A report from Vancouver says that plans have been completed and reservations secured for the local Board of Trade business tour of the Orient. This is the first excursion of the kind from Canada to the Orient, and is said to be exciting great interest on the coast. The basic idea behind the project is that if Vancouver and Wester Canada are to secure a large share of Far East trade, it can only be done by going over the field per. sonally and meeting Chinese and Japanese manufacturers and importers on the spot.
Twenty representative men in the business world have already secured reservations on the Empress of Asia. which sails from Vancouver on April 8, and it is thought that the party may be enlarged to 30.
In Generat-
The reorganization of the Canadian military forces nas been started by the disbandment of every militia unit in the country, so that a clear field will be obtained for the re-engagement in suitable ranks of new men of overseas experience, and a new state provided for the immediate creation of a new force.
An appeal has been made to Canada to help the starving Australian, and the Government, it is understood, will do so, but to what extent has not yet been definitely th settled, though a sum of $5,000,000 has been mentioned.
The Board of Commerce is still at work in an endeavour to reduce the cost of living, and to prevent it going any higher, but it is still mounting up in spite of their efforts. Even the cost of elections has gone up! The recent one in Ontario cost $1,250,000, while the one in 1914 cost $85,000, and that of 1905 $40,000. The Government reports the biggest monthly jump in the family budget for December which has yet taken place, and so far as things show the one for January will be higher still.
A. J. Small, a theatrical magnate, who had just sold out his interests in a chain of theatres for a big sum disappeared from Toronto on Des-ember 2, and in spite of diligent search both here and in the States no trace of him can be found. The money he received was safely put in the bank. His secretary has also disappeared, and cannot be found. Tt is a strange case which is attracting a great deal of attention, and no one seems able to give any reason for the men disappearing. There have been no demands for ransom offered and no applications for the big rewards offered for in formation.
It is reported that pitch-blende ore strongly impregnated with radium has been discovered near Kearney on the Parry Sound division of the Grand Trunk Railway.
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.