92 



CANADA, DOMINION OF. 



the British Government have adopted a policy 

 with regard to duties on breadstuffs which the 

 right honorable gentleman and his colleagues 

 have repeatedly declared during the last five or 

 six years was absolutely impossible of adoption 

 by the mother country in the near future." 



In his reply Sir Wilfrid Laurier deprecated the 

 idea of any discourtesy, and pointed out that the 

 subjects referred to would all be discussed apart 

 from his Government's expression of opinion as 

 to the value of such discussion. As to imperial 

 defense especially, both he and his colleagues 

 felt that no useful purpose could be served by 

 debating it. " If it be intended simply to discuss 

 what part Canada is prepared to take in her own 

 defense, what share of the burden must fall upon 

 us as being responsible for the safety of the land 

 in which we were born and to which we owe 

 our allegiance, in which all our hopes and affec- 

 tions are centered, certainly we are always pre- 

 pared to discuss that subject. Nor do I believe 

 that we need any prompting on that subject, or 

 that our attention should be specially called to 

 it." But this was not imperial defense as now 

 much mooted. " There is a school abroad, there 

 is a school in England and in Canada, a school 

 which is perhaps represented on the floor of this 

 Parliament, which wants to bring Canada into 

 the vortex of militarism, which is the curse and 

 the blight of Europe. I am not prepared to in- 

 dorse any such policy." 



The conference, as finally constituted, was com- 

 posed of the Premiers of Canada, Australia, New 

 Zealand, Cape Colony, and Natal, with Mr. 

 Chamberlain and certain appointed representa- 

 tives of colonies still under Colonial Office con- 

 trol. The arrangements made for submission to 

 the various colonial parliaments included plans 

 for contributions to the imperial navy accepted 

 by all the countries except Canada and an un- 

 derstanding with Australia as to a future tariff 

 preference for British goods. Upon the subject 

 of a return preference by Great Britain for that 

 granted by Canada in 1898, long discussion took 

 place, and the following is a summary from the 

 official report as issued in the succeeding No- 

 vember: 



" From the beginning of the proceedings the 

 Canadian ministers have claimed that, in consid- 

 eration of the substantial preference given by 

 Canada for some years to the products of the 

 mother country, Canadian food products should 

 be exempted in the United Kingdom from the 

 duties recently imposed. Representation to this 

 effect previously made through the High Coin- 

 mi-sioner for Canada were supplemented by the 

 ministers both in writing and in personal inter- 

 views with the imperial ministers. Mr. Chamber- 

 lain, in behalf of the Imperial Government, was 

 unable to agree to proposals of the Canadian Gov- 

 ernment, and while highly appreciating the good 

 feeling manifested by Canada in the granting of 

 preferential treatment, did not think its material 

 advantages to the trade of the United Kingdom 

 were as great as the Canadian ministers claimed. 

 He further said that the change desired by Can- 

 ada would be an important departure from the 

 established fiscal policy of tho United Kingdom, 

 and that if the proposal could be entertained at 

 all, as to which he was not prepared to commit 

 himself, it would be necessary for Canada to 

 offer some material tariff concessions beyond 

 those which she has already voluntarily given. 

 The Canadian ministers pointed out that the 

 Canadian tariff was by no means prohibitive; 

 that larfje quantities of goods were imported, and 

 that a great proportion of these came from for- 



eign countries. In any lines in which there was 

 a reasonable probability that these goods could 

 be manufactured in Great Britain, it might be 

 possible so to readjust duties as to give an addi- 

 tional advantage to the British manufacturer, 

 and thus turn over to him a volume of trade 

 the profits of which now go to foreign countries. 

 This readjustment might be brought about in any 

 or all of the following ways: 1. In some ca.-rs 

 by the reduction of duties now imposed on Brit- 

 ish goods, where such reduction might be made 

 without injustice to any Canadian industry. 

 By the transfer of some articles from the free 

 list to the dutiable list at such rates as would 

 give substantial preference to the British manu- 

 facturer, instead of leaving him, as at present, 

 on even terms with the foreign competitor as re- 

 spects such articles. 3. By imposing a small 

 duty as respects foreign goods on some articles 

 now on the free list, while allowing them to con- 

 tinue free as respects British imports. 4. In 

 some cases possibly by an increase in the duty 

 of foreign articles, thus increasing the amount 

 of the preference on British goods. Such in- 

 crease on foreign articles could, however, only be 

 justified where the market could be supplied by 

 the British manufacturer at the preferential 

 rates of duty. The Canadian ministers said that 

 if they could be assured that the Imperial Gov- 

 ernment would accept the principle of preferen- 

 tial trade generally, and particularly grant to the 

 food products of Canada in the United Kingdom 

 exemption from duties now levied, they, the Ca- 

 nadian ministers, would be prepared to carry on 

 the discussion on the lines above mentioned and 

 endeavor to give to ,the British manufacturer an 

 increased advantage over his foreign competitor 

 in the markets of Canada." 



The Alaskan Boundary. This question was 

 fitfully discussed in the press and by publicists 

 in 1902, although no serious developments arose. 

 Speaking in the House of Commons on Feb. 11, 

 1901, Sir Wilfrid Laurier had declared that the 

 Americans have " taken such an attitude that it 

 seems almost impossible to reconcile the two op- 

 posing views." He hoped, however, that if an hon- 

 orable settlement could not be reached, an honor- 

 able compromise might still be effected. In the 

 meantime, and in view of the further complica- 

 tions that might arise at any moment from fresh 

 discoveries of gold, " we have agreed on a pro- 

 visional boundary which will serve as a bound- 

 ary so long as the question remains unsettled, 

 and that provisional boundary has been settled 

 by geographers of the two countries." In an- 

 swer to an inquiry from Mr. R. L. Borden, the 

 Premier said that the agreement was " in the 

 nature of a compromise between the respective 

 positions taken by the two parties." On April 

 10, in the course of a discussion upon Yukon 

 matters in committee, Mr. Sifton, Minister of 

 the Interior, made the following statement re- 

 garding international arrangements and the po- 

 sition at the moment: "As to the portion of the 

 territory which lies contiguous to Alaska, there 

 is a provisional boundary-line agreed to between 

 the two governments, and that line, wherever 

 necessary, has been laid down upon the ground 

 by commissioners appointed by the parties. Our 

 commissioner and the commissioner of the Uni- 

 ted States went up last season and laid out the 

 boundary-line at the only place practically neces- 

 sary that is, across the Dalton trail to Pyra- 

 mid Harbor. Under the terms of the provisional 

 arrangement, the summit of the White pa>s, 

 which was also used by travelers before the rail- 

 way was opened, is considered to be the provi- 



