honourable, manly, and courageous in the development of Australia. I am inclined to agree that the single tax is impracticable; at the same time, if taxation has to be resorted to, the land is a fair source from which we ought to get a portion of it at least, especially as the State expenditure has done so much in many cases to increase its value. In regard to my ultra-British friend Mr. Beetham, he says let us "emulate the Old Country, and not eclipse her." Well, I have an ambition to be even a better man than my father. I say let us emulate the Old Country in everything that is good-let us eclipse her, if possible, in all that is good, and let us hope she will not be ashamed to take a hint from her children at any time, when they are going in the path of everything that is truly noble and wisely progressive. I thank you for the reception you have given me to-night. I am exceedingly pleased to have had the opportunity of seeing so many who evidently take a deep interest in the welfare and prosperity of our Colonies. I have tried to strike a high key note, and I shall be sorry if I have failed. My object was not to speak of any one Colony or any one interest in particular, but to impress on your imaginations the enormous development which is taking place in profitable industry all over the Colonies. In conclusion, I wish to move a hearty vote of thanks to our Chairman, the oldest Agent-General of the Colonies at the present time, and one who has borne the heat and burden of the day in all sorts of worthy enterprise, not only material, but intellectual, moral, and political. The name of Sir Saul Samuel is one that not only stands high in the respect, but lies deep in the affections, of all those who know what has been the progress of the Colonies within the last 30 or 40 years; and I ask you, therefore, to give him a hearty vote of thanks, encouraging him in his noble work, and showing we honour and respect him for the good qualities of heart and brain which have made his name such an honoured name amongst us.

The CHAIRMAN having replied, the Meeting terminated.

824

SEVENTH ORDINARY GENERAL MEETING.

THE Seventh Ordinary General Meeting of the Session was held at the Whitehall Rooms, Hôtel Métropole, on Tuesday, May 8, 1894, when Sir Charles Tupper, Bart., G.C.M.G., C.B., read a Paper on "Canada in Relation to the Unity of the Empire."

The Right Hon. the Marquis of Lorne, K.T., G.C.M.G., a VicePresident of the Institute, presided.

The Minutes of the last Ordinary General Meeting were read and confirmed, and it was announced that since that Meeting 23 Fellows had been elected, viz., 7 Resident and 16 Non-Resident.

Resident Fellows:

Richard O. Backhouse, Frederick Carter, Alexander Douglas, Frederick William Fry, George Stanley Harris, Lawrence A. Wallace, A.M.Inst.C.E., George Wood.

Non-Resident Fellows:

Alexander Carrick (New Zealand), Alcide Des Mazures, Rev. R. Gresley Douglas, M.A. (Cape Colony), Joseph R. Dyer (Transvaal), Harry M. Elliott (Transvaal), Major Patrick W. Forbes (Matabeleland), William John Garnett (Victoria), Dr. Henry E. Garrett (New South Wales), William Ingall, M.C.P. (British Guiana), Hon. C. J. Johnston, M.L.C. (New Zealand), James Malcolm (New South Wales), Capt. R. G. Murray (R.M.S. "Himalaya"), Dr. Walter F. Oakeshott (Transvaal), George F. Perrins (Transvaal), Edward Sheilds (Cape Colony), Edmund T. Somerset (Transvaal).

It was also announced that donations to the Library of books, maps, &c., had been received from the various Governments of the Colonies and India, Societies, and public bodies both in the United Kingdom and the Colonies, and from Fellows of the Institute and others.

The CHAIRMAN: Comparisons are odious, and you will not think I am comparing one Colony with another if I venture to say that in one respect Canada is most remarkable-namely, in the steadfastness with which she allows Ministries to remain in office; for it may be in your recollection, when you consider the politics of States on the continent of Europe and elsewhere, that in some, at all events, of those States, Ministries are changed almost with the changing of the moon. As against that-as I cannot help thinking-evil example we see, if we turn to Canada, that for five years since

Confederation one party was in office, and with the exception of those five years another party has been constantly in power by the suffrages of the Canadian people. We shall have the great happiness to-night of hearing a Paper from one of the fathers of the Canadian Confederation, who has had the good fortune to be of the party which has been so constantly and steadfastly in office ever since the formation of that great Dominion; and as we know that the Confederation has had an almost unexampled success amongst the federal systems of the world, Sir Charles Tupper, in speaking of Canadian wishes and aspirations and the conditions of the country, will be able to tell you, with the utmost authority, what those desires are, he himself knowing well their very spring and sources. Sir CHARLES TUPPER then read his Paper on

CANADA IN RELATION TO THE UNITY OF
THE EMPIRE.

