he depot of the
Royal North-West Mounted Police, though this is by no means my
first introduction to the Force, which I have seen a great deal of
throughout my travels in the West, and I have been very impressed
by it, particularly by the mounted escorts and guards that it has
furnished for me in all the big cities.

"I am interested in the history of the Force, how it was organized
forty-six years ago, at a time when treaties were being made with
the Indians, whereby the lands of the North-West were made
available for settlement by the white people. So well has it
administered justice between all parties that it has won for itself
respect and the confidence of both white people and Indians, and no
new country has ever been opened up with less crime and violence
than this North-West Territory.

"Up in the Klondike, when wild and lawless men thronged the Yukon
gold diggings, life and property were as safe in the care of the
Royal North-West Mounted Police as in any other part of the
Dominion, and the splendid police work which they have done and
continue to do in the frozen wastes of the North, under the most
trying conditions of hardship and privation, is recognized and
appreciated everywhere to-day.

"I know that at the declaration of war, the whole Force wanted to
join up, though that was naturally impossible. The first to be
allowed to go were many Imperial reservists, who have always
constituted a large percentage of its members. Then, by degrees,
men could he spared, and served in the Canadian cavalry, infantry
and other units, and I know many of the last joined men are war
veterans.

"I was with Sir Arthur Currie, Canadian Corps Commander, when he
inspected the Royal North-West Mounted Police squadron when they
arrived in France a year ago, so that the war records of the Force
have been of the same high standard as its records in the past.

"The Royal North-West Mounted Police is a splendid Force with
magnificent traditions, whose fame is as wide as that of the
Dominion itself.

"I know the men of the Force of to-day are proving themselves
worthy of those traditions and will ever uphold them."

It was appropriate that the heir apparent to the British throne should
thus address the Mounted Police of Canada, for their record is par