From Our Own Kingston, Out., July 31.
How would your readers like to be living in a country where the wintry weather begins about the end of September and may end about the commencement of May, and to be told that there is every likelihood of a coal shortage, if not famine? That is the unpleasant, situation of lots of people in Canada at the present time, owing to the coal and railway strikes in the United. States. It would only be wearisome to give you figures of coal production in Canada, and to prove from them how dependent this country is upon the United States, for at all events the greatest supply of her hard or anthracite coal, This is the coal upon which the people depend for heating their houses and keeping their cooking stoves going. In many Canadian cities at this moment there is nov an ounce of suitable coal for their purposes.
People are right in blaming the present and past Governments for their want of foresight in dealing with the fuel question. In years past, when the clearing of the land Was going on, there was an abundant and cheap supply of wood which was used for fuel, and coal was used very little, but reckless cutting and bush fires have deplete ed the supply, and wood which formerly cost about $3 or $4 a cord costs now about $15. The public complaint is that this dependence upon the United States for fuel should have been recognized years ago as a future danger and steps taken to meet it. Thus the many waters should have been utilized for producing electricity for light, heat and power. Many railways could have been electrified. Then the coal. which is produced in Canada should have been experimented with till it was made available for use by special treatment. Oil can be had and should have been considered. The fuel question is a very difficult and serious one and will only grow worse the longer the task of dealing with it is postponed.
Tur Carrie Emparco, There is a good deal of rejoicing in Canada at the recent vote in the British House of Commons o2 the lifting of the cattle embargo as it affects Canada. Whether or not this rejoicing is a little premature remains to be seen. The. debates in the Commons and the Lords brought! out prominently several points which Canadians have been apt to be ignorant of, or to ignore. In view of the almost complete Joss of the American cattle trade through the operation of the Fordney Bill, Canda is naturally anxious to secure some of that of the Mother-
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.