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W. H. CLINE, See Publisher and Proprietor. > ; § HIGHWAY IMPROVEMENT. The eleventh annual report on highway improvement, printed by order of the Legislative Assembly of Ontario, has recently been dis: tributed, and is packed full of the mbst useful and interesting infor mation. From this report it appears that the question of road improvement is awakening incre ing interest throughout the prog ince. The" only wonder is that this awakening has come so lated Already 'a number have taken advantages of 1 and 'have made" substantial provement in their. + The work carried out has of 'an expensive order, but the excellent results have shown what can be accomplished by good man-| : agement been about $800 per mile. Other counties,. among * which county of Oatasio, are showing averv active interest in the matter, and are likely to establish' county systems'in the near future. . ; 7 IE ---- CANADA HAS AR ii? RIVED On Monday, July ist Canada Good roads is a subject in which | celebrated the 40th anniversary of all are concerned Country roads | her present political "organization. aremnearly, if not fully, of as much | The provinces then known as benefit to the townsman as to the {Upper Canada and Lower Canada farmer. The town is the product [held their "first united parliament of the gountry. and the progress ot in Kingston on July 14th, 1841. the town, in every 'agricultural|{ The. demonstration' under that district, 'is dependent upon the|system of Canada's ability = to progress of the country. Towns {manage hier own affairs led to the men keow how important it is to confederation, which became have free and uninterrupted com- [effective on July rst, 1867. The munication with the country at all anniversary of this event is known seasons of the year. Trade is al-{as Dominion Day, most altogether dependent upon| Forty years ago Canada's popu- this It is not at all surprising |lation was 'a - little less than therefore that greater interest is| 3,500,000. To-day it is' probably being aroused 'in connection with {not far from 6,000,000. In this the improvement of our highways. | respect the country has grown According to the report before {but slowly. Few immigrants as the total outlay on country roads [came 'in, and many Canadians in the province of Ontario during | crossed the border to share inthe ten years, 18961903, represents a | larger: growth and greater pros: value of twenty-one million dollars. | perity of the United States. The This is made up of a cash expend. | census of '1go1 shows 5 2 per cent. iture of $10,432 992, and 10,510,900 | of the entire population as of days of statute labor, The average | foreign _ birth. The census of exceeds a value of two millions of | 1911 will in all probability. show. a dollars a year. The magnitude of [marked change in this respect these figure shows the extent of | Many Canadians are returning to the work that is being done, The their own country and large num: county of Ontario alone, where [bers are going 'in to. 'become the estimated length of the high- | Canadians of alien birth. = Within ways is 130 miles, expended, dur-|the last five years the arrivals ing the. ten. years referred to; |have increased more than thee $270,131. fold; and Canada is now getting The results attending this. vast|more than 200,000 few citizens. a expenditure of time and 'money on | year from other lands. AR the roads in this 'province for the | In 1868 Canada had. only. 2,269 past ten years have not been at all miles of 'railway in all her vast ~ commensurate with the outlay, and domain: © She noiv has about "furnish an argument against rather | 22,000 miles, and in a few years » dG (1, % 3 _than'in favor of municipal owner-| will have 30,000, Her /: ship, Were private Companies or trade: 1868 was $i 31,000,000 korporations, while rendering no' next thirty yearsincreased that to better service than we now have, to | $24,000,000... The succeeding "collect,'in the form of toll; amounts | decade lifted it equal to that paid out for roads by |1ast 'year, $547,000,000, a ve the public in the way of taxes and striking total for so small 'popu statute labor, there would bea loud (lation. In 1868 Canada's bank "outcry and 'a kick that would" bei discounts were $56,00¢ y felt from one end of the province to | are now well aboy : other. Road making needs to|In 1868 there 'be reduced to a more thorough offices. Th system and to be brou better mana +c da stances changes for the better ar ~ othe figures Of Batren The average cost has| is thel Edpard Blake the Liish Ho which he has given ripest years of his life, i which cannot pass Wit ful notice in Canada.' step. should be due to | will increase the regret with which | = our people! will see the passing from active public life" of the most gifted Canadians who has ever devoted himself to the high task of guiding and laboring for the people: Vly 2 - Mr. Blake's Canadian career is now so far in the past that there has arisen a new generation which will know litle of it from personal observation. "He was th Premier of Ontario, that position in' favo Sir Oliver Mowat to Mackenzie, until the Libera when in. Opposition, ti this most brilliant: débater i House as their Watural against the strongly entiénched | administration of Sir Johit Mac: | donald. : % a 5 For years Mr. Blake w; master of the Commons in It is doubtful if his equal has ever|Inqu sat in that. Chamber , Sin John | = Thompson and Mr, "Dalton : Carthy were magnificent deb foreign {oy ¢ la i ig and he al more.