The following figures are taken from the Canadian Almanac for 1905 (pp. 133, 134):
| £ | |
| India | 103,400 |
| Australia | 200,000 |
| New Zealand | 40,000 |
| Cape Colony | 50,000 |
| Natal | 35,000 |
| Newfoundland | 3,000 |
| Canada | Nothing |
| Total Colonial contribution | 431,400 |
| Total naval estimates (1904-1905) | £38,300,000 |
These are the facts. What is the explanation? We may begin by setting aside certain suggested explanations, which mean nothing. The Canadian Government itself did not reap great glory when it sent word to London, before the last Colonial Conference, that its delegates would not be prepared to discuss Imperial Defence, because no one scheme of defence could be devised that would suit the different conditions of the outlying parts of the Empire. Nor will it do to say that the British navy is there, anyway, and that the expenditure on it would not be decreased even if Canada did not exist. Self-respecting Canadians like to pay their way in the world. There was an incident the other day in which a Halifax sealer was roughly handled at Montevideo, and which might have required the help not only of the British Diplomatic Corps, but also of a man-of-war. And not long ago, in one and the same issue of their morning papers, they read an account of a speech in which an Irish member took it upon him to declare in the House of Commons that Canada would never contribute to the navy, while in another column they read that the British Government had despatched a man-of-war to rescue certain Canadian missionaries from a place of danger on the Chinese coast. Moreover,
