set apart for the purpose. All religious denominations, whether Christian or not, enjoy equal rights in the schools. The religious needs of the adult population are well attended to in the North-West Territories. Even in the newest settlements arrangements are made for the religious services of the various denominations. There are a number of friendly societies in the Provinces, with branches in the smaller places, and in many of the country school-houses which dot the prairie Masonic and other lodges often meet, and gatherings of an intellectual character are often held. There is nothing lacking in town and country to make life enjoyable that could be expected in any new country.

The anxiety which was once felt by some as to fuel has entirely disappeared upon the discovery of enormous coal-fields. It has been ascertained that between Winnipeg and the Rocky Mountains there are some 65,000 square miles of coal-bearing strata.

The Provincial Government of the North-West Territories has its head-quarters at Regina, an important and growing town 357 miles west of Winnipeg. The representative and governmental institutions are, with modifications, modelled after those of Great Britain. A Lieutenant-Governor represents the Queen, and the representatives of the Legislature are chosen by the people. In addition, and for the management of purely local affairs, there is a well-approved municipal system.

For very many years, ever since the opening of the Canadian Pacific Railway, a steady stream of immigration has been poured into the North-West Territories. While this immigration has been mainly from British countries, the unusual advantages at the disposal of colonists have attracted very inany settlers from Germany, Russia, Austria, and Scandinavia, who, by their industry and sobriety, have greatly added to the

wealth of the country. The exports of wheat, already large, cannot fail to increase with the spread of colonisation, and there can be very little doubt that before many years the North-West Territories of Canada will hold a commanding position on the wheat market of Europe.

Wheat, however, is by no means the only product of the Territories. As we advance westward, the great stock-raising ranches increase in size and in number, and vast herds of cattle and sheep are annually sent away to the ports of the east. Even in the agricultural districts cattle-raising goes hand in hand with wheat-growing, and the surest elements of success are to be found upon those homesteads where the "combined" system of farming is adopted. As settlement advances, and the home markets become larger, the ranching industry must advance in proportion, while the available supply for export will remain undiminished.

One of the most important features requiring consideration in a new country is the creation of markets for the commodities which the settler has for sale. In the eastern portion of the Territories there has always been a good market for the wheat, which is there the staple product, but westward, until recently, the opportunities have not been so good. The rapid development of the mining countries of British Columbia has, however, materially changed this. The question of a ready-cash market for everything which can be produced may now be said to be satisfactorily settled, and the incoming settler may feel assured of being able to dispose of any produce he may have to sell at remunerative prices.

CANADIAN WOMEN OF THE TIME AND

THE WOMEN MOVEMENT

BY A. C. FORSTER BOULTON, F.R.G.S.

(Member of the English and Canadian Bar)

THE early history of Canada is a record of wars, geographical enterprise, the clearance of the land, and the gradual establishment of a self-governing colony, possessing the fullest measure of constitutional freedom. In all this women had their share, but it was for the most part a silent one. The early struggles of the colonists were, in the first place, for security of life and property, and later on for the right to govern themselves. In those stormy days women's rights, in a political sense, were unknown. But as Canada grew and expanded into a young and vigorous nationality, an agitation arose for the more perfect intellectual development of women. The education-the higher education of women once obtained, their emancipation speedily followed, and now Canada is second to no other country in the world in the organisation of its women. The pent-up talent and vigour of the past has broken out into a freshness and mental strength which seems to carry all before it, and the advocates of women's rights in Canada are among the foremost in eloquence and knowledge in the various women's societies on the continent of America. And it is right that it should be so. For Canada is second to no other country in all movements of a progressive nature. Her educational system is probably superior to any in the world, and it

is therefore fit and proper, in a country where social reforms are ever uppermost in the thoughts of the people, that women should be especially interested in the progress of their sex. It is recognised on all sides that the great changes which have swept over the country during the last hundred years, transforming politics, business, social and religious life, must necessarily have had their effect in modifying greatly the condition of women. It is allowed even by the lovers of the "good old times," that to acquiesce, even though it be reluctantly, in the changes wrought by the ballot-box, the railway, and the factory, and at the same time to declaim vehemently against the entrance of women into political and industrial life, is illogical and absurd. We have done with the days of the mail-coach, the shilling postage, the crinoline, and the poke bonnet. We have done with the days when gentlemen were not thought disgraced by nightly drunkenness, and rioting and corruption were the accepted methods of elections, and the empire was but a name. Those days are past and gone, and with them has passed away the idea of the subjection of women. In Canada the woman movement once begun has had little to retard it; and in the free air of the greatest colony of the empire the intellectual development of all classes has stimulated the growth, as it has shown the necessity, of a movement in favour of women taking a greater share in the social and industrial life of the country. The growth of the towns, the increase in manufactures and the accumulation of wealth have brought in their train much the same social problems which have existed for generations in England. tunately for Canada the class distinctions which so often interfere with English social reforms are practically unknown, and all classes work together for the common good. In such a community the liquor interest has not the same support as it has in England, and public opinion would not tolerate the

For

existence of barmaids. Nor do women frequent the public-house as they do in England, and it is a rare thing to see a woman in the bar of a licensed house. These facts are not the outcome of the women's movement. They are perhaps to be traced in the origin of the Colony. Canada, it must not be forgotten, was founded by men of a more or less puritanical mould, descendants of Covenanters and English Nonconformists, and apart from this the fact that in the early history of Canada, as in all colonies, women were in a minority, has from the earliest times caused them to be held in the highest respect, and a homage paid to them which is to this day unknown in England. But if public opinion would not tolerate the lowering of women to the extent of permitting them to serve or drink in a public-house, it had no such scruple in regard to the sterner sex, and consequently with the growth of the population, while the old ideas regarding women have remained unchanged, the drink question has become one of the great problems of the day. Drunkenness among men must bring misery into the home, and women have, therefore, a very real interest in meeting the question, and facing it with a strong determination to stamp out the drink traffic altogether, or at any rate so limit it as to do away with the evil effects of intoxication. Hence the foundation of the Women's Christian Temperance Union, one of the largest of the many women's organisations of Canada, and one which has its branches all over the country. This Union it was which set in motion the prohibition agitation some seven or eight years ago, and although it has in concert with kindred societies so far failed in securing a general prohibitory law, it has none the less done splendid work in restricting the consumption of strong drink and increasing the number of total abstainers. Foremost in this work has been a Toronto lady, Mrs. Annie O. Rutherford, who combines a knowledge of