because it ought to be fit for harvesting before the end of August. The wheat in question was sown by an Indian and put in very late. Wheat grown at Fort Vermilion took the first prize as the best wheat shown at the Centennial Exhibition at Philadelphia, in 1876. Mr. Henry A. Conroy, Inspector for the Indian Department under Treaty No. 8, gave some very interesting evidence as to the agricultural resources of Peace river country before the committee. Mr. Conroy stated that he had been annually travelling through this northern country for about eight or nine years. He starts in along Athabaska river, from Athabaska, which is about one hundred miles from Edmonton and goes up the river to the junction of Little Slave river, thence visiting all the Indian reserves in the treaty district. When Peace river district is reached via the route taken by Mr. Conroy, the altitude is very high. It is certainly over one thousand feet from the top of the bank down to the bottom of the river—tremendous banks. The country, as he understood it, is very fine. Bunch grass grows all along the north side extending through to Hay river. He had information as to this country from Indians and half-breeds, and they say bunch grass grows all along the way. Shortly after striking the Peace, Dunvegan is reached. The country north of Dunvegan; all along the river is, in the opinion of Mr. Conroy, fit for agriculture on both sides and for any distance back. Of course one would have to go up to the top of the banks to get the land. Fine buffalo grass grows in the district north of Dunvegan up to Peace River Landing. As to the country running across from Dunvegan to Fort St. John, it would not take a man very long to cross it if he had a road. A STARTLING COMPARISON. [Illustration: View of the Pouce Coupé Prairie.] Mr. Conroy stated emphatically that he was of opinion there is a large area of valuable agricultural land on Peace river. Taking the whole country there as far as he knew, there is as much agricultural land to be settled as there is settled at present west of Winnipeg. Mr. Conroy uttered a word of warning against some of the settlers (old-timers). He remarked:—“Old-timers in there do not want anybody to come in, and they tell people the country is no good. They have the whole country to themselves. One man grows two thousand or three thousand bushels of wheat every year and gets for it from one dollar to one dollar and seventy-five cents a bushel from the Hudson’s Bay Company, and he does not want anybody else to come in and compete with him.”