The Stourbridge Observer, Cradley Heath, Halesowen & District Chronicle.
Stourbridge, West Midlands, England, 1874-11-14 00:00:00

THE CLIMATE OF CANADA.

Canadians stand manfully in defence of their
climate. The Toronto Globe republishes from The
Times what it allows to be "a very fair article "relat-
ing to Canada, but complains that mention is made of
disadvantages of climate. The Globe wishes the writer
of that article would spend a twelvemonth in Canada—
he would be delighted with the scenery and atmo-
sphere of our Canadian summer, and when winter
came he would be astonished with the sense of pleasure
he felt as he walked out in a snowstorm—terrible
words only to the uninitiated—or cleft his way through
the bracing air of a clear frosty day." The statistics of
the temperature supplied to The Times by Mr. Bell are
not disputed, but then "Mr. Bell says not a single word
about the nature of our climate, the dryness of the at-
mosphere, and the well-known fact that the mere range
of temperature marked on the thermometer can give
people in the old country no means whatever of judg-
ing what that climate really is. In Britain every one
knows that it is a very rare occurrence for the mercury
to fall to zero of Fahrenheit, and when it does 80 it
indicates a severity t,f cold much greater than what is
known in Canada with the thermometer at 25 or 30
degs. below zero. What is true of the cold is almost
equally so of the heat. The damp atmosphere of
Britain is such as will chill a Canadian to the bone
when, according to the mercury, he ought to be very
comfortable. There are tens of thousands in this
country who can testify that they have suffered more
from sold in any part of Scotland than in many parts
in England than ever they did on this side the
Atlantic. Mr. Bell never lets his British readers
understand what is yet a fact, that our very high or
very low temperatures never continue for more than
two or three days at a time, and, perhaps, occur not
above once or twice in the course of a mown. Let us see
what facts say to the healthiness of this terrible cli-
mate, which we are assured only the most robust can
stand. In the census of the Dominion, taken in 1871,
we have the population arranged according to their
ages. This embraces the four provinces of Ontario,
Quelleo, h New Brunswick, and Nova Scotia, with a
population of 3,486,003. Well, how do we find that
these inhabitants stood the climate? In this way.
There were 141 upwards of 100 years of age; 1,389
under 100 and above 90; 13,120 under 90 and above
80; 51,422 under 80 and above 70; 112,783 under 70
and above 60; 181,613 under GO and above 50. We
need not go lower, but will England or any other
country give a better account than this Canada of ours,
which, according to Mr. Bell eateth up its people,'
leaving we suppose only the ' fittest?' Al the same
time duringthe previous year there had only been 47,314
deaths, while the births amounted to 117,561. So far
from only the very strongest constitutions being able
to stand the Canadian climate, the death-rate and
birth-rate show that either constituth ns not the
strongest do gtaml it, or that all the constitutions in
the country are strong."