Edward Island only half the usual precipitation occurred, but in New Brunswick the general total was nearly the normal. In the Sudbury and Timiskaming districts of Ontario and in northern Quebec there was a deficiency.

October. In British Columbia, Alberta, Nova Scotia, and Prince Edward Island, mean temperatures were normal or in excess by one to three degrees. Over the greater part of the Dominion, however, it was a cool month, with deficiencies of two to four degrees, or more, in the territory from the Gulf of the St. Lawrence, across the Great Lakes and Manitoba to eastern Saskatchewan. It was a very wet month over by far the greater part of the Dominion. In New Brunswick it was the wettest October in twenty-five years. In parts of eastern Ontario the precipitation was nearly three times the usual amount. In southern Alberta, western Saskatchewan, and parts of northern Ontario and northern Quebec, and in Prince Edward Island, precipitation was less than normal.

November. In British Columbia and the Atlantic Provinces the month was warmer than usual by two to four degrees, while in Quebec, except the northern districts, and locally in southern Ontario, mean temperatures were normal or little above. On the other hand, from the Rocky Mountains eastward to northern Quebec, it was a very cold month. In Saskatchewan, Manitoba, and the adjacent part of Ontario, the deficiency was six to twelve degrees. In British Columbia, Nova Scotia and Prince Edward Island, precipitation was generally deficient, but over the interior of the country it was a very wet month, with more than twice the usual amount over a great part of it.

December. In British Columbia mean temperatures were normal or one or two degrees higher. In parts of Alberta, along the Nelson and Mackenzie rivers, in the region of James Bay, and quite generally in Nova Scotia, mean temperatures were a little higher than normal. Elsewhere there was a deficiency of one to three degrees, except in north-eastern Saskatchewan and districts of Ontario north-west of Lake Superior, where temperatures were four to five degrees below normal. A storm which began with rain on the tenth on the prairies, and developed into a gale with snow and snowdrifts followed by intense cold, caused some loss of life. In Ontario, Quebec, and New Brunswick, eastern Saskatchewan and northern Manitoba, precipitation was less than the normal amount, but elsewhere was generally in excess.

1927

January. In all parts of Canada except southern Ontario and southern British Columbia the temperatures were higher than normal, being four to eight degrees higher in the Atlantic Provinces and six to ten in the Prairies. In most of the Dominion the precipitation was less than normal, but in central Nova Scotia and Cape Breton there was an excess. On Vancouver Island the month was cloudy with a cold spell on the twenty-first. On the Prairies the first part of the month was exceptionally mild, but there was a severe cold spell from the twentieth to the twenty-sixth. The snowfall was light and there was little snow on the ground in Alberta and Saskatchewan. In Southern Ontario temperatures went below zero on the eighth, fifteenth, sixteenth, twenty-sixth and twentyseventh. In Quebec rain fell on four days and snow on eight. In the Maritime Provinces the amount of sunshine was below normal. At the end of the month the ground was bare in most parts of Nova Scotia, while in the north of New Brunswick there were thirty-six inches of snow.

February. In central Saskatchewan, eastern Manitoba, and Ontario, the temperature was more than six degrees above normal, and in most other parts it was several degrees above normal. In most parts the precipitation was slightly less than normal. There was slight excess of snowfall in parts of Alberta and in south-western Saskatchewan, and considerable excess between Ottawa and Quebec. On Vancouver Island and the adjoining mainland of British Columbia there was mild weather in the first half of the month, but there was frost on a good many nights that prevented vegetation from growing too fast. Except for a cold, stormy period near the middle of the month, February was only moderately cold in the Prairie Provinces. On account of high winds there was considerable drifting of the snow. In Ontario the last week of the month was very mild. Along the St. Lawrence the month was cloudy and windy, and there. were several heavy snowfalls. In the north of Quebec, February was very mild.

