be it admitted, by flowers, but for the plucking of which, it must also be admitted, there is seldom much leisure.

Of books and children so far no mention has been made. For the emigrating sisterhood who settle on farms little or no time will be found for either of these luxuries for many years to come.

A gentlewoman's' children could not be suffered by her to be merely dragged up on the farm acres, unwashed, uncared for, uneducated. And yet, if she marries a neighbouring 'settler' and enters single-handed the service of the exigent deity who reigns over the multifarious duties of home life in South Africa-a deity who demands the full meed and measure of energy and effort from each individual driven in single harness through the various domestic departments I have enumerated, whence will come the strength necessary for the nursery and schoolroom? The life of the spinster will be hard enough. Let her not marry till provision for her still greater hour of need has been made till from some corner of our world has been collected efficient paid assistance to enable her to face life and death under decent civilised conditions. There is, of course, the much discussed method of importing the husband's or wife's sister as an auxiliary help in the new ménage, but, as has so frequently been proved in the old country, this can only be done at the sacrifice of that precious life à deux which is admitted to be the only safe condition of the launching of the ship of marriage in every walk in life and in every country.

Lady Malmesbury carries us theoretically into the new atmosphere of a radiant and simple solution of all our difficulties in her New South Africa. She says, speaking of intending women settlers on farms in South Africa: It would be better for them, before beginning business on their own account, to apprentice themselves for six months or a year to colonial or Dutch families carrying on the same kind of work as that in which they afterwards wish to engage.' This would be an ideal solution if—and such a big if— South African farm life included any so luxurious a possession at the disposal of the farmer's wife as leisure and capacity to teach. Life is hard and rough on these farms, and a farmer's wife, if she can afford to give herself any help, has to pay heavily for it. She could not even if she would-give any adequate equivalent in teaching or experience. An apprentice,' moreover, would not be found willing to pay even a small sum for the privilege of working like a slave in return for such scanty board and lodging as would be obtainable. The bulk of farmers in South Africa up to now have been content to make an existence merely. They have neither time, opportunity, nor, perhaps, the desire to make much, if any, profit. Exceptions there are: men who have made fortunes, and others who, by dint of good luck and good weather, and immunity from the many climatic hindrances to successful farming, have laid

by sufficient to send their boys and girls to school. These are taught not the science of farm and domestic life, but many other 'isms' which breed discontent and loathing for the arduous atmosphere of their early years. What the degree of laboriousness amounted to which coloured their infantile estimate of home life can be, perhaps, approximately gauged by a few moments' study of statistics which show that many a young farmer of thirty has buried three or more wives. These have successively broken down under the strain. Will an English 'gentlewoman' be better able to withstand such strain ?

The word 'apprentice' carries with it a vision of thorough teaching by some one who is master of his craft. The apprentice looks to be vigorously instructed in the details of each separate department of the calling selected from the lowest to the highest branch. In South African farming, as known at present, there are no departments. The jack-of-all-trades' who is the mistress, maid, and scullion rolled into one, in dairy, poultry-yard, laundry, kitchen, thimbledom, dusterdom, nursery and schoolroom, has not time to keep her departments separate. It is all a It is all a jumble in which the central figure does perhaps move with some degree of methodical intention, the contemplation of which will afford no more instruction to an apprentice than could be gleaned by a patient investigation of gigantic waste-paper baskets, full of torn-up pages of discarded lending library volumes.

The suggestion that a gentlewoman should make the experiment in England which it is suggested in all good faith that she should make in South Africa would undoubtedly be met with derisive contempt. Yet how much more possible the life under conditions with which she has been familiar from childhood! Would she seriously contemplate a proposal made to her that she should be the sole help of her brother on a farm of, say, even twenty acres in a southern county in England, without a servant in the house or on the farm? The idea is absurd. It is even more absurd when it is proposed that it should be carried out in a strange land, far away from the help and companionship always within easy reach in our English parishes. To make such a life possible in the new colonies, co-operation and a fair division of the work to be done must be carefully thought out. Three or four members of a family must face it together. Those who have the great good fortune to possess a faithful, hard-working retainer-devoted and self-sacrificing-who will emigrate with the young members of his or her old employer's family-may start on the new farming life with a greater chance of success than could be assured by even the most complete equipment that money could buy in any walk of life. Only let no one be unreasonable enough to hope to find that disinterested devotion out here, until such time as they shall have made the people of the country realise

the almost sacred nature of the bond between faithful attendants and grateful heads of households.

