itzburg, Pretoria and Johannesburg. Our journeys to these
various places were so planned as to involve our travelling over most of
the principal railway lines of the Union, so that we were able to see a
considerable portion of its beautiful scenery as well as its great mining
and pastoral industries. Our work finished, most of us returned direct
to England, but some were able to penetrate northwards into Rhodesia, and
return by way of the East Coast of Africa.

It was our intention, after taking further evidence in London, to proceed
to Canada and Newfoundland, and to return home before the winter began,
when we looked forward to making our Final Report. This intention we
partially fulfilled, as in July, 1914, we sailed from Liverpool, and
after exchanging steamers at Rimouski, landed at St. John's,
Newfoundland. There we stayed for a few days whilst the crisis in Europe
deepened. We then travelled through the island by railway and crossed to
the Maritime Provinces of Canada. On that fatal day in August on which
war broke out we were in Nova Scotia. A few days after, the British
Government, considering that under such conditions we could not finish
our work in Canada, called us home. In common with many of our
countrymen we indulged in the hope that the duration of the war would be
a matter of months and not of years, and that we should be able to resume
our work in Canada in the autumn of 1915. But this was not to be.
However, in 1916, the Governments represented on the Commission came to
the conclusion that the completion of our work ought not to be longer
delayed, and accordingly, in August, 1916, we sailed again to Canada.

In the Maritime Provinces of Canada, in 1914, we visited Sydney, Cape
Breton, Halifax, the Annapolis Valley and Digby in Nova Scotia; St. John,
Fredericton and Moncton in New Brunswick, and Charlottetown in Prince
Edward Island.

In 1916 the resumption of our Canadian work began at Montreal.
Thereafter, the great mining districts of Northern Ontario engaged our
attention, where, amongst other valuable products of the earth, nickel,
silver and gold abound. From Ontario we travelled westward to Prince
Rupert on the British Columbian coast, holding sittings at Saskatoon,
Edmonton and Prince Rupert. We then proceeded by steamer, through
glorious scenery, southward to Victoria, Vancouver Island. At Victoria
and also at Vancouver we took evidence. From Vancouver we journeyed
eastwards by