In the Maritime Provinces the month was generally cloudy, with much less than the normal amount of bright sunshine in all districts. At the end of the month the amount of snow on the ground was as follows: Alberta and Saskatchewan, 3 to 10 inches; Manitoba, 8 to 20 inches; Lake Superior district, 20 to 40 inches; Southern Ontario, trace to 10 inches; from Lake Simcoe to Montreal, 10 to 20 inches; Quebec, 30 inches; interior of Maritime Provinces, 30 to 40 inches.

March. Mean temperatures were above normal in most parts of Canada, increasing from less than a degree at the Atlantic and Pacific coasts to more than ten degrees in Manitoba and Saskatchewan. Over the greater part of the country there was a considerable deficiency in precipitation. By the end of March there was little snow left on the ground. Northern Quebec and New Brunswick, which had the most snow, had less than a foot left. Light frosts on Vancouver Island and the Lower Fraser Valley retarded vegetation. In the Okanagan and Kootenay valleys and in the upper Fraser river the water was very low, but there was much snow in the mountains. Except for a sharp cold spell about the nineteenth, the month was remarkably mild in the Prairie Provinces. Ontario was mostly mild and dry. In Quebec the month was fair and mild. In the Maritime Provinces March was exceptionally fine, mild, and quiet. The upper parts of the St. John river were still ice-bound, but the lower parts were quite free of ice.

April. In the western part of the Dominion temperatures were much below normal, while in the eastern half, excepting Nova Scotia, they were above normal. In the Yukon and Northern British Columbia the temperature was from ten to eighteen degrees below normal. From the Rocky Mountains to the head of Lake Superior precipitation was generally above normal; in other parts there was a deficiency. In British Columbia April was cold and the season backward. The strawberry crop on Vancouver Island was two weeks late. Though there was abundance of soil moisture in the Prairie Provinces, on account of the cold weather, there was little seeding done except in Manitoba. In Ontario there was a very warm spell from the fifteenth to the twenty-second, and rainfall was deficient. The month was generally fine, with much more sunshine than usual in the Maritime Provinces. Rivers were low, and navigation started on the St. John on the eighteenth.

May. May, 1927, was very cool and the season very backward. Only in a few spots in south-western Ontario and in southern Nova Scotia was the temperature up to normal. Frequent rains with the low temperatures seriously interfered with work on the land. In Vancouver the season was three weeks later than in 1926, and in the Okanagan valley it was two weeks later. The cold weather and series of rains greatly delayed seeding in the Prairie Provinces. In parts of Southern Saskatchewan and Manitoba this was the wettest May on record. In Ontario, the twenty-second was a very warm day, but generally the weather was cold and rains frequent, and farm work was seriously delayed, especially in the north and east. Frequent rains interfered seriously with sowing and planting in Quebec, while the cold weather prevented growth. In the Maritimes, May was wet, cool, and backward.

June. From Lake Superior to the Atlantic Ocean mean temperatures were in most districts considerably below normal, the deficiency exceeding six degrees in some places. Most of Manitoba was two or three degrees cooler than normal, but in the most southerly districts the difference from normal was small. Saskatchewan and Alberta were about normal. Southern and coastal British Columbia was one to three degrees warmer than normal, the balance was about normal. Precipitation was mostly normal in Alberta, and mostly deficient in Saskatchewan and Manitoba. In British Columbia there was a large deficiency in the lower Fraser valley and most of the coast region. In the south-east there was an excess, while in Okanagan and Thompson valleys some had excess, others deficiency. There was a region of excessive precipitation west of the Lake of Woods, in Ontario. In the Ottawa valley there was generally an excess of about one inch. There were frequent rainfalls in all Quebec districts, but an excess only in the west. In New Brunswick and eastern Nova Scotia there was an excess, but elsewhere in the Atlantic Provinces there was a deficiency. In Prince Edward Island the mean temperature was a little below normal, while rainfall was approximately one-half the normal amount.

