which would yield £12,000,000 sterling and by reducing the brewers' period of credit from two months to one month he expected to gain £5,000,000 sterling. He also announced his intention to increase the annual payments into the Sinking Fund from £50,000,000 to £65,000,000 to compensate for withdrawals during a period of crisis. The Budget was in the main well received by the British public despite increases in taxation, and was praised by other countries, especially by the United States, as a courageous attempt on the part of Great Britain to pay her debts and preserve financial stability in the face of a very difficult situation.

In May, 1927, the Labour party introduced its annual motion to expend £10,000,000 on state enterprises like reforestation and drainage, to "prevent unemployment," but as in the past, was defeated by a considerable majority.

An announcement was made by Mr. Baldwin on Apr. 13 that at the next Session of Parliament the Government would introduce legislation reducing the age limit for women voters from 30 to 21 years, and it would be passed in time for five million new voters to cast their ballots at the next general election (1929). It was estimated that this legislation would place women voters in a majority of two millions over male voters.

Certain revisions of the Book of Common Prayer were finally agreed to by the Convocations of Canterbury and York on March 30th and subsequently came before Parliament. A small minority opposed them on the ground of "Romanizing tendencies" but they were ratified.

Army and Navy. The Annual Report on the British Army for the year ending Sept. 30, 1926, showed that the number of recruits finally approved for service was 28,987 as compared with 31,919 in 1924-25. The general causes of the decrease were reduction in pay, growing emigration, and a better demand for farm labour. On Oct. 1st, 1926, the strength of the Regular Army, Army Reserve, Militia, Supplementary Reserve, Territorial Army, etc., was 474,272, all ranks-officers, 19,838 and other ranks, 452,434. Of this total the Regular Army comprised 202,520 (officers included, 10,337). The Army Estimates laid before Parliament on Mar. 3, 1927 called for £41,565,000, a reduction of £935,000 on the previous year. This was exclusive of the cost of the Shanghai defence force. A supplementary estimate showed the amount required for this purpose up to the end of March, 1927 to be £950,000 of which £350,000 represented cost of conveyance by sea.

The Right Hon. W. C. Bridgeman, First Lord of the Admiralty, presented his Naval estimates on Mar. 14, 1927. The net total of expenditure was placed at £58,000,000, a reduction of £100,000 on the previous year and of £2,500,000 on the total for 1925. Expenditure for new construction was increased from £9,083,963 to £9,983,446 and that of the Fleet Air Arm from £681,000 to

£882,000. The estimates provided for a personnel of 102,275, a decrease of 400. The last pre-war vote in 1914 provided for a personnel of 151,000. As ships in hand are larger and more complicated an increase in the number of men would normally have been made but this was deferred by retardation in the London class of cruisers. Short service enlistment was to be resumed. The provision for contract shipbuilding was the highest since 1920. The First Lord stated that during 1927, the battleships Nelson and Rodney would be completed for the Atlantic fleet, five cruisers of the Kent class for China, and two Australian cruisers for the Commonwealth fleet. The total estimate of £1,907,000 for docks and works showed the heavy decrease of £468,300. In spite of the £270,000 provided for the Singapore base, the total estimate for this work, apart from machinery and furniture had been reduced from £9,414,500 to £6,917,000. The First Lord expressed Britain's willingness to enter into the proposed Disarmament Conference even if but the three chief naval powers, Great Britain, the United States and Japan were represented, and announced his belief that these powers could make considerable progress towards naval disarmament without risking Britain's security.

The most important change in the personnel of the British Navy during the year was the appointment of Admiral Sir Charles Edward Madden as First Sea Lord and Chief of Naval Staff in succession to Admiral Earl Beatty, who retired late in April, 1927.

Progress in Aviation.* The year 1926-27 was one of immense activity in aviation. The development of Empire air communications in which overseas Dominions and dependencies might co-operate was announced as a policy by Sir Samuel Hoare, British Secretary of State for Air, in June, 1926. He stated that there

were in Great Britain services operating 1,500 miles of air routes and in Australia, 300 miles. He set down as objectives for the immediate future three main lines of progress, an air line to India in four days, one to Cape Town in six days, and another reaching Australia in 10 days and New Zealand in 12. Some time in the future a fourth line to Canada in 21⁄2 days might be achieved. The Minister of Air further stated that researches and improvements already made showed that there was no technical reason why airships of five million cubic feet capacity, carrying 100 passengers, 20 tons of freight and a crew of 50 might not be achieved.

