The Sun.
London, England, 1859-09-29 00:00:00

RAILWAY INTELLIGEN

The report of the directors of this compa ,
GREAT WESTERN OF CANADDAy.
that under six Acts of the Provincial Parliament,
m share
capital £5,301,369 sterling. During the las.
the company had been authorised to raise t
half-
the 31st of July,
count, making the total receipts to
been raised on
year £168,867 had been received on capital ae-
£4,984,714, of which £3,087,326 had
during
loan. The expenditure on capital account
.0
shares, and £1,807,387 by bonds and Government
states
the six months had been £35,537, in addition t
which further advances had been made on account
of the loan to the Detroit and Milwaukie Railway
total
eCaopmi
tpaal n, expenditure amounting o
ft o
£1:46,857,49,77618.
Themaking
sum f
mainne
£8,355 only had been expended on the
capital account in respect of the 279 miles.a.
prope
and Galt branch during the half-year, andratrhle.
ty
way of which that part of the company's
consisted might be considered as practically eelne.seahu,e.
There had been an expenditure of £27,122 t
Sarnia Extension line of 51 miles, chiefly for
_b‘._.l_
lasting and finishing the line and works, and for
exfcere.
the cost of a grain elevator and machinery at reel
Sarnia. The further outlay would not
£lO,OOO. The working expenses, exclusive o
newals of permanent-way, amounted to £103,9;
being a reduction of £12,696 as compared NNTitt
the corresponding half of 1858, although 51 a.nu-
ditinal miles of railwny had been wall
the half-year. The mileage run by being
trains amounted to £529,551 miles,
a decrease of 4,339 miles as compared with
the corresponding half of 1858. The cost of well
ing was reduced from 4s. 51d. to 4s. Old. per train
mile. The total receipts for traffic and rents a.u, _
ing the half-year amounted to £181,476, and the
working expenses and renewals to £120,326, l_e.ae,
ed durithge
ing a balance of £61,150. To this sum was add
£3,350, the surplus from the preceding halflelEt2i
making £€3,500. From this the sum of £4B,
was deducted for interest on the Government lioar,
and on the bonds of the company ; £4,466 paia
ing the half-year on account of Desjardin
accident compensation ; and £3,739 paid for repair
ing the embankments at Flamborough, Copeto
extraors
&c., and other expenses caused by the
ary floods of the 19th of March, 1859; leaven
e 4
surplus of £8,167, which the directors recommen
to be carried forward to the credit of the next
count. The directors expressed their extreme e?_„
pesitium•
cern and disappointment at the altered's-briug,:
which the above statement exhibited of the cent
pany's affairs. The traffic of the line, both throuF..
and local, had undergone a diminution during `°
last three years of which there was no parallel ld
the history of railways in this country ; anda.
though the exertions of the executive in Callha
have effected most important reductions en„:,ett
working expenses, those reductions had not to,
adequate to sustain the company's position an u of.
earn a dividend. Still the Great We4urn fl
Canada had really suffered less than the other ato.
ways in its vicinity, and there was no reason A'
suppose that its proper and legitimate revenue •"":,
been abstracted by rival companies to any sere°l7
extent. There could be no doubt, however, tlia
the evil during the last half-year bad been rna.tecl.7
rially aggravated by the severe competition, call':
on for the through traffic on the part of the Ant.,„:
rican lines ; but, with this exception, th dire
had reason to believe, from every informttion aoa
able to them, that this company's position t,
respect to the falling off of its traffic was teb.,,,eaa.X.
tributed to a succession of bad harvests, egg
in the colony by the financial convulsion in the ei."-es;.
of 1857. All the accounts from the United Sta+l,`
and from Canada concurred in stating that rut,:
harvest just gathered in had been a most ahunealie.
one. From this source, from the revival. of tor
lumber trade, and from the improving condtionur
the province as well as the Western State„ enea,a,
it was to be hoped the company would soon recc'n'tly
its former prosperity. The interest on the Inla—nt...
the Detroit and Milwaukie Company remain
standing. The directors had thought it ae•%."-itss
G
to exercise forbearance in enforcing this clall3l',hee
traffic having also been injuriously affected by `pa,
tchaautsetshealcrreeaddiyt roeffetihTeedDetteor,ait nnaddfeNelliinhvgauchonieste.;..
„Teti,
pany was essential to the welfare of both con3Pal—be,.
The two new steamers built expressly to run.fai.
tween Grand Haven and Milwaukie, in conneella,
thew hg
with
ethinninrr
e railway, were placed on the route a,
of September, and thus ert
Detroit and Milwaukie Company was now Prep the`'
to properly accommodate the growing traffic o'. "0:
North-West, the effects of which would be seen.,
soon as the crops commenced to be moved. Tne,„l,:r
proaehing opening of the Grand Trunk Rallwilfi
Sarnia and Detroit would bring into opera
another line from Toronto to those places.
fld
great injury which had resulted both in Enf,n3;9,l
and America from the competition of rival railw34o
had led the boards of both companies todiscuss
position of the two lines, and there was every rea:te;
to hope that those negotiations would term'a—
satisfactorily.

