Across Canada Sydney 



A Canadian city which achieves considerable 

 publicity without very much effort on its own 

 part is Sydney in Nova Scotia. Despite its ap- 

 parent modesty its world importance thrusts its 

 name each week before the newspaper readers of 

 a continent, though probably few people have 

 more than a glimmering idea of the place occu- 

 pied by this Maritime city in the Canadian and 

 world economic affairs. 



The double city of North and South Sydney 

 is situated off the mainland on Cape Breton Is- 

 land, which possesses all the properties to augur 

 for it a destiny of industrial importance second 

 to no area on the American continent. Sydney 

 is the centre and pivotal point of the island, and 

 the many advantages and opportunities the city 

 extends are deserving of being more widely known 

 by manufacturers and others interested in in- 

 dustrial establishment. 



The basis of the importance of Cape Breton 

 Island lies in its coal deposits of which twelve bil- 

 lion tons are yet available, and, with the excep- 

 tion of a strictly limited deposit on the mainland 

 of Nova Scotia, constitutes the only supply of 

 bituminous coal in Canada east of Saskatchewan. 

 These deposits, at the present rate of consump- 

 tion, which is 5,000,000 tons per year, will last at 

 least three hundred years. The presence of 

 this coal has led to the establishment of a large 

 iron and steel works and of a chemical plant, 

 both the deposit and the steel works being the 

 only ones on tidewater along the entire Atlantic 

 coast of North and South America. 



A Fine Land-locked Harbor 



Combining with this valuable possession, 

 Sydney has one of the finest of harbors with an 

 area of twenty-five miles, land locked and easy 

 of approach. Sydney, it is not generally known, 

 is the nearest port on the North American con- 

 tinent to Europe, Africa and South America, and 

 is consequently important in the marine world 

 and a calling point for ships sailing to and from 

 Canadian, United States, South American, and 

 European or eastern ports. Shipping piers at 

 Sydney accommodate the largest freighters afloat 

 and coal may be shipped every day of the year. 

 There are regular steamer connections with 

 Montreal, Quebec, Halifax, Newfoundland, Prince 

 Edward Island and other Canadian ports. 



In addition to coal the area is dotted with de- 

 posits of other valuable minerals, largely unex- 

 ploited, amongst them being iron, gypsum, fire 

 clay, marble, limestone, dolomite and silica. The 

 city is surrounded by excellent agricultural land 

 to which it affords a splendid market, there being 

 a special demand for garden truck and dairy 

 produce. The waters about it contain prolific 

 fisheries of great value which again enhance the 

 importance of the city, which is the centre for 

 the fishermen and their activities and constitutes 



their market. Altogether there are more than 

 27,000 men employed in the industrial, mining 

 and fisheries industries of the Sydney district 

 who receive annually nearly $25,000,000 in wages. 

 The industrial capital invested in the district 

 was estimated in 1917 at $150,000,000, since 

 which time it has increased substantially. 



That Sydney has attracted considerable at- 

 tention in the past decade is evident from the 

 fact that its 1921 census population of 22,527 in- 

 dicates an increase of twenty-seven per cent 

 since the 1911 census. Sydney, with all its ad- 

 vantages, is deserving of being yet more widely 

 known; when it is it will attract to it yet further 

 industries to which it extends liberal inducements. 

 There are opportunities for a wide range in manu- 

 facturing, more especially from iron and steel. 



Canada's Child Immigrants 



The value of a Canadian immigrant is large- 

 ly estimated according to his economic worth on 

 entry and the likelihood of his becoming an early 

 revenue-producer. Accordingly, the important 

 sections of immigration records are considered 

 to be the statistics of adult entrants and the 

 wealth they are possessed of at time of entry. 

 This outlook attaches rather undue importance 

 to the immediate present and does not give 

 merited consideration to that greater building for 

 the future. Thus the introduction of children, 

 who possess the greatest possibilities of assimi- 

 lation and citizen-making and are the greatest 

 factors in the future development of the Domi- 

 nion, is not generally considered the important 

 feature it really is in the yearly immigration 

 total, and there would be no such movement if it 

 were not for certain charitable organizations 

 to which it has been relegated. 



In the British Isles there are thousands of 

 children, sprung of good working class stock and 

 possessed of fine qualities, who are growing up in 

 depressing atmospheres and undesirable sur- 

 roundings with prospects that are utterly hope- 

 less, into a future that will not bear considera- 

 tion. Many are orphans and others homeless 

 from other unfortunate circumstances, all to be 

 classed in their native country as superfluous 

 and unwanted before they have attained the 

 status of maturity. Inherently they are of the 

 best citizenship material with infinite possibili- 

 ties if taken in the pliable and plastic state. 

 Their only salvation is to be taken from their dis- 

 couraging environment and be permitted to de- 

 velop their natural qualities in a newer, richer, 

 ground. Canada offers to such bright prospects 

 and the Dominion has need of such potential 

 citizens. 



First Party Arrived in 1869 



The work of transplanting these children and 

 setting them out in fresh soil has to a great ex- 

 tent fallen to certain benevolent societies, the 

 Salvation Army, Dr. Barnado's Homes, the 



S3 



