to the navies of the different Powers, and it is our desire--and we have educated public opinion in Canada to that point--that there shall be a Royal Naval Reserve formed among our 70,000 hardy and vigorous sailors. We have got the people, Parliament, and the Government with us, and it will only take a little time and departmental work to have this matter carried out. That is one point. There is another. We are exceedingly anxious about your food supply. I know a candid friend is not always a pleasant companion, and this may be to some an unpleasant subject, but I have come to speak to you about it. Your food supply depends on your Navy, and if anything should happen to prevent for a few months the English Navy having the control of the sea, where would you people be? Now, we know that if the Mother Country goes down, the Colonies might hold together, but still what could we do if the heart of the Empire were struck? It would be like stabbing a man to the heart, and therefore we are anxious about your food supply because we, as a part of this Empire, are interested in it. Now, then, you are putting all your eggs in one basket. You are putting everything on the control of the Navy, and I want to say this to you to-night--I am again the candid friend--that you might have the absolute control of the sea and yet, by a combination of two Powers, with an embargo on food, you could be brought to your knees. I ask if it is right that things should be left like that? Should the greatest, the wealthiest, and the most powerful Empire in history be dependent on foreigners for its food supply? I shall not make any suggestions as to what should be done, but I have been asked to urge you to give earnest consideration to the point. So much for that. Now, with reference to the contingents. We sent our contingents to this war willingly. We not only did it willingly, but before the war came on our Parliament by a unanimous vote expressed its sympathy with and approval of the conduct of the Imperial Government, and therefore we had to stand by it. We have sent our men willingly--some 3,000 of them. We would have sent a great many more if it had been a great war, and I may tell you that at the opening of the war we all misunderstood it. One of our prominent statesmen said to me, "Denison, this is only a small war," and Mr. Alexander McNeill, of the Canadian House of Commons, one of the staunchest friends of the Empire said: "This is a small war, and it is not necessary to use a steam hammer to break a nut." Another prominent statesman said to me after the ultimatum was issued: "If this were a great war and the Empire in danger we should have to send our men by the 50,000 and vote war credits by the hundred million."