The sun., 1893-06-04
4 BLow FOR THE sH1p nA1uwAE
It's Bonds Cannot Be fIonted, and II May
Never he Completed.


ST. JOHN. N. T., June 3.-word has come
from England that the Chignecto Marine
Transport Company has failed TO float lew
issue OF bonds for completing tho construction
OF a ship railway from Northumberland strait
to the Bay Of Fundy. The work has bcen
stopped for long time. and may now DO
abandoned. 1t was the only ship railway in
the world. and engineers and others took q
great interest in It. The works at cnch end
are nearly finished. and tho track has beon
graded In parts. Tho company was an Eng
llsh ono. and was induced TO undertake the
enterprise by tho promise Of tho Dominion
Governmc cnt to give 1t n bonus OF $4,000 n
year for twenty years. when the railway should
be In operation. The road was seventeen
miee long. Hydraulic lifts at each end hoisted
the vessels on hugo fiat cars provided with a
cradle. The rails were o. heavy steel. broad
at TOP and bottom. Nearly S+.0U0.OO has
been sunk in tho Job. The now issue Of bonds
was for $1.GOO.OOO. and tho work could have
been finished with tho proceeds. The only
formidable engineering difficulty lay in tho
height Of tho tides on the 10y OF Fundy side.
which run from 40 to % feet. Tho water
tears along the tidal streams, carrying with it
n red silt which produces excellent hay crors.
Tho rush UP tho streams is q remarkable
sight. II forms pillar with u white crest.
and is known as tho bore"
Tho object of the ship railroad was to save
vessels bound from the Gulf OF st. Lawrence
to American ports. from the long detour
around Cape Breton or through the Gut OF
Canso But IL became apparent at an early
stage that the traffic which the road might get
won I'D be altogether too light to yield q return
on the expenditure and cost of operating. Sir
Charles Upper was instrumental in getting
the Canadian Parliament to promise a bonus
when tho road was in working order. He had
political object IN view. for the outlay of the
Englishmen made ono or two constituencies
solid for tho Tory rarty at Ottawa. Mr.
ketchum Is the engineer OF tho roa1 Tho con-
tractors are from Ontario The rails and ma
Of the fngl lshmen complain that they were
misled by tho Canadian lNrliament. They
took IL for grant ed. ns they Ind right to do
that Parliament would not ofcra subsidy to II
wildcat scheme such as this has turned out
to be. and think they should be recoupcd in
likely TO grow out OF the matter
, Tho iure will probably XIII another sim
liar project known as tho Ontario shin Rail-
way: This Ia to carry vessels from the up
per lakes direct to Lake Ontario. doing away
with tho necessity OF sailing through Lake ST.
The company Is Il Canadian one. Mr.. f.. l.
oorthell n Chicago engineer. is member OF
II. 1t is much more ambitious undertaking
than that at Chignecto. The roa1 was to be
90 or 70 miles long. from tho Georgian Bay or
Iak Simcoe t. Toronto or some nont on
Lake Ontario within 20 miles OF Toronto.
Years ago company was formed to build
shin canal along tho aame route. but English
engineers reported that it would not pay.
canal was also projected along the Ihignccro
route. bnt abandoned because Of the difficulty
OF bridling the Bay OF Fundy tides.