Settlements had been started twenty miles north of Prince Albert, and some years ago an American went in there and he now has a beautiful farm. The witness brought in a collection of vegetables from that country, and he never saw a better lot of farmers’ produce in his life. This original American pioneer was growing Turner raspberries, and anyone will tell you that where you can grow Turner raspberries, fall wheat will grow, and where fall wheat will grow the climate is fit for anything. The settler in question got the Turner raspberries from Mr. Cook in Prince Albert. It takes a certain climate to grow that raspberry, and they claim the same climate will grow fall wheat. It is not the wild raspberry of the country, but a variety sent out from the experimental farm in Ottawa. Wild raspberries grow all through that country. That one man starting out demonstrated that the climate was all right, and others followed suit, and there are now one hundred and fifty or two hundred settlers in that country, which was considered a few years ago as no good. The same remarks apply to the country clean out to Candle lake. That country is fairly clear and open, and there is some hazel brush, and where hazel brush will grow the land is considered good, and where poplar will grow it is also considered good soil. Mayor Cook expressed the opinion that LACK OF MEANS OF COMMUNICATION was all that kept the tide of settlement from flowing into that northern country. He went on to explain that the people out on the Saskatchewan and north of it anticipate being able to ship by the Hudson bay route. They are all expecting it. They consider that there is not a question of doubt but that it will be successful. They expect an open route via Hudson bay for half of July, all of August, September, October, November and part of December. Witness was speaking from the information received from people who spent their lives on Hudson bay. Many of the Hudson’s Bay Company’s officials came in to Prince Albert district to settle, after they had been superannuated. From information obtained from these old Hudson’s Bay Company’s men, his honest opinion was that it was a perfectly feasible route for the months he had given:—half of July, all of August, September, October, November and a part of December. Mr. Cook, concluding, remarked: “When you are shipping out your cattle, you are sending them by the short route, and the shrinkage will be light. One feed, and probably none at all, would last to Churchill. The short route would also make it possible to ship out at least one-third of the crop before the frost sets in, which would be a great relief to the settlers.”