- 2
GREAT BRITAIN AND THE UNITBII

STATES.

o
The following letter has been addressed- t
contemporary :
Sir,—The " San Jnan difficulty" is a ferel'We
n,
illustration of the necessity of our being incle,Pt-es,,
dent in every possible manner of the United 5i,115,
not only for the purposes of war, but essent'
for purposes of peace, as I will presently show.,,r,
How few know, or how few care to eonslucoa
that for six months of the year during we
which pen
the Gulf of St. Lawrence navigation is closed
have no means of communication whatever
hitt
Canada except through the United States, it
we could neither send an army to nor withdr3"ar,
from Canada during those six months of the YeAcci
even if our very existence as a nation depetl'
upon it.
The citizens of the United States are fully (Ilive
nns'
to this important fact, and judging from Per6"-or
experience and discussion of the question withme+
of the leading men of that country, I have no heolj
tation in stating that they believe that well2o
Canada only by sufferance. Yet strange to eq,.o.sb,
military expenses for the preservation of Brf
North America borne by the imperial treasuoi,
amount to the enormous sum of £420,000 per ane,lll,,f
in addition to £20,000 paid by the governmem' -
Canada.
The conveyance of the Canadian mails throuht
the United States is regulated by a treaty which
they can terminate on six weeks' notice, and vv-
they wished to gain a commercial advantage ,„-er
us they gave notice to terminate that treaty, lila
by that means carried their point, because we 09.1115
not dispense with the conveyance of our Dial
through their territory.
During the Crimean war we had extensive
tary stores in the citadel of Quebec ; we wishedter
send them to the seat of war, it was in the 1611,110
season, but we could not send them through
United States ; we had experienced too much t,
their sensibility in the enlistment question to a •
tempt it. We had troops also in Canada whielll
wished to send out to the Crimea, but we coal°. '-
get them to the seaboard.
serve
We have heard a great deal of the message aee
u
by the Atlantice Telegraph countermanding t,
embarkation of troops from Canada to India,
which a large sum of money was saved to the 101 l
rial government, but what is that compared with
the importance of railroad communication whit l
would give us access to and from Canada at
seasons through British territory ? le
The Atlantic telegraph would be entirely u5e3,56,
in a militory point of view for the six months of t'.`"
year unless we had this access. of
The only and effectual remedy for this state
things is the completion of the line of railroad for°
Halifax to Quebec. When the whole length of tii
line to be made was 600 miles, the imporla
government pledged themselves to recommend
Parliament to give an imperial guarantee to theue;
dertaking, but this pledge has never been fulfilled-
The provinces of Canada and Nova Scotia hafe;
however, from their own resources made 170 wile
of the line, and New Brunswick has made a great
portion of the branch line to the United States. 13110
there is a limit to colonial resources, and they°
h
asked the Imperial Government to aid them in its
completion, but as yet without success.
By making Halifax the terminus of Atlantic 10il
service instead of New York and Boston, the wile'
age rate saved would amount to £50,000 per ann3llll
in addition to the present cost of the Canadian 1315,1,
through the United States, estimated at 1:25,0'
more.

The military force maintained in Canada is oil
the assumption that at one season no assistance
could be sent to them from the mother country f°r
six months. It would be no saving- to send troop_
there in the autumn, and again IN ithdraw them
the spring, therefore for all practical
purposes °.31
economy, in a military point of view, Canada. Is
twice the distance from the mother country that
Australia is, but the completion of this railroad
would reduce the distance to ten days at all sea'
sons.
es
It would effect a saving in the military exPents,4
of the country of at least £200,000 per annum, ivie
it would dispense with. the necessity of a single
soldier in Canada.
It would link together the three fine prov:WedB
of Canada, New Brunswick, and Nova Scotia, 0131,
give Canada access to the ocean, through Brit's'.
territory, at all seasons through the port of Tiali,fslci
the finest port in the world, and nearer to Engian..
and to Europe by 400 miles than any other open
port in America.—l am, &0.,
Harrow, Sept. 28. JOSEPH NELSON.