Wairarapa Age MORNING DAILY. MONDAY, JANUARY 30, 1911. CANADA AND THE STATES.

Wairarapa Age, Volume XXXII, Issue 10151, 30 January 1911, Page 4

Wairarapa Age MORNING DAILY. MONDAY, JANUARY 30, 1911. CANADA AND THE STATES.

The announcement that the terms of a reciprocal arrangement between Canada and the United States have been agreed upon, and that these only require ratification by the Parliaments concerned', will come as a shock,, though not as a surprise, to British Tariff Reformers and manufacturers. • That far-seeing statesman, Mr Joseph Chamberlain, predicted some years back "that unless* a preferential tariff were arranged with the over-seas dominions of the Empire, those dominions might be inclined to make terms with foreign countries. The action of Canada at once confirms this prediction. It requires no stretch of the imagination to see how serious a blow will be cast at British commerce by the reciprocal agreement just arrived at. And far beyond the question of the immediate effect upon commerce is the establishing of relations between Canada and' the United States which may ultimately result in the Americanising of the whole of the vast American Continent. It was only the otUer day that a Britisher occupying a high place contrasted the treatment accorded to British immigrants in the Australasian colonies with that meted out in Canada. The sentiment ruling in Canada, he said, when important positions had to be filled and' contracts to be let, was that need not apply." The existence of such a sentiment is, in itself, ominous. It is true that thousands of British immigrants are annually arriving in Canada ; but against this it is asserted that the number of citizens of the United States pouring across the border is in the ratio of nearly four to one. Well-informed writers state that underneath the veneering of loyalty to the Crown which appears in Canada is a growing dislike for

Britain that is permeating the recesses of the Dominion. The appointment of the Duke of Connaught as Viceroy of Canada may result in the temporary strengthening of the ties between the Dominion and the Motherland; but the commercial agreement now being arranged will have a more far-reaching effect than the presence in the land of Royal blood. In his message to Congress, President Taft stated, in referring to the reciprocal agreement, that "the financial gain is not the. only result to be attained." That is a very significairt remark. .What result other than financial is sought to be attained, the diplomatists 'of the United States well know, and students of events of other countries may hazard a shrewd guess.