Hudson's Bay and the coast waters from Ungava to Mackenzie River are the richest whaling grounds in the world, and the last home of the right whale (producing whalebone), which has, within the memory of living man, been driven from around Newfoundland.

21%

PROFITS (Estimated)

1901

79%

FARMERS' COST OF PRODUCTION

Mining in Canada.-In 1901 Canada's mineral production was valued at $66,712,708, and her mineral exports at $42,310,800, over nine-tenths of which was exported to the United States.

A SONG OF THE NORTH-WEST.

Oh, would ye hear, and would ye hear,
Of the windy, wide North-West?
Faith! 'tis a land as green as the sea,
That rolls as far and rolls as free,
With drifts of flowers, so many there be,
Where the cattle roam and rest.

Oh, could ye see, and could ye see,
The great gold skies so clear,

The rivers that race through the pine shade dark,

The mountainous snows that take no mark. Sunlit and high on the Rockies stark,

So far they seem so near.

Then could ye feel, and could ye feel,
How fresh is a western night!

Yalu, their heroic fight at Kin-chou and the heights of Nanshan Hill has dissipated them for ever. It is harrowing to read of the reckless daring which made their serried ranks press on to certain death though melting before the fire of emplaced batteries "like solder before a blow-pipe," until "battalions ceased to exist except as a trail of mutilated bodies." These victories are dearly bought. They are bought at the cost of untold physical anguish, of blighted homes and weeping wives and orphaned babes. The glamour and glitter, the pomp and circumstance of even successful war must not close our eyes to its essential barbarism and brutality.

When the long land-breezes rise and pass
And sigh in the rustling prairie grass,
When the dark blue skies are clear as glass.
And the same old stars are bright.

But could ye know, and for ever know,
The word of the young North-West!
A word she breathes to the true and bold,
A word misknown to the false and cold,
A word that never was spoken or sold,
But the one that knows is blest."

Upon the colossal empire of Russia, which, with cynical contempt for the public opinion of the civilized world, refused to keep its oft-repeated pledges to evacuate Manchuria, must rest in large degree the guilt of this inhuman war. All that Japan asks is that the greatest military power in the world in the numbers of its warriors and extent of territory, shall maintain its oft-repeated pledges. It is now likely to be compelled to do, after a humiliating defeat, what it should and could have done with honour and with increased prestige and distinction.

The war in the East has made a long and strong advance by the invasion in force of the Liau Tung peninsula. If there were any doubt as to the strategic skill, audacious Courage and staying power of the Japanese after their successes on the

The occupation of Dalny, with its piers and ports and docks and warehouses, the city built at such great cost by Russia, will give an immense

ese forces beneath his seven-leagued boots as he strode through Korea to Japan, where he declared that the war would be ended by the capture of Tokio. It is a curious irony of fate that we now read of Russia in feverish haste fortifying St. Petersburg and Kronstadt, as if in fear of an attack upon these Western windows looking into European waters. We may be sure that the Japs have no such preposterous purpose. Their strength is to sit still, to occupy maritime Manchuria, within a few hours' sail from their ports and shores, and let their foes attempt the difficult task of ousting them therefrom.

The story of the death of Admiral Makaroff on April 13, with the loss of his flagship, the "Petropavlovsk," and some six hundred of his men, is known to our readers. Vice-Admiral Stephan Osipovich Makaroff, commander-inchief of the Russian naval forces in the Far East, was a man of a bold and vigorous personality, and after his arrival at Port Arthur the Russian vessels repeatedly acted on the

MODERN WAR

Harper's Weekly.

CANADIAN ASSEMBLIES.

The leafy month of June is the favourite time for the ecclesiastical assemblies of Canada, and a very favourable time it is. The country wears its loveliest array. The fragrance of the lilac and apple blooms fills the air, and their beauty greets the eye, and the song of birds is heard on every side. The summer heat has not come, and the genial breath of spring invigorates the frame. These influences doubtless do much to promote the spirit of Christian optimism that characterizes these assemblies.

There has been marked religious progress in all the Churches. In our Own Church, notwithstanding the severity of the winter, which prevented special efforts in many ways, there will be reported considerable increase of numbers, and of our connexional funds, especially of the Missionary Fund, which is the barometer of the spiritual life of the Church, marked increase.

Our colleges and universities have had a year of great prosperity, our oldest institution, Victoria, closing the year with a small surplus, having added to its plant, through the generosity of the Massey family, what is probably one of the finest woman's residences on this continent.

our

The publishing interests of Church also report continued prosperity. The Guardian has an increased circulation of nearly four thousand, and the Sunday-school publications about seven thousand.

Our Conferences have taken strong ground on the temperance question. They protest against partnership of the State in the liquor traffic, and demand with increasing earnestness the banishment of the bar.

It was a genuine surprise to many, though not to all, to note with what spontaneous and almost universal

favour the great question of denominational union was received in all the Conferences. As the largest of the negotiating bodies, the Church can well afford, without any Methodist loss of dignity or propriety, to be the very foremost in this negotiation. There is no need of her hanging back in order for more ardent wooing from the other Churches. Of this union we may say in the words of the great dramatist, "If it were well it

were done, it were well it were done quickly."

Amid the general complaint of the lack of recruits for the ministry, our own Church has little ground for complaint. It is not so much the men for the home and foreign work who are needed as the means to send those who offer. Scores of volunteers are waiting marching orders to advance to the firing-line on the high places of the field.

In one important respect the proposed union will promote much needed economy. Though Our denominational work and membership are not greatly in advance of those of our Presbyterian friends, yet the number of our ministers is nearly twice as many. They are doing their work in this regard with a far greater economy of men and means.

The divisions and subdivisions of our circuits have made it more difficult to give an income adequate to the increased cost of living to those who carry on the work. Our Presbyterian friends in the country places will go further to attend church than the Methodists; consequently they have often larger churches and more adequate compensation for their ministers. By consolidation of resources, we may expect a large number of able men to be set free to heed the imperious call from the great North-West to thrust in the sickle and reap, for the harvesttime is fully come.

In the General Assembly of the Presbyterian Church at St. John, the same more than friendly attitude to union was exhibited, and a desire for an even wider union was strongly expressed. A large and influential committee was appointed to confer at an early date with committees of other Churches.

It

In the Congregational Union, and even in the Anglican Synods, the same ardent desire for Christian union and co-operation was manifested. is felt that, too long, brethren who are one in aim and purpose have been estranged in sympathy and effort, that the time for union of forces against a common foe is now. The feeling of the ministers and leading laymen throughout the country, as reflected in the press, is almost entirely strongly in favour of an early union. all the periodicals in the country, the only two exceptions to this chorus of

Of