The Express.
London, England, 1853-09-07 00:00:00

RAILWAY DINNER IN MONTREAL IA
HONOUR OF MR. STEPHRNSON, HP.

(Rom the Montreal Pilot of Await I I.)
The enhjoined account of the proceeding. of the
public dinner in honour of Robert Stephenson, Rag M.P„
will be read with interest.
The chair was ably filled by the Hoe. Peter M`Gill, Le
whom the audience nvineui, alike by their attention and
by the enthusiastic manner in which they greeted MA
highly appropriate rentalks with which he introduced the
several Mute, the high reep,ift in which he is universally
held. The two mevioeis tor the city, the Ron. Mews.
Young end Badgley, ably sustained the office of vice-presi-
dents. To the right of the chairman was the guest of the
evening, Mr. Stephenson ; to his leR, the Hon. Francis
Masks. They were respectively:flanked at the upper tabie
by R. ilackaoa, Esq:, M.P. ; the Hoa. Mears. Ralph,
Rose, and Tech.; Col. Bruce, and Col. Napier.
We observed the following members of the Provincial Lees.
later* amongst the party :—Hon. Mr. Bourret, M.L.C.;
Sir A. N. Muumb, Mr. J. A. Macdonald, Mr. Rgan and
Mr. Cartier. Mr. Sheriff Boston and other public 'func-
tionaries, Mr. Allan, President of the Board of Trade, and
a large proportion of the leading members of the mercantile
body; Messrs. Holmes, ?Jolson, Brewster, Delude, Conk
and other of our railroad directors and projectors were ale;
present. Altogether, the company may truly he said to
have ein'iraced a large proportion of the wealth and intelli-
gence of the city. After several loyal toasts,