THE most important event of recent years conducive to the unity of the British Empire was, in my opinion, the Confederation of Canada. Down to that period British North America was composed of five isolated provinces, and the great Rupert's Land was a howling wilderness, occupied by 25,000 savages, and the home of the buffalo. The provinces were separated by hostile tariffs, with no common interests and no means of intercommunication by railway. The Great North-West, declared by Lord Dufferin to be capable of providing happy homes for 40 millions of people, was separated from the older provinces by a thousand miles of wilderness, and by the Rocky Mountains from the Province of British Columbia. All this has been changed. These isolated provinces, separated from the Republic to the south by an invisible line of from 3,000 to 4,000 miles in extent, have been united under one strong Federal Government, and bound together by a great transcontinental railway from Halifax on the Atlantic Ocean to Vancouver on the Pacific.

Another important event conducing to the unity of the Empire is about to take place. A Conference is to be held at Ottawa, on June 21 next, which will be attended by representatives of the Governments of Australia and New Zealand, and of the Imperial Government, and possibly of the South African Governments, for the purpose of considering the best means of drawing these great outlying possessions of the Crown into closer trade relations with each other and with Great Britain. A deputation of the representatives of Australasia, South Africa, and Canada recently had the

honour of an interview with the Earl of Rosebery and the Marquis of Ripon on this subject. They stated that Canada had agreed to give a subsidy of £175,000 a year to a fast steamship service between England and Australasia viá Canada, and would give substantial support to a cable from Vancouver to Australia, and that these subsidies would be largely supplemented by the Governments of Australasia; and they asked for the co-operation and aid of her Majesty's Government to these services, on the ground of their great political, strategical, commercial, and defensive value.

The deputation was assured that their representations would receive the most careful consideration of the Government, and that a representative would be sent to attend the Conference at Ottawa. This movement has received, as might naturally be expected, the hearty support of a large portion of the Press of this country.

Many persons have been surprised to find that Sir John Colomb, who has professed to be a friend of the unity of the Empire, has assumed a position of hostility to these proposals. I confess that I did not share that surprise, as I had long since learned that that gentleman was apparently not well-informed of the extent to which the great Colonies have rendered yeoman service to the defence of the Empire-unless, as Sir John Colomb seems to think, the term Empire applies only to Great Britain. As this is a question of much moment, permit me to draw attention briefly to some of these services. A few years ago every important town in British North America was garrisoned by British troops. To-day not one of them is to be found in that country, except at Halifax, where a small force is kept for strategical purposes.

When Canada purchased the North-West Territory from the Hudson Bay Company, Lord Wolseley was sent with Imperial troops to put down a rebellion. When a subsequent rising, under the same half-breed leader, Riel, took place, it was suppressed by Canada without the cost of a shilling to Great Britain.

The Government of Canada has expended on

This is irrespective of the annual cost of maintenance of 741 lighthouses, $450,000; immigration expenses, $200,000; and expenditure connected with Indians, $959,864.

This expenditure secured the construction of a great transcontinental line of railway, bringing England twenty days nearer to Japan than by the Suez Canal. It has provided an alternative line to India, upon which Great Britain may have to depend for the security of her possessions in the East. It enables her ships of war to reach Montreal, and her gunboats to go to the heart of the continent at the head waters of Lake Superior. It provides graving docks at Halifax, Quebec, and Victoria; extinguishes the title of the Indians, and provides for their civilisation at a cost of nearly a million dollars a year; opens to British settlement the great North-West, where every eligible immigrant is entitled to a free grant of 160 acres of land; maintains a permanent defensive force, and trains 38,000 volunteers, and provides a garrison for the fortifications of British Columbia. Included in this are the subsidies for the Atlantic and Pacific steamers, available for the use anywhere of her Majesty's Government as war cruisers and transports at a moment's notice. Canada also supports a Royal Military College at Kingston, seventy or eighty of whose cadets are now officers in the British Army. Before confederation the fisheries of the British Provinces were protected by her Majesty's navy. Now that service is performed by eight armed steamers owned and maintained by Canada. This expenditure of £2,337,620 per annum is cheerfully borne by the people of Canada for services vital to the strength, defence, and unity of the Empire. Yet, at a meeting at the London Working Men's College, on March 11, 1893, Sir John Colomb said: "England paid 19s. 6d. out of every pound of the cost of defending the Empire, Australia d., and Canada not a brass farthing!" I may say that

The above is quoted from Imperial Federation, but Sir John Colomb informs me that the words he used were not as stated above, but as follows: