The Sun.
London, England, 1860-12-21 00:00:00

THE DINNER.

The dinner of the friends and members of the association
afterwards took place in the large room of the White Horse
Inn, where about 80 persons sat down. Viscount Palmer-
ston presided.
After grace had been said,
The CHAIRMAN said,—lt may not be out of place to re-
mark the contrast that exists fortunately between this and
some other countries, which are not altogether at the other
side of the globe, where the Sovereigns have lost the con-
fidence of their subjects, and where in consequence they
have also lost the throne which they occupied. Here, for-
tunately for us, we have a Sovereign who reigns not only
by law, but in the hearts and affections of her subjects,
and every day that passes, and every year that goes by,
only tend to strengthen the bonds which connect our Sove-
reign with the people—" Tho Queen." (Loud cheers.)
The CHAIRMAN, in proposing " The Health of the Prince
Consort, the Prince of Wales, and the rest of the Royal
Family," said that the health of the Prince Consort ought
to be received with peculiar enthusiasm at a meeting of
this kind, as he was not only one of the most scientific and
zealous, but also one of the most successful practisers of the
art of agriculture, (Cheers.)
The CHAIRMAN next proposed " The Bishop and Clergy
of the Diocese."

The Rev. E. L. BERTHON, vicar of Romsey, returned
lanks.

The CHAIRMAN—The next toast is one which I might
content myself with proposing without saying one word to
recommend it—viz., " The Army, Navy, and Volunteers.''
(Cheers.) To dwell upon the merits and exploits of the
army and navy of Great Britain would be nearly as great a
waste of time and words as to endeavour to prove that the
suns shines at noonday, because we mast all recollect in-
stances of prowess on the part of both services that rival
anything which in ancient or modern times has been re-
corded in history. (Hear.) But it is gratifying to know that
their former valour, skill, and enterprise have not been
diminished in the present day. We have had recently, in

hose operations which we have been compelled to undertake

in China, an example of the most perfect discipline, of the
most complete efficiency in every branch of the service, and
not only of the most distinguished gallantry, but also of the
most complete and rapid success. There never was an ex-
pedition that was better appointed, better equipped, better
supplied with everything necessary to carry on war, and
war at the opposite part of the globe—(cheers)—where from
difficulties of distance, difficulties of the means of transport,
and difficulties peculiar to the nature of the country in
which the operations were carried on, more allowance ought
to be made if any portion of the service had been found want-
ing in anything requisite for its complete efficiency. (Cheers.)
But on the contrary, we may say with pride that there never
was a military and naval force better equipped, better orga-
nised, better conducted, and more successful than that.
(Cheers.) We also have the satisfaction of knowing that
they co-operated with the troor s of our ally, the Empe-
ror of the French, with the most perfect harmony,
without a particle of jealousy, without an in-
stance of difference, and that the co-operation of
the two was as perfect and complete as, I trust, the har-
mony between the two nations—of which it may be recog-
nised as a symbol—may long continue to be. (Cheers.)
The Volunteer service is one that cannot appeal in the same
way as the army and navy to historical and traditional
recollections ; but, if there is anything of which this nation
has a right to be proud, it is the Volunteer movement that
has taken place during the course, I may say, of the last twelve
months. 1 think there never was a more honourable act
on the part of the,people of any nation than the organisation
of our Volunteer force. It would not be surprising if at a
moment such as happened in the great war with France,
when an enemy was standing in great force on the opposite
side of a narrow channel, when invasion was daily threatened,
and when everything dear to the country and the nation was
at stake—it could not be surprising that at such a moment
300,000 or 400,000 men should have arrayed themselves in
defence of the threatened liberties and independence of their
country. But in the present instance this Volunteer move-
ment arose out of no such imminent danger, but out of a
deep and reflecting sense on the part of the people that there
might be an occasion for the services of such men. They
felt that, although wo were at peace, although there might
be no immediate chance of danger to the country, yet that
there was, nevertheless, wanting an additional force in sup-
port of the regular army and militia ; and these men, really
amounting, I believe, to something like 150,000 or 170,000
of all professions, ranks, and occupations, stood forth, devot-
ing their time, spending their own money, giving the
energies of their minds to the acquirement of military tactics.
I am glad to say that I heard the other day from that gallant
officer, Colonel M'Murdo, who is appointed to inspect the
force, that he was astonished at the proficiency already
made. lle said he had already inspected 40,000 Volunteers,
who were perfectly fit to take the field, and 30,000 more in
a very little time would be equally fit to take post in line.
(Cheers.) It is true, we have been told—it has not been
said lately—that we are not a military nation, but only
a nation of shopkeepers fit to look to our balances,
but not fit to take the field as an organised force.
We shall not, I think, hear that again from any
quarter except it be that we are a nation of shop-
keepers in this sense of the word, that we are a nation
a great pertion of whom are engaged in mercantile pursuits.

it prudent that she should leave Broadlands on so frosty a
morning. There was, however, no one who took a more
lively interest in the welfare of the neighbourhood than
Lady Palmerston. (Cheers.) He was sure Lady Palmerston
would be highly grateful for the kind manner in which
they had drunk her health.
After the toasts of " the committee " and " the secretary
of the association, Mr. Lordon," had been duly honoured,
the noble Viscount vacated the chair amid the hearty
cheers of the assembly.

