Canada observed en July 1, the 70th anniversary of the confederation of the four provinces which were at that time separate colonies. This is the annual midsummer holiday for Canadians, and is marked by a general cessation of industrial act out-of-door occupations such as tennis, golf and swimming become the most popular for the day, and picnic parties gather by lake and river.
This also marks the end of the first half of 1937, and is an excellent time to survey the.progtess of general conditions. The gradual sped in the pendulum of business which has been taking place, with a few short pauses, since the summer of 1932, has kept on at a somewhat accelerated pace. The increase in business' has been marked by a number of favourable changes, and has been reflected by increases in railway car-loadings, railway revenues_and Federal revenues. Carloadings have been consistently higher this year than in 1936, and the in+ crease Lits affected practically all classes of commodities. The gross earnings of the railways for the first half of the year are up by 10 per cent. with prospects for the balance of the year good, Under the heading of Federal revenue customs, excise receipts and income tax collections are much higher; as there has been no increase in the rate of taxation, it is fair to say that the rise in revenues is indicative of better business.
Employment is now showing distinct. signs of improvement.
At the last date for which f es are available, May 1, there was an increase of 32,000 on the roll of employed to a new total of 1,011,474 The relief rolls, however, have not been shrinking as rapidly as might be expected. One is, therefore, forced to the conclusion that the newly-employed come from the ranks either of the youth coming up to take their places in industrial life, of those who have never needed to ask for relief. There is a growing shortage -which is now becoming acute—of skilled labour. Gradually the experienced men have been called back to their former jobs, or have found new ones, or have returned to the Old Country; and the training of younger men in apprenticeship has not been going on as it should have been,
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.