To sum up an emigrating gentlewoman must possess proved physical strength or a sufficient income wherewith to provide herself with the requisite alternative—i.e. servants to do her bidding. In either case she must have a thorough knowledge of, and training in, all the different departments of home and farm life.

MAY HELY HUTCHINSON.

Government House, Cape Town.

A NEW ROUTE TO CANADA

THE great need of Canada is to place herself commercially nearer to Europe, and Great Britain in particular, and to bridge over by the shortest method the space which separates the two countries. Now, this must be done not so much by accelerating the rate of speed as by shortening the passage between England and Canada.

At the present time we may say roughly that the journey from England to America-i.e. from Liverpool to New York-occupies 5 days 7 hours 23 minutes; whilst the journey from England to Canada-i.e. from Liverpool to Quebec-occupies 9 days 16 hours 35 minutes. There is something radically wrong when it takes 5 days 7 hours to cover the 3,055 knots from Liverpool to New York, whereas to traverse the 2,665 knots from Liverpool to Quebec takes 9 days 16 hours: though the distance is shorter in the one case by 390 knots, yet it takes 4 days 9 hours longer to cover it. But this has not always been the case: Canada once had a faster sea service than the United States. During the first quarter of the nineteenth century it was the ships bound for Quebec, and not those for New York, that held the record. But with the introduction of steam Canada gradually fell to the rear, and the United States stepped into her place as the record-holder of the Transatlantic service.

What has been the result of this loss of supremacy by Canada? It has shown itself chiefly in the turn of the tide of immigration. In 1826 Canada received 39,000 immigrants, the United States 22,000; in 1880 Canada received 27,544 immigrants, the United States 622,252; during the first six months of 1900 Canada received only 23,895 immigrants, whilst during the twelve months of the same year 448,572 immigrants landed on American shores. The consequence of this is that the population of the United States is now about twelve times as large as that of Canada; hence the States are a wealthy country, with a teeming population to develop its resources, while Canada possesses equal resources but lacks a population to develop them. I do not, of course, mean to assert that the possession by the United States of the Transatlantic record was the sole cause of the States, and not Canada, being the goal of immigration; but it

must be admitted that until ocean transport to Canada is rendered equal to that of the States, Canada can never claim her share of European emigration, or develop her immense resources.

Two causes can be adduced to account for the supersession of Canada in the matter of ocean transport. (1) The first reason is the method of subsidisation. The systems adopted by Canada and by the United States offer at once a contrast and a lesson. Both countries alike have subsidised various steamship lines, but for the American subsidy there is the keenest competition, while for the Canadian subsidy there is practically none. As long as the Majestic and Teutonic held the record it was the White Star Line that held the maximum postal subvention, but when the Lucania and Campania appeared it was transferred to the Cunard Line. Now, it is just this absence of competition in the distribution of Canadian subsidies that causes their failure; there is little to induce shipowners to start a fast line. (2) But far beyond the matter of subsidies as a cause of the failure of Canada to possess a fast line of steamers is the TOTAL DISREGARD OF THE GEOGRAPHICAL POSITION OF CANADA and the neglect to use the geographical advantages she possesses over the United States. The present steamship route to Canada is defective, and if Canada is to compete successfully with the States for the fast ocean traffic a new route must be adopted. The Canadian ocean steamships are under a disadvantage which no other mail vessels in the world lie under— their first port of call is Rimouski, a port five hundred miles up the St. Lawrence. All other great ocean lines have an ocean port of call; mails on coming to England are landed at an ocean port-American mails are landed at Queenstown, Canadian at Moville. But not only does Rimouski lie five hundred miles up a river, but the approach to it is probably one of the most dangerous in the world; it lies along the banks of a dangerous river full of uncertain currents; it is the scene of almost continuous fog, and fog is declared to prevail there for at least one-third of the time of navigation. In addition to this, there is continuous danger from icebergs if the short passage via the Straits of Belle Isle is used: reports from the signal station in the Strait declare that as many as three hundred icebergs are frequently seen at the entrance, and it is no uncommon occurrence for mail boats to be delayed from twenty-four to twenty-six hours in the Straits. The time is consumed in getting from Belle Isle or Cape Race to Quebec, and not in the ocean passage. The difficulties of the passage can best be gauged by a comparison of the fastest and slowest trips made by the s.s. Parisian from Liverpool to Rimouski: in 1897 her fastest trip was 188 hours, and her slowest 286 hours-a difference of almost 100 hours; on the other hand, the difference between the fastest and slowest passages of the White Star or Cunard liners is seldom more than a couple of hours.

Canada can, however, compete successfully with America for the