In this part of our Inquiry
we found to what a considerable extent people concentrated in large
cities to the detriment of the country districts. "Back to the land" is
a question there of as much if not greater moment than in the Mother
Country. The mineral resources of the Dominions, like the agricultural,
provided us with a big subject. In every Province or State, by oral
evidence, by official statistics, by discussion with Government
geologists, officials of the Mines Departments and others, we gathered a
large amount of valuable information. The volumes of printed evidence
give full particulars of this and other subjects. The mineral deposits
of Canada especially are varied in character and large in respect both of
quantity and value--gold, silver, copper, lead, zinc, nickel, coal, iron,
asbestos, natural gas, petroleum, peat, gypsum--all are found in
unstinted quantity. Nor are the other Dominions deficient. The
goldfields of Australia are historic, and the silver, lead and zinc mines
of Broken Hill deserve particular mention. In South Africa gold and
diamonds are plentiful; and Newfoundland has wonderful deposits of iron
ore.
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