A test of Sir Samuel's prophecies was provided a few weeks later when, Mr. (afterward Sir) Alan Cobham, a British aviator, who had already flown to the Cape and back, arrived at Melbourne on the south-east corner of Australia having completed a flight of 13,000 miles from Rochester, England, in various stages going via France, Athens, Baghdad, Delhi, Rangoon, Singapore, Java and Sydney. He used a D.H. 50 de Haviland Hercules bi-plane. His trip was interrupted by a tragic occurrence between Baghdad

NOTE-*See Transportation and Communication pages for Canada's record in Aviation.

and Basra on July 6 when his pilot, A. B. Elliott, was killed by a shot fired into the air at the plane by a wandering Arab. Another pilot was found at Shaibah who finished the flight with Mr. Cobham. After resting in Australia the latter flew back to England arriving in London on Oct. 1st, having completed a voyage of 28,000 miles. His return was very spectacular as he flew up the Thames to a pre-arranged landing place on the river opposite the Houses of Parliament, and on the same day was received by His Majesty and knighted. The aviator stated that his flight was not a "stunt" but an effort to show the feasibility of Empire air

routes.

In September it was announced that an Imperial Airways Service was planned between Croydon, England via Egypt to India. Lord Winterton, Parliamentary Under-Secretary for India, disdisclosed important plans for a highly efficient air base at Karachi and the development of various air-routes in India by the Government of that Empire. To prove his belief in his own plans, Sir Samuel Hoare himself, late in December, 1926, made a flight to India via Egypt and return, accompanied by Lady Maude Hoare. They returned to England on Feb. 18, having completed 12,000 miles of travel by air with stops at various centres.

During his stay in India, Sir Samuel made an extensive air tour of posts on the Northwestern frontier. The Air Minister's estimates presented to Parliament on Mar. 7, 1927, called for a net expenditure for the coming year of £15,500,000-a reduction of £450,000 in comparison with the previous year.

The technical and war stores vote was increased by $333,000 making provision for six new squadrons or their equivalent in the 1927 strength of the Royal Air Force. This was stated to be 63 squadrons of which 56 were on a regular basis.

British and Empire Trade. Foreign and Overseas trade returns for 1926 showed the largest adverse visible balance since 1919, a condition attributable to the coal strike. The total was £465,406,000 as against £393,298,000 in 1925. In the first four months of 1926 the adverse balance was diminishing but the later months changed the situation. Total imports were £1,242,863,679, a decrease of 5.8 per cent.; total exports were £777,458,137, a decrease of 16.1 per cent. A portion of this was approximately £126,000,000 in re-exports and the total value of trade was the smallest since 1923. Heavy decreases in exports of coal, iron and steel, and woollen and worsted goods were logically traceable to the strike.

Iron and steel production suffered more than any other industry during 1926 but within six weeks of the cessation of the strike, production and export showed a sharp upward trend in part as a result of deferred orders. The year 1927 opened with an optimistic outlook for increased activity in the engineering and shipbuilding trades. In other staple lines of manufacture betterments

were apparent. 'In the matter of coal the restoration of export trade was followed by a fall in prices.

British agriculture showed a healthy condition, the total output of the year being valued at £225,000,000.

It

World shipbuilding showed a marked decrease in 1926. aggregated 1,633,200 tons, a reduction of 533,242 tons compared with 1925. In Great Britain and Ireland the production was only 638,000 tons, a falling off of 441,000. One of the important shipping events of the year was the sale of the White Star Line of ocean steamers, formerly owned by the International Mercantile Marine Company of New York, to an English syndicate headed by Furness, Withy & Company. The price paid for 33 vessels with an aggregate of 500,000 tonnage was in excess of £7,000,000. The direct West India Cable Company operating between Halifax, Bermuda and the British West Indies, purchased the Cuba Submarine Telegraph Company which gave it control of a vast system of cables in the Caribbean and Gulf regions.

The Royal
Family:
Other Empire
Affairs

The period under survey was an unusually active one for His Majesty, King George V. and the members of the Royal family. In the last week of May, 1926, he received at Buckingham Palace the delegates to the International Parliamentary Commercial Conference at which forty countries were represented. German delegates were present for the first time since the War. In July, H.R.H. the Prince of Wales officially opened Empire House in King St., Baker St., London, the new quarters of the British Empire League. In November the Prince formally opened the new Hostel for Canadian male students in Paris, for which the site was given by the French government and which was erected by Canadian contributions.

Both His Majesty and the Prince took an active part in the functions attending the meeting of the Imperial Conference. The Prince of Wales was the chief guest at the dinner commemorating the bi-centenary of the birth of General Wolfe at the Savoy Hotel, London, Jan. 3, 1927. In February, he received visiting Canadian curlers at York House. In March he presided at the fourth Annual Meeting of the Empire Forestry Association in the Guildhall, London.