.RAILT P I.II7BLLIG.ENCE.
GRAND TRUNK OF CANADA.
The report of the London committee of bondholders in
this company states that the London directors, including
Messrs. Baring and Glyn, had personally assured the com •
mittee. that the judgment recently obtained against the
company's rolling stock was not intended to be used in any
manner hostile to the general interests of the claimants on
the line ; that it was specially designed to prevent effectu-
ally any interruption to the working of the line, which might
by possibility be occasioned by vindictive measures on the
part of small local creditors ; and that, as far as could be
ascertained, the judgment would be entirely efficacious for
those ends. The committee attached at the present time
extreme importance to those assurances of the secured con-
tinuance of traffic over the entire mileage of the company.
The judgments obtained were for advances and other ordi-
nary contract debts, and to confer a legal power to seize the
rolling stock of the line. The committee conceive that a
sum of not less than £2,000,000 would be required to cover
the floating debts of the company in England and Canada at
the present time, including, say, £140,000 for overdue inte-
rest. Besides those liabilities already named, and for which
funds were required, still further funds would be needed to
provide the additional rolling stock, stations, and plant ne-
cessary to give the line a reasonable chance of competing for
traffic. The committee assumed as an estimate not likely
to exceed the truth that a sum of £2,500,000 in cash at least
would be required to discharge the existing debts of the line,
and to provide the requisite working stock. As to the working
expenses of the railway, the committee were quite convinced
that much information and a most searching inquiry were
necessary. Assuming that the working expenses were put
down at the high figure of £lO,OOO per week, it was obvious
that even the present traffic of £16,500 per week, if maintained
for the next twelve months, would go far to re-establish the
credit and soundness of the undertaking. Such a traffic
ought to yield an available surplus of £330,000 per annum,
which would fully meet the £llO,OOO payable to leased
lines—the £187,000 interest on first and second preference
bonds—and afford a sum towards payment of interest on
the other bonds. If the working expenses could be reduced
to £9,000 a-week, this sum would assume important dimen-
sions. There was the more reason to refer to this figure of
£16,000 traffic, inasmuch as it was perfectly notorious that
the Grand Trunk might have added several thousand
pounds sterling to its weekly returns if sufficient rolling
stock had been available to accommodate the demands for
freight. The committee refer to the numerous statements
which had reached them relative to the extreme inadequacy
of the payment by the Canadian Government to the Grand
Trunk for postal service. The committee believed that that
payment does not amount to £20,000 per annum, and that,
even according to the most moderate rates of l ay ment for
similar service on other lines, the amount of the postal sub-
vention should be at least three or four times the sum now
paid. Suggestions had been made in several quarters that
one of the easiest and fairest means of obtaining present
financial relief for the company would be for the province
to consent to capitalisation on reasonable terms of the an-
nual amount of postal subsidy to which the company might
be shown to be justly entitled, They state that the Govern-
ment of Canada in the course of last month (November)
appointed a commission of three persons to investigate the
circumstances of the Grand Trunk line, and to report the
result prior to the meeting of the Canadian Parliament in
February next. The commission was composed of Mr.
Grant, manager of the Northern Railway ; Mr. Langton,
the Auditor-General of the province ; and Mr. Trudean, a
gentleman employed under the Board of Works. The com-
mittee was led to believe that the nomination of these three
gentlemen was a course which was regarded in Canada as
likely to lead to valuable results, and it would certainly be
the means of clearing up many questions at present misun-
derstood. The great object to be now accomplished was the
raising of £2,000,000 or £2,500,000 sterling for the purpose
of liquidating present debts, and placing the line in an effi-
cient condition for meeting the requirements of the traffic.
This committee felt strongly that the Grand Trunk Com-
pany had a right to look to the Canadian Government for
aid in this extreme difficulty—a right founded upon fair
and reasonable interpretation of the conditions and circum-
stances under which £10,000,000 of English capital had
been spent in conferring upon Canada the best and most
perfect system of railway transit to be found in North
America. The originul prospectus, issued early in 1853,
bore upon the face of it a statement that the two leading
London names in the direction were there inserted as agents
of the province of Canada, and directors of the company,
on behalf of the Canadian Government. A traffic of £25
per mile per week was promised on the completed scheme
of say 1,000 miles, including the Victoria-bridge; and in
support of this statement an official despatch, signed by
Lord Elgin, as Governor-General of the province, was made
part of the prospectus. In the several applications which
since 1853 had been made by the company to the Canadian
Government for facilities and for aid in prosecuting the
works, the moral responsibility of the province to the un-
dertaking had been uniformly urged as the basis of those
applications, and that moral responsibility had been in
effect admitted by the language of the public acts under
which assistance had been rendered to the company. And
as regarded that assistance, it was most material to bear in
mind that a sum at least equal to two-thirds of the whole
of the Canadian Government advances, had been, by ex-
press stipulation of the Legislature, expended upon lines
which no capitalist would have undertaken on merely mer-
cantile grounds. The real contributions of Canada there-
fore, instead of being £3,000,000 sterling, could not be
justly said to greatly exceed £1,000,000. The committee
were quite prepared to find that errors and extravagance
might be detected in some portions of the policy pursued
in the construction of the line. But these were misfortunes,
perhaps inseparable from the existence of so vast a work,
carried on in new and remote regions, and depending so
largely upon the adoption of methods and expedients
previously untried. The errors, however, whatever they
have been, have fallen on the share and bond holders.
The province had had the full benefit of the continuous
expenditure, through several years, of vast annual amounts,
and it had obtained secure possession of a line of railway
transit which, under any circumstances, must promote
rapidly and largely the growth of every element of wealth
and greatness. The committee were fully aware that
among a large section of the people of Canada the Grand
Trunk line was regarded as a vast means of unfair influ-
ence wielded by one political party against another. It was
said that hitherto the line had failed to procure adequate
traffic because it had been managed not on political grounds,
as a concern intended to pay a dividend, but with extreme
negligence and wastefulness. In many quarters, where
apparently the best means of information existed, it was
alleged that under vigilant control, and dealt with purely as
a mercantile investment, the line even at present would
yield a revenue approaching in some important degree to its
annual obligations. The people of Canada had the fullest
right to insist upon the most skilful and moat economical
management of the line; and their interests and the inte-
rests of the share and bond holders in England were in this
matter wholly identical. The committee were assured by
the London directors that no obstacle raised by them should
impede the immediate introduction of reforms ascertained
to be necessary ; on the contrary, the London Board were
fully prepared, as stated in their last report of Oct. 27, 1860,
to give their best assistance towards the institution of a
" thoroughly searching investigation" in Canada, by means
of " one or two gentlemen well versed in railway manage-
ment," in whom the " shareholders and bondholders of
every denomination" would have confidence. The London
directors had reiterated the expression of this desire to the
committee, and had invited them to suggest suitable persons
to be entrusted with such a mission to Canada. The com-
mittee carefully deliberated on this subject, and theyarrived
at the conclusion that, considering the unfavourable season
of the year and other matters, it would not be desirable to
send out any English commission until after the approach-
ing meeting in London had been held. The committee were
quite convinced that it was indispensable to the future wel-
fare of the company that an efficient commission of inquiry
and investigation should, early in 1861, be sent to Canada
from this country, fully empowered by a vote of the share-
holders to examine thoroughly into the present condition

