Canada’s Diamond Jubilee

Sun (Auckland), Volume 1, Issue 85, 1 July 1927, Page 9

Canada’s Diamond Jubilee

Anniversary Celebrations

Nations Greet Great Dominion

beinn ce [ebrates her diamond jubilee, the occasion into a h f ,nnivers ary of the confederation of her provinces Crown ni ° n °* the British C ommonwealth under the Empire messages have been sent to the Dominion government at Ottawa.

Bj/ Cable Press Association Copyright Reed. 9.5 a.m. OTTAWA, Thurs. seut US b<rthd’ Ualy and Auatria have sent birthday greetings to the Govfhe m u en^-°i Canada on the occasion of the sixtieth anniversary of the Dominion's confederation. The Premier, Mr. Mackenzie King Mr ' stan ley Bruce Pume Minister of Australia, the fol lowing message: Warmest congratulations and earnest wishes for continued development and prosperity. Though separated by distance we are very close to you in ideals and aspirations. Democracy in common ties binds the two nations together in firm allegiance to the great British Commonwealth of Nations.

GROWTH OF A NATION

SIXTY YEARS’ ENTERPRISE

The celebrations will extend over several weeks, appropriately commemorating the great achievements of the first Dominion in the British Empire. To-day the provinces will join in paying homage to Canada's war heroes. This tribute will be paid at the opening of the beautiful Victory Memorial Tower at the new Parliament Buildings on the river front at Ottawa. From the belfry of the noble tower a carillon of 53 bells will peal out in the summer air over the city for the first time. Throughout the world, wherever Canadians have wandered, the jubilee will be celebrated in the same spirit that marks the commemoration at home. REUNION IN AUCKLAND In Auckland the Canadian Trade Commissioner’s office is open for visitors, the first of whom this morning was M. Paul Serre, Consul-General for France. This evening the Canadian Club, which has gathered about 50 Into its fold, will hold a special reunion. It is expected that at the height of the jubilee enthusiasm the Prince of Wales and the Rt. Hon. Stanley Baldwin, Prime Minister of Great Britain, will go to Canada to take part in the celebrations. CANADA’S SENIORITY Canada has developed from its seniority a leadership among the Dominion members of the British Commonwealth and an even more solidlyfounded natiofial individuality. The recorded history of the Dominion begins with John Cabot, the

discoverer of the eastern coast in 1497, and with Jacques Cartier's exploration of the St. Lawrence* Estuary in 1534-1541. But the real settlement ; and the foundation of the Dominion was the trader Samuel de Champlain, who founded Quebec.

The extension of the Seven Years’ War to America culminated in the historic battle between General Wolfe and Montcalm for Quebec, which introduced the era of British rule and brought the land into the British Commonwealth. But the population was in the older parts of Canada a French-speaking one and in 1791 the Constitution Act divided the country into the English-speaking Upper Canada and the French-speak-ing Lower Canada, giving each a measure of representative Government. Never a success, recurrent disputes led to the Durham Report, which federated these two provinces under responsible Government about 1840. A ROMANTIC STORY The confederation movement aiming to unite the British North American colonies was foreshadowed as far back as 1789, but it was only with the general development of the railways and telegraphs that it became a force in practical politics and at the instigation of the provinces throughout Canada the British North Amterica Act was passed by the Imperial Parliament. So on July 1,»1867, the Dominion of Canadu came into existence and since then has gone from, great to greater advances in material wealth and national spirit. Part of the resolution passed by the Canadian House of Parliament last April well describes the aim of the present celebrations. “We trust that this commemoration will lend added inspiration to the patriotic fervour of our people and afford a clearer vision of our aspirations and ideals, to the end that from sea to sea there must be developed a robust Canadian spirit and in all things Canadian jgrofounder national unity.” VISIT BY PRINCES MR. BALDWIN TOO By Cable.—Press Association.—Copyright Reed. noon. LONDON, Thursday. Prince George will accompany the Prince of Wales to Canada, and will participate in the celebrations in July, when the Prime Minister, the Right Hon. Stanley Baldwin, will also be there. —A. and N.Z.