Canada was honoured with an informal visit from H.R.H. Prince George, who arrived from the far East at Victoria, B.C., on the Empress of Russia, Nov. 29, 1926, and crossed Canada to St. John, N.B., where he sailed for Liverpool Dec. 7. En route he paid a private visit to His Excellency the Governor General and Lady Willingdon. On Jan. 6, H.R.H. the Duke and Duchess of York left Plymouth on H.M.S. Renown for a tour of the Antipodes. They were enthusiastically received in Australian and New Zealand cities, as well as in West Indies and South Seas ports, while en route everywhere Their Royal Highnesses made a favourable impression not only on the British-born but on the many native peoples.

Canada's New Governor-General.

The term of Lord Byng

of Vimy as Governor-General of Canada was due to expire in the Summer of 1926 and on June 8, the British Government announced that His Majesty had been graciously pleased to appoint as his successor Viscount Willingdon, G.C.S.I., G.C.I.E., G.B.E., who had been Governor of Madras. Lord Willingdon was formerly known as Freeman Freeman-Thomas, M.P., and was created a Baron in 1910. Lady Willingdon was before her marriage, Hon. Marie Adelaide Brassey, daughter of the first Lord Brassey. In the previous Winter Lord Willingdon had privately become acquainted with Canada on a trip across this country while en route to China to return the Boxer indemnities on behalf of the British Treasury.

The departure of Lord Byng was delayed by the political crises at Ottawa, but during the Summer months he was able to pay a series of farewell visits to Canadian cities in company with Lady Byng where both were honoured by many social functions and appropriate presentations. In a farewell speech at Toronto on Sept. 21, delivered at a banquet tendered by the Government of Ontario, he asked the people of Canada to think of the country as a whole and consider the tremendous mental and moral possibilities as well as the great ideals to be realized in the future. He expressed an unfailing optimism with regard to Canada engendered during his stay in this country, during which period he and Lady Byng had travelled upwards of 90,000 miles. On the departure of His retiring-Excellency and Lady Byng from Quebec, Sept. 29, they were accorded a magnificent demonstration and Royal salute from the Citadel.

Similar honours were conceded to the new Governor-General upon his arrival with Lady Willingdon at Quebec on Oct. 2, when he was welcomed by Rt. Hon. W. L. Mackenzie King, Prime Minister of Canada, Hon. N. Perodeau, Lieutenant Governor of Quebec and Hon. L. A. Taschereau, Premier of Quebec.

The conferring of honours upon him began almost immediately when on Oct. 6, he received the Honorary degree of Doctor of Laws at McGill University. So soon as Their Excellencies were settled at Rideau Hall they at once began to take an active part in the social and public life of the country. On a visit to Toronto on Nov. 15, the University of Toronto conferred the honorary degree of LL.D. upon him. His Excellency opened his first Parliament in December and with Lady Willingdon held the first Drawing-room in January 1927. On Mar. 19 they left Ottawa on a series of visits to Western capitals where at all points they were most enthusiastically welcomed.

Titles and Honours. In connection with the King's Birthday Honours (1926) forty-eight new knights were created, the recipients including Hon. J. R. Bennett, a member of the Newfoundland Government, Sir Henry Coward, the famous choral conductor, Hon. John William Fortescue, historian of the British Army and John Murray, publisher. The title of Dame of the Grand Cross of the British Empire was conferred on the widow of the late Hon. W. F. Massey, for many years Premier of New Zealand, and among five new Dame commanders of the same order was the famous actress, Mrs. Madge Grimston Kendall. Sir Herbert Samuel, Chairman of the Royal Commission to investigate the coal industry (1925), was given the order of Grand Cross of the Bath. In the New Year's (1927) list of Honours no less than 22 fellows of the Royal Colonial Institute, representing many parts of the Empire, exclusive of Canada, were mentioned. Among the new Imperial appointments that of Sir Hugh Clifford, formerly Governor of Ceylon to be Governor of Straits Settlements, was of especial note. He was succeeded in Ceylon by Sir Herbert James Stanley. A new High Commissioner for Australia in London was appointed in the person of Major-General Sir Granville Ryrie.

During the year a discussion took place in the Australian House of Representatives on a motion proposed by a Labour member to the effect that the granting of titles was not in accordance with Australian sentiment, which, after acrimonious utterances, was shelved, Assurances were given that titles were never conferred in Australia unless approved by its own Government. The subsequent New Year's Honours conferred titles on a number of prominent Australian public men.

In Toronto on Jan. 19, 1927, Hon. Howard Ferguson, Premier of Ontario, voiced his disapproval of the bar imposed by the Canadian Parliament in 1919 to the granting of titles to Canadians, He felt that Canada should permit the Crown to recognize the worth of such men as contribute to the country's well-being and expansion.

Canadian High Commissioner's Office.* The year was necessarily a very active one for the High Commissioner's Office in London, and its chief incumbent, Hon. Peter C. Larkin, performed a great multiplicity of duties

NOTE-For the data upon which the above summary is compiled the editors are indebted to Mr. Lucien Pacaud, Secretary of the Office of the High Commissioner.