CANADA'S NORTHERN FRINGE. 



By Gkorge Johnson, F. S. S. (Hon.) 



I 



We have in Canada, a region of unknown area, Surveyor- 

 General Deville having made no attempt to ascertain the number 

 of square miles of land surface it contains. 



It is an out-of-the-way region. We scarcely think of it when 

 we use the word "Canada." It is not mentioned in Parliament 

 once a session. It suggests no scandals, no award of contracts, 

 without or with tender. Mr. Tarte's dredges are not in demand 

 there. Mr. Blair's engineers are not in request for either canals 

 or railways. Sir I^ouis Davies is not called upon to provide light- 

 houses and automatic fog-horns, nor is Mr. Fisher solicited to 

 supply hot or cold storage for the products of its orchards and its 

 dairies. Sir Charles Tupper and Mr. Foster and Mr. Fielding are 

 not needed to keep watch and ward over the Treasury-chest to 

 guard against cunningly devised assaults upon the people's money 

 by the people of this region. Mr. Borden had not to decide in 

 October and December last how many volunteers to apportion to 

 it as its share of the gallant 2000 who went, our pledge of Em- 

 pire, at the call of the Empire, more than 7,000 miles over oceans 

 dreary waste to represent us on the blood-stained field of South 

 Africa. Yet this region has been the scene of great activities. 

 It has been a favorite camping ground for scientists. It has had 

 its free theatres, its free newspapers, its free schools, its own 

 currenc}^ For good work done within its borders it has given 

 more C. B's and K. C. B's and G. C. B's to Britain's sons than 

 any other Province of Canada. It has been a hot-house for grow- 

 ing Rear Admirals, Vice Admirals, Admirals and Admirals of the 

 fleet. It is Canada's Westminster Abbey — one of the grandest 

 temples on earth — "a temple not made with hands" — with more 

 commemorative tablets than has the great temple of silence and 

 reconciliation on the banks of the Thames with its accumulated 

 monuments of over 700 years. 



