The Stourbridge Observer, Cradley Heath, Halesowen & District Chronicle.
Stourbridge, West Midlands, England, 1883-05-26 00:00:00

THE NEW GOVERNOR-GENERAL OF
CANADA.

The Queen has approved of the appointment of the
Marquis of Lansdowne as Governor• General of Canada
in succession to the Marquis of Lorne, who will retire
in October next, on the completion of the period for
which he was appointed.

The Right Hon. Henry Charles Keith-Petty-Fitz-
maurice, Marquis of Lansdowne, is the elder eon of
Henry, fourth Marquis, and was born in 1845. He
was educated at Eton and at Balliol College, Oxford,
and was formerly a Captain in the Wilts Yeomanry
Cavalry. He succeeded his father in the Marquisate
and other titles in 1866. Lord LanKlowne was a
Lord of the Treasury from 1868 to 1872, and Under.
Secretary for War from the latter date till 1874. He
wns appointed Under-Secretary for India when Mr.
Gladstone took office again in 1880, but retired two
months afterwards.

Noticing the appointment of Lord Lansdowne, The
Times in a leader says :

lhe announcement that the Marquis of Lansdowne
is in October next to E nceeed Lord Lorne as Governor.
General of Canada will be received on all sides with
satisfaction. . • .

It may fairly be hoped and expected that no unusual
difficulties or vexatious political problems of the first
importance will meet the new Governor on his arrival.
Toe foreign relations of the Dominion—that is to say,
its relations with the United States—appear to be ex-
cellent ; unless, indeed, we admit that the existence of
a pair of protective tariffs, standing face to face, is
likely to mar those good relations. The confedera-
tion works well on the whole, and every year the
tendency towards union among the most widely
separated provinces is becoming stronger. The work
of the Canadian Government is, in fact, at present,
and must be for some time to come, rather material
than political ; rather directed towards the develop-
ment of the physical resources of the country than to
the solution of party difficulties or the smoothing down
of political animosities. This has been the constant
burden of Lord Lorne's public utterances and the con-
stant motive of his policy, as it was the motive of
Lord Dufferin's policy before him. The celebrated
tour in the almost unexplored districts of the North-
West, and the more recent tour in British Columbia
and Vancouver' were the most significant acts
of the present Governor-General's rule ; and their
single object was to discover the best means for
improving communication, for attracting new settlers,
and for bringing the produce of the distant lands to a
market, American or European. The chief concrete
result of these tours has been the stimulus given to
the completion of the Canadian Pacific Railway,
which is meant to connect Eastern Canada with the
Pacific territories of the British Crown and thus to
rival the Central and Southern Pacific Railways
which have in so few years almost transformed
the Western possessions of the United States.
Some of our readers may remember the very
sanguine speech which in November last Lord
Lorne addressed to the citizens of Victoria in
British Columbia, and the fascinating picture
which he drew of the near future of that region. Ac-
cording to him, it is to supply the whole world with
timber, and its upper valleys are to despatch whole
train-loads and cargoes of fruit to Montreal, to
Toronto and even to London. Already the rivers
and creeks of British Columbia send millions of pounds
of tinned salmon to England every year; and when
the railway is made and fresh hands have been im-
ported into this trade the quantity will expand enor-
mously. The coal mines of Nanaimo bid fair to become
a mighty centre of industry; while, lest it should be
supposed that British Columbia is to become a "Black
Country," we have Lord Lorne's authority for
saying that the "grand valleys and marvellous moun-
tain "ranges" of the country should make of it the
Switzerland of America. Still more important than
this region of the Pacific coast are the vast wheat-
growing lands of Manitoba and the districts resem-
bling and bordering upon that territory. The develop-
ment of these is and must continue to be the principal

care of the Canadian Government, and tile cliief
interests of any Governor. Lord Lansdowne, as a
great landowner in England and in Ireland, is familiar
with the processes of agriculture on what we in this
country consider a tolerably large scale. He will have
the opportunity of seeing how the thing is done in a
region where the fields are prairies, forty miles across.