and prospects of the line, to report upon the best and
speediest means of economising expenditure and increasing
traffic, in obedience to simple mercantile considerations
only, to avoid all topics of party recriminations, and to
govern all their proceedings by the simple principle of being
able to report to the shareholders in the course of two or
three months upon the best means of rendering the line
efficient and profitable. It was clear that no single person
would be able to undertake such ti task and perform it pre-
perly within such a time. The committee considered that
the commission should include three persons, one of them
well versed in railway management in this country, another
conversant with American, and, if possible, Canadian
lines, and the third capable of dealing decisively with the
whole system of the accounts of the line and with the details
of supervision. Upon this last named point the committee
considered that large improvements were imperativelyneces-
mary. The financial statements to the public required much
explanation and should be brought into conformity with the
accounts and details rendered by the best English lines. The
committee assume that no practical difficulties would arise
in completing the needful legal formalities for the appoint-
ment by the shareholders of the suggested commission of
inquiry. They suppose that the expense of the commission
would be considerable. Various schemes had been suggested
to the committee for providing the present financialaid to the
company, but they considered that all such proposals were
quite premature. The obviously prudent course was, in the
first place, to await the result of the Government commission
of inquiry in Canada, and the proceedings of the Canadian
Government thereupon ; and, in the second place, to await
the result of an English commission of inquiry. In con-
clusion, the committee, Messrs. Newmarsh, Hartridge,
Haslewood, Hills, and Smith, have no hesitation in saying

jutolcoxtv) success or failure of the Grand Trunk Rail-
way depended in no inlignifieantd*ce span thlrinensures
which at this crisis of its history might be adopted by bond-
holders, shareholders, and directors, and upon the full and
accurate view of the precise position of affairs which might
govern the nature of those measures.