The Sun.
London, England, 1855-05-18 00:00:00

office to which they are appointed. They do not
ask that the titled or the untitled, but that
ability and industry should have the prefer-
ence. They demand men for every office who
shall conduct the business so well that the
country would as little tolerate their dismissal as
they would that of ROWLAND HILL from the Post-
office, Or Sir BALDWIIst WALKER, from the Dock-
yards.
At the Norwich Meeting, reported in The Sun
of Thursday, Mr. WCULLAGH gave one of the best
' possible tests to verify the need of Administrative
Reform. Scanning the composition of a few Cabi-
nets for the last fourteen years, and naming a
grandee in each, he observed, " Now here
we have three dukes and one marquis, and no-
' thing to credit on the other side ; aad I ask with-
out fear, any man in this room, whatever his po-
litical opinions may be, whether he will say that
any of these four individuals would have been ap-
pointed to office if he had not been a Duke or a
Marquis ?" (No, no.) Apply the test through-
out, from the Premier to the Peter Dicks, and it
will prove the case of the Administrative Reform
Association. Let it be asked respecting
each —were he not a titled man, or the
relative of a titled man—or the nominee of a titled
man—or (we must add) the protegee of an im-
portant Member of Parliament—would he fill the
post he is in ? Men of Lord PALMERSTON'S and
Lord DERBY'S ability, or of Mr. DISRAELI'S and
Mr. GLA.DSTONeS, would, of course, be found fore-
most in any line of life on which they might have
entered; but in the Administrationa to which these
Lords and Gentlemen respectively belonged every
one could point to malty individuals whose capacity
to fill the offices they encumbered was inferior to
that of hundreds who were never seen or thought

" There were within the realm,
Ten thousand good as they."

They had neither aristocratic titles, nor relation-
ship to them. It is this exclusion of men, of
genius, energy, and talent, as- if they bad the
taint (in American eyes) of negro blood, that is
compelling the country to say, with Mr.
AUCTILLA.GH, "This is intolerable; we can stand it
no longer as free and self-respecting men ; and as
tax-paying citizens we cannot afford it."

The vast importance of railway communication

in this country is, nowadays, pretty generally

recognised, and never disputed ; and yet before

;he railway system came into operation our means

of internal transit, undeniably the most efficient
in the world, were deemed by many the most perfect

that could be discovered. Lines of railway, how-
ever, having been constructed, traffic rapidly, and,
Is it were, naturally, flowed to them ; and it was
seen that, comparatiTely compact as our natural
resources were, they could never have been duly
developed under the old system, requiring, as the
raw material or manufactured produce evidently
did, certainty, cheapness, and expedition in being
brought to market. If this has been the case in
Great Britain—if railway communication has

proved, as it unquestionably has, an inestimable

boon, of how much greater value must it prove to

countries like India and Canada, where no such
communication as we posseszed, nor anything ap-

proaching to it, exists—countries endowed with

natural resources rich beyond description—many
of them immediatelyavailable, and capable of being
turned with the utmost rapidity to account.

From a pamphlet of reports now lying before
us on the Grand Trunk Railway Company of
Canada, to the London Board of Directors,
by Sir Ouse CK P. RONEY, Mr. A. M.
Ross, and Mr. S. P. BIDDER; and which
has suggested our remarks, we gather mat-
ter of a highly satisfactory nature respecting

country which has long invited the attention of
oapitalists as a fine field for profitable investment.
According to the report of Sir CUSACK P. RONEY
on the present condition and future prospects of

the country, made, by order of the Board of
Directors, after a careful inspection of the eastern
Ind western sections of the province, and likewise
iuch portions of the United States as are to b•
commercially connected with them, and who had
every possible assistance in his inquiries, it would

Lppear that in all probability a continuous line
from St. Thomas, in Eastern Canada, to Brook-

ville, a distance of 325 miles, will be opened for
traffic in the autumn of the current year—a very
satisfactory prospect. Previous to the opening
of the line between Montreal and Portland, in
1853, we are told these cities were as much

separated from one another by ranges of hills and

dense forests as if they had been 3,000 instead o
300 miles apart. Since that time population has
rapidly filled in along the entire length of the
railway ; and in the centre, we are told, are now
about 3,000 active contributors to the company's
traffic and revenue. Large clearances of forest
land have taken place, villages are rapidly spring-
ing up adjacent to the numerous rivers that run
in the vicinity of the line, and twenty-eight saw-
mills have been built and a number more planned.
Those now existing are capable of sawing 500,000
feet a day for the greater part of the year.
Allowing each to cut ;treble its present amount,
it is calculated it will take seventy years
to clear the timber lands in the vicinity
of the line (!), and with cleared lands it is
justly remarked—that is after a rich harvest has
been reaped—will come increased settlement,
population, and traffic. The traffic from timber
done on the Montreal and Portland section, Sir
CUSACK thinks, it is not unreasonable to expect
will, in the course of next year, be at least 8/.
sterling a-mile 'per week. Portland, it would
tppear, is rapidly becoming the centre of transac-
tions affecting the railway. Cargoes of sugar des-
tined for Canada have already been brought there
direct from Cuba, and conveyed to Montreal by
the line, and the speed and regularity with which
the goods traffic recently commenced between
Boston and Montreal through
.Portland has been
conveyed is rapidly securing the whole
,of this
very important trade to the company. The
traffic between Portland, via Canada, is already
being rapidly developed, and eventually the car-
riage of flour will fall exclusively into the hands
of the company. The Quebec and Richmond
section, running for nearly 70 miles through
magnificent forests, in the midst of which are
innumerable water privileges, small sites on which
mills are now being constructed, though requiring
time for the development of its local traffic, will
put Quebec in direct. railway communication with
Montreal and Portland, and thus unite three
cities, with a combined population of 120,000
persons, independent of those resident along the
line. The through traffic from Quebec to Rich-
mond, and from Richmond to Montreal, we are
told, will be very considerable, two first-class mail
steamers having hitherto started from both places
every evening for seven months in the year, Coll-
veyiu-
v., in from thirteen to fifteen hours, nearly
2" Passengers, besides others of inferior speed
and .accommodation at less regular intervals ;
and this mode
shut o f communication being
UP' e
for fi
it is far from • v-
months in the year,
certain _they • minira'° bable, indeed it is almost
line. re are',N-04413.,1 ; e.compete with theare,'~vo
biz§ unable te, •
•to teil&vb that thb -14`'64' '60444
wilth come in fora con.
'6iderable traffic, owing to
ahaalowaess of some