SOME BOOKS OF THE WEEK.
['Under this heading we notice such Books of the week as have sot ben reserved for retries, in other form.] The New Garden of Canada. By F. A. Talbot. (Cassell and Co. 7s. 6d. net.)—This book describes Northern British Columbia which is to be developed by the Grand Trunk Pacific. The author made the long journey from Wolf Creek, in Alberta, to Prince Rupert, the terminus on the Pacific Coast, by pack-horse and canoe, following the surveyed line. It is a country towards which the eyes of many are now turning. The title will surprise readers when it is recollected that nearly all this great district lies between the parallels of 53 deg. and 55 deg. Facts, however, cannot be denied. Wherever the party came across settlers they found these hardy pioneers raising extraordinary vege- tables and cereal crops. All along the proposed line fore- seeing men have obtained land and sit waiting till the railway arrives. The speculation in land that goes on may be imagined ; it is natural, but it is demoralizing. It is a gigantic gamble, an inevitable process, but one that will lose its force it is. to be hoped. Mr. Talbot quotes instances to illustrate the boom. There ought to be means to prevent a man acquiring as much as 300 square miles of land ! That is not the way to encourage settlement. It is easy enough to restrict such absurd speculation. It is also obvious that the new railway belt is most indifferently policed, and the British Columbian natives, who have interfered very little with the white man, are being demoralized by illicit alcoholic beverages. The author confines himself strictly to his route, but this provides plenty of magnificent scenery, for which British Columbia is so famous. The imagination is stirred con- templating the future of such places as Tete Janne Cache, the Mount Robscn country, the Nechaco Plains, the Bulkeley Valley, and the Cascades, for with these imposing mountain landscapes and charming lake scenes go soil of fertility, abundance of minerals, and a climate that is healthy with all its drawbacks and severity. Mr. Talbot's book is a straightforward record of a necessarily hurried journey, but it indicates fairly the possibilities of Northern British Columbia.
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