852 report — 1884. 



timber, furs, and oils making up four-fifths of the remainder. Of her imports, one- 

 fourth may be classed as raw material, for the support of textile and other indus- 

 tries ; another fourth, manufactured iron ; a third fourth, articles of food ; and the 

 remaining fourth, manufactured articles of sundry descriptions. 



With these figures, it is easy to see what are the chief articles of interchange. 

 But when once the railway across the continent is completed, there will be facilities 

 for bringing more of the land under cultivation, and for sending its produce away. 

 The mining output, especially in coal to the Pacific, is likely to be great, and it is 

 quite impossible to conceive to what an extent the whole may grow. 



On the other hand, the United Kingdom will need increasing supplies of food, 

 and though her Southern and Eastern possessions may have the same capacity for 

 producing these, the contiguity of North America, and its geographical position in 

 the same zone, make it peculiarly appropriate for the feeding-ground of England. 



But beyond England's need for importing, she has other wanta — that of the lands 

 to receive her growing population which she may find in her colonies ; and the 

 occupation for her accumulated manufacturing power which she may expect to 

 create through those whom she sends forth. Thus the increase of the species may 

 be rendered a blessing rather than a curse. 



For both to fully benefit by this mutual dependence, there ought to be the 

 most unfettered interchange of the commodities which each grows or makes, and 

 whatever may be said as to protection against foreigners, nothing in the shape 

 of protective duties ought to impede or divert commerce between portions of the 

 same Empire. Revenue duties stand upon a different footing ; but they should be 

 raised upon imported and home products alike. It would be a great step if in all 

 the colonies and the mother country the same articles were subjected to customs and 

 excise duties at similar rates, and the whole money so raised were appropriated 

 to defraying the cost of defence. 



It is scarcely to be questioned that absolute free trade, at least between all parts 

 of the Empire, must ultimately exist, although it is possible that special circum- 

 stances may for a limited period require or justify that general economic principles 

 should give way to particular necessities. 



As regards foreign countries, the selfishness which induces them, whilst avail- 

 ing themselves of all the advantages of free trade with us, to withhold from us the 

 corresponding benefit, should be met, not by protective duties, but by an absolute 

 refusal on our part to trade with them at all. Figures prove that they really 

 depend more upon us than we on them, and due notice to this effect, so given as to 

 afford no hope of reversal, would in all probability bring about the result without 

 any actual stoppage. England might depend upon the resources, and rely upon 

 the loyalty, of her colonies to sustain her in this conflict. 



The consideration of these questions leads up to the far greater one which is 

 now attracting, and may soon absorb, the attention of statesmen, both home and 

 colonial. This is the absolute necessity for some form of federation which may 

 bind together more closely the various portions of the Empire, and so counteract 

 any tendency towards disintegration. 



But whatever may be the result of deliberation on this proposition, or the form 

 it might ultimately assume, why should not the Dominion at once seek for an actual 

 incorporation into the United Kingdom ? In point of distance, when measured in 

 time, she is scarcely farther off than was Ireland when she became a part of the 

 Kingdom. By means of the electric telegraph, instantaneous communication with 

 the Pacific will very shortly be established. With trains crossing the land from 

 shore to shore, and the magnificent floating islands which our steamers will shortly, 

 if they have not already, become, the Continent and Atlantic will be bridged over 

 more effectually than the Irish Sea was at the beginning of the century. Our 

 Eastern possessions are so different in race, climate, and position, that they must, 

 for a lengthened period at least, constitute a. different . empire though under the 

 same sovereign. Our Southern settlements are more remote, though perhaps not 

 so much so as to necessitate their remaining in a different category. But the 

 upper portion of the northern American continent has so many points in common 

 with the British Isles that it would be easy to -weld them into one body. It is 



