Mr. GUTHRIE.

Canada and the United States would be a very large measure ol' reciprocal trade, there seems to be just as uniform an opinion, on tlm other side of the line, that the proper policy for that country is a high protective system. When the McKinley tariff was first put in force, there were many Canadians who considered that something like a staggering blow had been dealt to a large part of the commerce of this country. But, I do not think that, at this period of time, any one would say that the adoption of that high tariff was an evil unmixed with a large element of blessing. If it did nothing else, it made us more independent and put us on our resources and our mettle. Nevertheless, the fact remains that when that tariff did come into operation it seriously disorganized and disarranged a large portion of the trade of this country by cutting it off from the market where it had been profitably disposed of for many years. But our people, during that crisis in our history, showed their adaptability to circumstances and their readiness to meet new conditions. They said : If we cannot send our horses and

barley and hay and other products to the United States, where we have been sending them for years, we will find new markets for them. There was then a Conservative government in power. In my humble opinion and belief, if ever an opportunity was offered in the history of this country for the display of some of those qualities of statesmanship, the possession of which that government was never tired of boasting and proclaiming to the country, that opportunity came to them shortly after the McKinley tariff went into operation in 1891. The whole cry of our people then was for new markets. The cry was a loud and prolonged one. But, whether due to the fact that the administration of that day turned an absolutely deaf ear to the appeal, or that they did not realize the necessities of the situation, or whether long years of power had rendered them careless and had imbued them with the idea that they had themselves become one of the fixed institutions of the country-whatever was the cause, certain it is they calmly rested on their oars, and year after year pursued the Micawber policy of ' waiting for something to turn up.' During all that time did the cry continue. Divine providence had done its part in giving us uniformly abundant harvests, but still the cry went up for new markets. In 1896 the elections came on, and that cry had its effect, and the government of that day was relieved from further duty and a new order of things established.

It was a bold stroke-and if we may judge by results it was a wise stroke taken by the incoming administration in the first few months of its tenure of office, when it adopted what has now become the settled trade policy of this country so far as the mother land is concerned. The administration seemed to cut away from all the old

moorings, and gave a preference to tlie mother country upon tlie principle of giving a little in order to gain a little, and the principle has worked well. I am free to say that I was one of those whose ignorance and inexperience did not enable them to see just what the effect of that movement was going to he. There were many others in the country like me, but I think I may claim credit to myself, that I have risen superior to many of those who thought with me, because now I do realize what some of them do not yet admit, how advantageously that policy has operated in our behalf. I submit that if any impartial man will take up the

the mother land has increased in the last two or three years, he cannot fail to come to the conclusion that the preference to the mother land has been a direct moving power in the increase of our export trade. I know it is said that the increase is largely in food products, and that there is no increase to any great extent in the ordinary manufacturing output of tlie country. But, we must not forget that the latter trade is as yet only in its infancy; and if we can compete with the United States in food products in the mother land, there is no reason why we cannot. with equal success, compete with them in other products, because we can meet them both in price and quality.

I know also that not very long ago it was held by some of the leading men of this country that the ideal position for Canada to occupy was that of a sort of vast emporium for the supply of raw material to the world. There were men who considered that that position would be infinitely more beneficial to us than any other. But that is an exploded idea to-day. All modern efforts, all modern energy, ijoint in the opposite direction.

Mr. GUTHRIE.

It will be gratifying intelligence to the people of this country to learn that Canada has at this most^ opportune time extended to His Royal Highness the Duke of Cornwall and York an invitation to visit this country on his return from his contemplated visit to the Australian Commonwealth. His Royal Highness has been graciously pleased to accept that Invitation, and all Canadians, without distinction, will prepare to give a loyal and a fitting welcome to that noble prince not only on account of his exalted station as heir-apparent to the British Throne ; not only on his own account, but because he is the son of our reigning sovereign and the grandson of our late Queen whose death all Canada yet so bitterly mourns.

However, Sir. we must turn from the past with its glorious and vast achievements. with its triumphs and its mournings -our duty lies before us. Full well we know that this busy world throbs on careless of the coming and going of sovereigns. We must prepare to wrestle with the problems of the present and provide for the future. From a material point of view the speech from the Throne furnishes many substantial grounds for congratulation upon the excellent position which Canada occupies at the present time. It is very pleasing to know the vast strides which in recent

Mr. HUGH GUTHRIE (South Wellington).

Mr. Speaker, I beg to move that an humble address be presented to His Excellency the Governor General of Canada in reply to the Speech from the Throne, and in rising to perform this important duty, permit me to say, at the outset, that 1 am deeply sensible of the high honour which has been conferred upon me in my selection for the important task. I am also well aware of the difficulties which beset my path, and I would ask, Sir, with great respect, that the House would view my shortcomings with that lenience which in times past it has bestowed upon hon. members under similar circumstances. My inexperience will, perhaps, appear the greater, and I trust, on that account, your indulgence will be the less restricted, when i inform you that the past two or three days have furnished the only opportunity which I have ever had, even as a mere spectator, of witnessing the deliberations of this House ; so that my request is by no means a formal one, but by all means a most sincere one, when I ask you to bear with me for a short time whie I endeavour humbly to discharge the honourable duty which has been cast upon me. Hon. members will agree at the outset, when I remark that parliament has met upon the present occasion under circumstances, which, while they are both solemn and momentous, are likewise without parallel in the history and experience of the House. We have now embarked upon the first session of a new parliament, in the first year of a new century, and in the first year of the reign of a new sovereign. While these are conditions which render the present session more or less unique, there are other conditions which render it more than ordinarily impressive. During the brief period which intervened between the autumn dissolution and the meeting of the present House, an event of world-wide magnitude and importance has transpired in the British Empire in the death of our late Sovereign Lady the Queen, and the consequent demise of the Crown upon her illustrious son and successor His Majesty King Edward VII. It would be utterly impossible for me to add anything to the eloquent and finished tributes which have already been paid in this House to the memory of our late Queen,

tributes which so fully and so appropriately express not only the sentiments of the House, but likewise the sentiments of the whole country. Permit me only to remark in this respect, that the long and glorious reign which has just been brought to a close will for many years to come form a particularly bright spot in British history to which Canadians will look with the greatest veneration and gratitude. It was the reign that gave Canada national birth ; the reign which raised her from a position of comparative colonial obscurity to the high position she occupies to-day in British history. It was the reign which not only gave us a constitution, but which moulded and construed our constitution and rendered it the almost perfect system of government it is to-day. It is gratifying to our pride to know that our Canadian constitution has been veiy largely adopted as a model for the federation into one great British territory at the other side of the globe. To the people of the Australian Commonwealth the people of Canada extend most hearty greeting and most cordial congratulation.

Her late Majesty acceded to the Throne through a long line of noble ancestors, a line to which her own reign has added untold dignity and splendour. And, while we mourn her loss, yet we can rejoice that she has left us a strong line of her own royal blood and descent who, by God's grace we pay, may long be spared to reign over us.