of Canada.

The leadership of the Coalition Government which was elected in 1917
passed to the Hon. Arthur Meighen, who was Minister of the Interior in
the Borden administration.

A year afterwards, having completed the full tenure of office, His
Excellency the Governor-General, the Duke of Devonshire, returned to
England, and was succeeded by General Lord Byng of Vimy, the hero of
the Canadian soldiers in the war.

When the Annual Imperial Conference was called in July, 1921, the
acting Premier, the Hon. Mr. Meighen, repaired to London to gain some
insight into the many intricate problems which came before the Council.
On his return home he decided that the political situation demanded a
general election. In this, no doubt, he was influenced by the rise of
a Progressive Party, or as it is better known, the United Farmers'
Organisation.

Starting as a purely agrarian movement the U.F.O. became a co-operative
society, finally growing into a strong political party in provincial
and federal politics. Ontario and Alberta soon fell to their prowess,
and it was thought that the same result would happen in the Dominion
arena. The ideas advocated by the new third party were a more modified
protection to home industries as opposed to the decidedly protectionist
policy of the Coalition Government; opposition to the return of the
Government controlled railways to {475} private ownership; stimulation
of immigration along definite lines; and the creation of means whereby
capital for production could be supplied to settlers on safe and sound
lines.

Whether the Progressive party will continue to be a factor in Canadian
politics is for the future to decide. The net result of the general
election of 1921 was the almost complete disappearance of the Coalition
party and the meagre election of the out and out Liberals under the
Hon. William Lyon Mackenzie King, who had been a minister in Sir
Wilfrid's cabinet some ten years previously. The number of
Progressives elected did not come up to the general expectation, but
they represent a considerable number, in fact being second in strength
to the party called upon to form the Government. Their leader, the
Hon. T. A. Crerar, who had resigned from the Coalition Cabinet of Sir
Robert Borden two years previously, is a leader of some force and
ability. But Mr. King has surrounded himself with a cabinet of
considerable Parliamentary experience, so there is every reason to
expect tha