The Sun.
London, England, 1853-09-06 00:00:00

LON DON, TUESDAY EVENING, SEPTEMBER 6, 1853.

PUBLIC DINNER AT MONTREAL IN HONOUR
OF R. STEPHENSON, ESQ., M.P.

(From the Montreal Pilot of August 22.)

out of 330 millions of pounds expended, 60 had been
wasted ; that is, in duplicate lines. But, in order to mark
the inconsistency of the proceedings in railway legislation,
when the London and Birminghani was asked for, the
feasibility of the route was doubted ; great difficulties
were suggested as being in the way ; to
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 6or 8 per cent. was to be obtained upon the
money invested; iii fact, a most paternal part was taken
in the project. Before Parliament granted the charter,
before the people were allowed to expend their own money,
they were here here asked to prove the traffic and the pro-
fit, and show a regular contract to establish that the work
was to be done within the estimate. The people cla-
moured for competition, and Parliament granted the ex-
penditure of two capitals. At that time it was be-
lieved that competition would compel them to carry
passengers almost for nothing. But what was the re-
sult ? Th. opulent were struck down, and the poor were
reduced to penury. Nothing but the resources of British
commerce 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 had been
located, which never would have been built had a directing
genius presided over the chartering of them
, and he did
not envy the man who could glory at one part of the com-
munity prospering by the ruin of another. This error had
been most disastrous in his country; and he hoped it
would not be committed here. Competition never an-
swered 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-
_stancp 14.24Agen.rxe41-1 14thanaelpreation had not reduced.
charges. Mr.'Srepliefifiti fiVichs referre.d g,ent;A
ily Ito the
expense of working short lines, and the necessity of extin-
guishing 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 em-
ployed one or two men to lay out the country, so as to ob-
tain the greatest amount of accommodation with the least
expenditure of money. The speed obtained was not per-
haps 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. In
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,
for there competition had marred the whole scheme. Swit-
zerland was a collection of several cantons, each preferring
its own interests as to gunge and building without refer-
ence to the whole. They decided to send to England
for an enoineer to design for them a net work of rail-
ways, and (Mr. S.) had had the honour to be called in,
and had assisted in designing their railways from end to
end, and capital was now flowing in, satisfied because there
were no rival lines, and there was no doubt of their com-
pletion. He then said that Canadians wanted English ca-
pital, 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 fliends
in England to invest their money in railways here, if reck-
less competition were allowed, for nothing bat loss sad
confusion would result. Belgium, France, and Switzer-
land all possessed great advantages over England in having
no rival lines, and in having laid out their main lines for
the benefit of.the whole country, rather than allowing to
any town, or any portion of the country, a prepon-
derating voice in their location. They had estab-

thus contributed to the wealth of Britain of her hardy
fishermen, when he told them that one train brought 90 to
120 tons per day to the metropolis, another 100 tons, ano-
ther 50, another 75, and the Chester and Holyhead brought
immense quantities of muscles and shrimps, which were a
great luxury to the poor mrn, and were furnished to him
by means of the railway at a price which had made them
a godsend. He had no hesitation in saying that, the effects
of railways in cheapening the cost of the transportation of
produce would be equal to freeing the people from the
burdens of their taxation. If they could work out a pro-
per system in Canada in accordance with the views so ably
set forth by Mr. Stephenson—if they could prevent com-
peting lines from intruding upon the business of one esta-
blished—if they could give each line as much as they could
do, and get it in consequence to work at a low rate, they
might antic,ipate such results in this country. He recol-
lected full well a complaint made by landowners in the
vicinity of the metropolis about the fall in the price of their
land from the large value it formerly bore in comparison
with that at a distance, and some attributed this to one
cause, and some to another ; but they forgot the great ef-
fect of railways in equalising the value of lands, lying near
the great markets and at a distance. A beast fully fat-
tened could be carried from the north of Scotland to Lou-
don by rail for 5 per cent. of its value, and thus land five
hundred miles from London was worth as much within
five per cent., as land of the same quality in its imme-
diate vicinity. People here should recollect that this
was a great producing country, and that the price of
the article being regulated by the supply and demand in
the great markets, and not simply by the cost of production
here, the charges of transportation to market were just so
much tax upon the producer, coming out of the price he ob-
tains for his products ; therefore increased and cheapened
facili ties for transportation was so much direct benefit to
producing community. Now take their western wheat
fields, to which the railways were to be built : many of
them yielded 40 bushels of wheat to the acre, and 5
larkihels would make a barrel of flour, thus eying, eight
"barrels to the acre.. If they could 'carry that flour for 6d.
per barrel less, it was an addition of 4s. per acre to the
net revenue of the farm. They would thus see the great
increase which would be effected in the value of those
lands. But when in addition to that gain they took into
account the great benefits they would derive from the in-
vestment of British capital here, and the opportunity of
using it ; when they remembered that the facilities
afforded them would enable them to do twice as much
work as before in the same space of time, he hoped there
would b 3 no man found who would not join heart and
hand with them, and sink all private prejudices and inte-
rests in promoting the welfare of the country at large. He
perhaps had no fight to make these observations, as he
was a comparative stranger in Canada, but he felt he had a
duty in this respect to perform, and he believed he should
and the danger to be apprehended from
notv e fulfila en tiht e uennlee shs
ahnedpforienmt e de
poruo tp e
rthe
vbe
leonpemfi tesn
tt o
of bte ilede-
railwayr system,
mismanagement on the other. He had recently seen with
length and breadth of that district, and believed he knew
eastern
eteggatepast part
tsaetsftin
ficaacnaodat.he evrEdehealdoptmreevnetlloedf trafficthr through
tthhee
it as perfectly as any one present, and could say for him-
Onflfthae Englishndparer
stockholder,
that the Eastern Townships offered a prospect of a full re.'
mannerthey respecting
er
ew
perfectly th e interestseati
eed
turn for all investments made theta. . He perhaps did not
tnandin a
think so well of Upper Canada as Upper Canadians always
asserted it deserved, and that might arise from the fact
that he had not made himself so well acquainted with
that part of the province, but if it realised the good report
of it equally well with the districts he had referred
to, he would only say that .English capitalists might
thank their stars they had such a field for the
investment of their money. (Loud cheers.) But the
great link in theie . system of railways world be
the bridge. If they would look at the map they would
see navigable water stretching for 2,C39 miles through the
country, and here was the only place where it could be ad-
vantageously crossed. When they looked at the great
West, not only the grain fields of Wes;,eia Canada but of
Michigan and Wisconsin furnished, by tnears of ono con-
tinuous and unbroken line of railway, au outlet to hall a
dozen Atlantic seaports, they might feel it teat they
child bid defiance to all competition, that they must be-
come the carriers of produce, not only for their own -)eople,
but also for some of the most fertile portions of the United
States. He must confess that he should be glad to we—
ll() believed the day was not distant when he world—one
united Province from the Atlantic to the Pacific, with one
chain of railw^.y communication from Ha'ifax to Vancou-
ver's Bay. When they reflected upon the vast commerce
of England with her Pacific colonies, and the means of
speedy access to them that this would afford through Bri-
tish territory, they might feel certain that it was a most
desirable and feasible scheme, which would one day be re-
alised. Then the example Lf Canada would more sensibly
affect the relatiors between Britain and her other colonies

—for Canada was now, and would cont;nue to be, the pat-
tern card for the other British colonies, and furnish the
mother country with an example for the management of
all her other dependencies. The hon. go.. tleman sat down
amid loud cheers.