The Sun.
London, England, 1860-10-25 00:00:00

CINADA

I There were no further important fluctuations yes-
terday in the stock of the Grand Trunk of Canada
Railway, the closing prices being again 26 to 27.
A. decline, however, of one per cent. took place in.
the first and second preference bonds. Subjoined
is a statement regarding the critical condition
of the company from one of the latest numbers of
the Toronto Globe. It is greatly to be regretted
that the only information obtained for the nume-
rous families interested should be through such
casual channels, more especially as the proceedings
and the fate of the concern are so mixed up with
the violent party polities of Canada that whatever
is published regarding it in that country is sure in
a greater or less degree to represent some angry
bias. The responsibility for the absence week after
week of definite explanations rests, however, as
has already been explained, 'with the official
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pside.ear
that even the possibility of continuing traffic opera-
tions is placed in doubt by the immient prospect
of the rolling stock being seized to satisfy local
creditors, and that the opposition to any appeals to
the Government for further aid threatens to be
energeticth
asbeen
and
ee
ors
z
I
time in railway
."..
circles that the Grand Trurik Company
in extremis, and that the of ` the•
end' was near at hand. The employes of the
company have not been paid their salaries
—the tradesmen and contractors have pushed
in vain for payment of their accounts
—the bonds of the company have for some
months past lain under protest for non-payment of
interest—and last, though not least, rumours have
been afloat that the London bankers of the concern,
Messrs. Baring Brothers and Co., and Glyn, Mills,
and Co,, ware about to press their claims for im-
mense balances due to those firms on open account..
These statements have been accompanied with the
additional allegation that the lien or mortgage,
given in security to the preference bondholders
covered the real estate acid track only, and did not
include the rolling stock of the line ; and it has been
averred that the moment the London bankers ob.!
tained judgment the trains on the entire road would.
be stepped, and the Government pushed to come to
the assistance of the company.
" Whether all of these statements are or are not
correct this much we believe is certain, that at the
Whitby Assizes a judgment has been recovered.
against the company by the London bankers above-
named for the enormous sum of £BOO,OOO sterling.
We are also assured that the directors of the Grand.
Trunk have brought the condition of their company
under the attention of Government, and urgently
demand further aid. That they will succeed in
their application we ha` c no fear, for, though Mr.
Cartier, the Premier, has been long solicitor of the
company, and Mr. Galt, the Finance Minister, is
deeply concerned in its fate, and Mr. Ross, another
member of the Administration, is most improperly
president of the road, still it is quite certain that the
Government, as now constituted, has not strength
left to carry any Relief Bill through Parliament.
For the present, fortunately, the public chest is
safe from that danger.
" Were we inclined to exult over fallen oppo-
nents, we might now feel tempted to point a moral
from the strange history of this Grand Trunk
scheme. We might trace the criminal errors com-
mitted from time to time by the men who have
used the road for their own selfish purposes.
We might recall the opposition given by this and
other journals to their mad procedure at its several
stages, and the urgent manner in which we en-
treated them to stop in their reckless career. We
might remind the friends of the road,' so called,
how clearly we pointed out the end to which they
were hurrying the enterprise, and the utter ruin.
they were bringing on thousands of innocent per-
sons in Europe who had possibly trusted their all
to their keeping. We might remind them of the
taunts with which our warnings were received and.
the bold predictions of the future success that was
to cover all our alarms with ridicule ; and we
might summon the Galts and the Rosses, the
Cayleys and the Cartiers, to the bar of public
opinion to palliate, if they could, the disastrous
termination to which thus early the scheme has
been brought by their mismanagement.
" We confess, however, we have no present
desire to rake up these scenes of the past, in-
structive as they are. It is well that those who
have striven in the public interest to avert coming
evils should have the fact publicly acknowledged
When time has established the correctness of their
positions; it is equally desirable that those who have
forced ruinous measures on the country, in defiance of
reason and in spite of solemn protests, should be held
to a strict account for their conduct ; and for all this
no doubt there is a time coming. But these consi-
derations are lost for the present in the thought of
the injury that must be entailed by the explosion.
of so vast a scheme. We have no desire to add to
the embarrassment of those who undertake the
unravelling of the tangled web. We have no desire
to say a word that might injuriously affect the
claims of hundreds of small creditors who are
urgently looking for their money. But what we
hope is, that the entire management of the company
from top to bottom will be changed—that it will
be placed in hands totally unconnected with
pclitics—that the misrepresentations by which it
has been bolstered up will be ended, and the real
position of the company fearlessly examined and
aseertained."—Times' City Article.