Press Incidents, 1926-27

JOURNALISM

By

A. H. U. Colquhoun, B.A., LL.D.

Journalism suffered a distinct loss in the unexpected death of Sir John Willison, KT., LL.D., in Toronto on May 27, 1927, recorded with deep regret in both the Canadian and the British press. Of its Canadian correspondent for nearly 18 years The Times spoke in generous terms and the biographical sketch of him in its issue of May 28 was an adequate tribute to his intellectual and moral qualities. No other Canadian journalist was better known in Canada, Australia and England, and only one or two had made the same mark abroad. Devoted always to his profession, he was for 46 years a distinguished member of The Canadian Press and neither aspired to nor sought a place in any other sphere of activity. The public funeral at St. Paul's Church, May 30, was attended by many of his former associates and friends of the press.

How well and impartially the newspapers of Canada were able to report the events of a stirring period of political activity, by reason of the service of The Canadian Press, was brought out by President J. H. Woods at the Annual General Meeting of that organization in Toronto, May 4, 1927, when he said in his address: "It is surely a tribute to this organization that throughout those six months of political turmoil the work of The Canadian Press in reporting the sessions of Parliament, in covering the political campaign, and in collecting the returns, was taken quite as a matter of course by its member newspapers, including all phases of political thought. The confidence in the integrity and impartiality of our service was, I think, justified by the results. Apart from the slight inaccuracies that result from condensation of public utterances, we got through this period without complaint or criticism, and it is not too much to say that the reading public of Canada has now come to regard the reports of the Canadian Press with entire confidence in their completeness and fairness."

The following officers were elected for 1927-28: President E. H. Macklin, Manitoba Free Press; Vice-President, W. B. Preston, Brantford Expositor; Past President, Hon. Frank Carrel, Quebec Chronicle-Telegraph; Treasurer, N. T. Bowman, Toronto Telegram; Manager and Secretary, Arthur Partridge, 902 Excelsior Life Building, Toronto.

At the 8th Annual Convention of The Canadian Weekly Newspapers Association, held on June 26th, 1927, at Huntsville, Ont., at which the retiring President, J. A. McLaren presided,

the following officers were elected: President, S. N. Wynn, Yorkton, Sask.; First Vice-President, H. B. Onslow, Campbellton, N.B.; Second Vice-President, Hugh Savage, Duncan, B.C. Directors to represent each Province were also chosen.

The movement to bring before the Advisory Board on Tariff and Taxation the special disadvantages suffered by Canadian magazines and periodicals owing to United States competition came to a head Feb. 1st, 1927, when the case for the Canadian publishers was presented to the Board. The Chairman, Hon. George P. Graham, who was subsequently appointed to the Senate and was succeeded as Chairman by Mr. W. H. Moore, promised consideration of the arguments advanced. An excellent summary of the reasons for demanding tariff action to protect the Canadian publications appeared in The English Review for October, 1926, by Charles W. Stokes of Montreal.

Litigation in which the press was concerned included the action for libel taken by L'Union Co-operative des Laitiers de Montréal against The Montreal Star, in which Mr. Justice Archer delivered judgment, Feb. 18, 1927, finding for the defendant newspaper. An appeal was entered. The action of W. A. Boys, K.C., M.P., against The Toronto Daily Star, for an article criticizing Mr. Boys for taking up the case of a client before the Minister of Customs while sitting in Parliament, was tried before Mr. Justice Fisher and a jury at Barrie, Ont., Feb. 2, 1927, and dismissed with costs. This case. too, was appealed.* Mr. Justice Mercier gave judgment at Montreal, Feb. 21st, 1927, for $1,450 in favour of J. A. Gauthier, a journalist, who sued Eugene Berthiaume, formerly of La Presse, for $2,500. The plaintiff claimed that he had been insufficiently remunerated for literary work which he had been engaged to do. A dispute having arisen over the control of La Presse, Berthiaume had his case set forth in a book entitled Un Appel au Tribunal de l'Opinion, written by Gauthier. The Judge held that as the work required research and energy and took a hundred and twenty-five days to write, it called for adequate pecuniary reward. The dispute between Charles E. Campbell of The Edmonton Bulletin and The Canadian Press, J. H. Woods, and John M. Imrie, was settled June 10, 1926, by the withdrawal of all charges against the organization and the two journalists named. Of more far-reaching significance was the arrest in Toronto, Jan. 10, 1927, of Ernest Victor Sterry, editor of The Christian Herald, for blasphemous and indecent libels against the Christian religion. Judge Coatsworth sentenced him to sixty days' imprisonment with deportation to follow. His appeal to the High Court of three Judges was dismissed May 4. The case is held to be unique in Canadian criminal law procedure. Two comments may be noted, that of The Toronto Star, which pointed out that Mr. Sterry and his article, scarcely heard of before, were made known to thousands by the action, NOTE: As a result of this appeal on May 5, the Second Appellate Division of the SupCourt of Ontario handed down judgment on May 20 to the effect that the verdict could not stand and ordered a new trial.