The Hon. Mr. 114.0thr, said the next toast was emphati-
cally the tout of the evening. (Cheering long and loud.
After silence had at. length beta procured, he went
on.) He would introsluce to the company their distal-
;pushed guest on his r:ght hand, Mr. Robert Stephenson,
M.P., whose reputation as a practical and scientific
engineer was confined only to the limits of the civi-
lised world. Gentlemen of Montreal were doing them.
selves honour by doing hoftour to him. His name alone
was sufficient to the brut an enthusiastic reception.
He was the son of the celebotted John Stephenson, and
had inherited his father's genius and his father's reputation.
In 1828 he was called by his father to assist him in the
Liverpool awl Manchester ItaiLvay. In 1832 he was in
charge of the Liverpool and Birmingham as engineer, and
experienced numerous and great Oifficulties in the work.
He had also been engaged by mining companies in England
and Peru, and proved himself full of .mechanical resources.
In 1847 he bad the Chester and Holyboad Railway, and it
was hers that his masterpiece of engine.srind was effected,
the bridge over the Menai Straits. This stupendous work
would be looked upon by after ages *sone o' the wonders of
the world. He bad also laid out great works on the
continent of Europe, sod the Pasha of Egypt had secured
his services fir works on his l'ashalik. 11 a was now
here amongst us to do us good, by designing the bridge
at Montreal. Under his auspices, success vas cer-
tath ; and when built, the structure would not be the
least monument th it would carry his name down to les-
tong.. In connexion with the bridge, he would also men-
tion the great railway system now commencing in Canada,
and the great benefit we were to derive from it. We could
not imagine that engaged as he was in works all over the
world, he could devote all his attention to this work. But
Wellington and Napoleon had their generels and ad-
jutants under them, and Mr. Stephenson would be ably
represented by Mr. Rosa and others, until his return
next spring. He gave the " Health of Robert Stephen-
son, Esq., DUP."
Mr. STIPHINSON rose amidst much applause, and said
that he owed much to the honourable chairman for the
distinguished compliments he had paid him, and the high
appreciation he had been pleased to ex; rest of his meths.
He had come to Canada upoa a professional visit, and
from what he had seen of the country, he was convinced
that the present was but the commencement of a great
railway system, and he ventured to express his sincere
desire, that Canada should avoid those errors in producing
the system which other countries had committed with
theirs. Canada was yet only on the threshhold, and the
proper laying out of the plan, he thought of as much im-
portance as the introduction of railroads themselves. lie
hoped that the legislature of this country would not do as
those of some countri, s had ei.ne, for although there were
difficulties in the way, yet here it appeared to him they
were principally those of legislation. Canada, at present,
had an unoccupied field before her, and much would de-
pend upon the first step. If it were taken with judgment,
other difficulties would be of comparatively litt.c import-
ance. If it were taken injudiciously, what seemed but •
speck in the west might become a thunder cloud. The
dangers might not be apparent to Canadians at present,
but before he sat down he would endeavour to make us
sensible of them. Ile had seen the rise and progress of
railways in England, and those who had not could hardly
appreciate the enormous losses occasioned by false legisla-
tion. Few, indeed, know the rise and progress of the legis-
lation with respect to them. lie would occupy a few mi-
nutes in pointing out whist those errors were, and what
course to take to avoid them. He was incapable of oratory;
but, having been mixed up with railway contentions for
twenty years, he thought he could teach them how to avoid
them. [Here the speaker was inaudible for a few minutes,
owing to a slight noise in the room. The general purport
of his observations was to point out the difficulties inter-
posed to the construction of the first -ailways in England.]
After these obstacles raised in the first instance had been
removed, the people then became sensible of the immense
advantages of the railway horse, and the question assumed
• new phase. Then all places rushed into railway specu-
lations. The country was tolerably well filled up with
railway lines. Competition arose within the walls of
parliament, not for interest, but for vanity. Here
Mr. Stephenson went into the history of several
railway struggles, and stated that the committees in parlia-
ment took into their consideration, not who was right or
who was wrong, but entered upon questions entirely subsi-
diary, not at all connected with the profit of the lines, or the
necessity for making them. The consequence was that com-
mittees sometimes decided upon different lines upon rea-
son. entirely apart from their real merits, or the scientific
questions involved in the details. There was one district
through which it was proposed to run two lines, and there
was no other difficulty between them than the simple
rivalry, that, if one got a charter, the other might also.
But here, where the committee might have given both,
they gave neither. In another instance, tiro lines were
projected through a barren country, and the committee
gave the one which affirded the least accommoda:ion to the
public. In another, where a line was to be run merely to
shorten the time by a few minutes, leading through a
mountainous country, the committee gave both; so that
where the committee might have given both, they gave
neither—and where they should have given neither, they
gave both. Such a species of legislation was faulty,
and he hoped it would not be imitated in this country.
There was, indeed, a committee now sitting in England,
the attention of which he had called to these facts. After
lines were granted, the competition, which began within the
walls of parliament, continued when the lines came to be
put in operation. People said it was necessary to have com-
petition for the benefit of the public, that the whole country
would be under the dominion of a railway corporation, and
competition was the only means of checking it, and pre-
serving moderate prices. Well, ke could say, upon the
authority of the Board of Trade—and from his own know-
ledge that since competing lines commenced, out of 300
millions alpouuds expended, 63 bad been wasted that is,
in duplicate lines. But, in order to mark the inconsistency
of the proceedings in railway legislation, when the London
and Birmingham was asked for, the feasibility of the route
was doubted ; great difficulties were suggested as being in
the way; engineers were called in to decide everything in
opposition to it ; the estimates were disputed and doubted;
it was maintained that the company ought to prove
the traffic that was to go over it, and that six
or eight per cent. was to be obtained upon the
money invested; in fact, a most paternal part was taken
in the project. Before parliament granted the charter,
before this people were allowed to expend their own money,
they were here asked to prove the traffic and the profit,
and show a regular contract to establish that the work was
to be done within the estimate. The people clamoured
for competition and parliament granted the expenditure
of two capitals. At that time it was believed that
competitioa would compel them to carry passengers
almost for nothing. But what was the result ? The
opulent wero struck down, and the poor were reduced
to penury. Nothing but the resources of British com-
merce could have sustained such a shock. These serious
evils of legislation it might be difficult to escape from
in England, but they should be weighed well before
they were brought into Canada, either by the present or
any future government. It was said that all was right—
the public gained what the proprietors lost. But the pub-
lic had not gained. Capital was absorbed and diverted
from other profitable employment. Lines bad been located
which never would have built had a directing genius pre-
sided over the chartering of them ; and he did not envy the
man who could glory at one part of the community pros-
pering by the ruin of another. This error had been most
disastrous in his country, and he hoped it would not be
committed here. Railway competition never answered
a beneficial purpose. Competition, like poverty, was the
mother of invention, and when things came to the
lowest ebb, the remedy was in amalgamation. In no in-
' stance had occurred that amalgamation bad not reduced
charges. Mr. Stephenson then referred generally to the
expense of working short lines, and the necessity of Win-
' [(Wishing them by amalgamation, and mentioned an in-
stance where, including 'water communications, there are
five competing lines. The result from competition was
that they had laid their heads together and raised tolls to
the highest; but here, where there was no competition.
nothing was to be done but to develop our resources, and
make the profits highest. Mr. Stephenson then referred
to foreign countries. First of all to Belgium, which had
employed one or two men to lay out the country, so as to
obtain the greatest amount of accommodation with the
least expenditure of money. The speed obtained was not
perhaps so great as that obtained in England ; but it will
bear comparison with that in any other country. The
minor points of the country were filled up according to the
original design, and all conducted with economy. la
France no lines were allowed to be made unless they were
called for, and made part of a great system. France was
slow but more favourable comparison with Great Britain,
fur there competition had marred the whole scheme. Swite
gerlaud was a collection of I cantons, each preferring
its owu interests as to gunge and building without reference
to the whole. They decided to send to England for an
engineer to design for them a network of railways, and
he (Mr. Stevenson) had had the honour to be called in,
and had assisted in designing their railways from end to
end, aad capital was now flowing in, satisfied because there
were no rival lines, and there was no doubt of their com-
pletion. Ile then said that Canadians wanted English
capital, and advised them to be guarded in the system they
should adopt, especially in regard to reckless competition.
He would for himself hesitate to recommend to his friends
in England to invest their money in railways here, if ma
less competition were allowed, for nothing but loss and