent men among them were dead against the Boer war, and flatly opposed to the despatch of Canadian troops. Only the overwhelming and totally unexpected outbreak of popular opinion induced, them'to give way, which they did with the traditional grace of their stock. To set against the dislike ot | military adventures so disturbing ro ' | tbs comfortable, they have oi course I I no racial sentiment in favour oi British power and prestige, which . quite differentiates them from the i English and Scotch elements. This [ explains the stand made against an Imperial Council. While pleased to 1 remain us they are within the British Empire, they strongly .object, to being called upon to play an - active part qp behalf of any other: part of it but their own,