reme

and that of The Manitoba Free Press, which declared: "If the country accepts the doctrine that a man can be put in jail on account of his opinions and the form in which he expresses them, it may be accepting something that comes pretty close to subversion of one of the fundamental principles of our traditional liberty." (Mar. 30, 1927).

Newspaper amalgamations, on account of the standing of the combining journals, revived discussion of the economic conditions affecting Canadian publishing. The St. John Globe was purchased in September, 1926, by interests connected with The TelegraphJournal, St. John, and the union was recognized as a prudent business move. The consolidation of The Whig, Kingston, and The Standard, Kingston, went into effect Dec. 1st, 1926, and the old journal established by Dr. Barker ninety-three years ago gave up separate existence. The Standard, with its parent The News, was 117 years old. In reviewing the whole situation in Ontario, The Toronto Star stated (Oct. 25, 1926) that out of twenty-five Ontario cities, only five then had more than one daily newspaper; out of twenty-one cities with less than 50,000 population, but one, Belleville, had more than one daily. Of sales of newspapers, the purchase of The Calgary Albertan by Messrs. George M. Bell and Charles E. Campbell was announced Nov. 1st, 1926, and the purchase of La Patrie from L. J. Tarte by a company headed by Senator D. O. L'Esperance, July 18, 1926, ensured a paper for the French Conservatives of Montreal.

Among other noteworthy events were: the presentation to William Houston, M.A., Feb. 9, 1927, a survivor of The Globe, Toronto, under Hon. George Brown, of a money testimonial; the broadcasting of news to the Arctic regions by The Manitoba Free Press, beginning Nov. 20, 1926; the appointment, Feb. 14, 1927, of Laurant Beaudry, M.A., of Le Soleil, Quebec, as Secretary to Hon. Vincent Massey at Washington; the congratulations extended February, 1927, to Bernard McEvoy, of The Vancouver Province on his 85th birthday; the retirement from active newspaper work of H. P. Moore, for 49 years editor of The Free Press, Acton, Ont.; the conferring of the degree of LL.D. by Manitoba University upon John W. Dafoe, of The Manitoba Free Press; the issue of a fine special number by The Citizen, Ottawa, now in its 84th year; the bestowal by the Government of France of the cross of the Legion of Honour upon ex-Governor Walter C. Nichol, formerly of The Vancouver Province, in recognition of his generosity in establishing five scholarships in the University of Paris for students of the British Columbia University; the banquet given Apr. 23, 1927, in honour of J. H. Woods, editor and managing director of The Calgary Herald, by the staff, on the occasion of the 20th anniversary of his control of the paper; the dinner given Oct. 18, 1926, by the press of Montreal, representing all shades of opinion, to Hon. Fernand Rinfret, Secretary of State for Canada; the announcement Nov. 13, 1926, that The Eye-Opener, Calgary, published in Minneapolis, had been forbidden the Canadian mails. Another incident