IMAGE EVALUATION TEST TARGET (MT-3) k /. / < mi/.. i.O i.l MS If 1^ IM 1 1^ Ilia £ b£ 12.0 1.4 .8 1.6 <^ V. •-o^ //I ^ /^ V €^ <^ \\ ^^ CIHM/ICMH Microfiche Series. CIHM/ICMH Collection de microfiches. Canadian Institute for Historical Microreproductions Institut Canadian de microreproductions historiques 1980 Technical Notes / Notes techniques The Institute has attempted to obtain the best original copy aval]^ble for filming. Physical features of this copy which may alter any of the images en the reproduction are checked below. L'Institut a microfilm^ le mellleur exemplaire qu'il lui a 6t6 possible de se procurer. Certains difauts susceptlbles de nuire d la quality de la reproduction sont not6s ci-dessous. 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Les images suivantes ont 6t6 reproduites avec le plus grand soin, compte tenu de la condition et de la nettet6 de I'exemplaire film6, et en conformity avec les conditions du contrat de filmage. The last recorded frame on each microfiche shall contain the symbol ^^> (meaning CONTINUED"), or the symbol V (meaning "END"), whichever applies. Un des symboles suivants apparaTtra sur la der- niire Image de cheque microifiche, selon le cas: le symbole — ► signifie "A SUIVRE", le symbole V signifie "FIN". The original copy was borrowed from, and filmed with, the itind consent of the following institution: Library of the Public Archives of Canada Maps or plates too large to be entirely included in one exposure are filmed beginning in the upper left hand corner, left to right and top to bottom, as many frames as required. The following diagrams illustrate the method: L'exemplaire film6 fut reproduit grdce d la g6n6rosit6 de I'dtablissement prdteur suivant : La bibliothdque des Archives publiques du Canada Les cartes ou les planches trop grandes pour dtre reproduites en un seul ciichd sont fiimdes d partir de Tangle sup6rieure gauche, de gauche d droite et de haut en bas, en prenant le nombre d'images ndcessaire. Le diagramme suivant illustre la m^thode : 1 2 3 1 2 3 4 5 6 ^RGUMEISTT or ABAM CROOKS, Q.C., AGAINST THE GREAT AVESTERN APPLICATION FOR A RAILWAY LINE FROM GLENCOE TO THE NIAGARA RIVER; AND TN FAVOR OP THE AMENDMENTS TO THE CHARTER OF THE ERIE AND NIAGARA EXTENSION RAILWAY COMPANY. BEFORE I%A.I3L.-\A7-.^i^-5r COli^I-IlTTEE, FllIbA y, \Qth DECEMBER, 1869. PRINTED BY HUNTER, ROSE & CO., 86 KING STREET WESTJ 1869. Wi Legislative AssEMBiiV, Ontario, Dec. 10, 1869. In Committee on Bill (No. 43), " An Act to incorporate tho Canada Air Lino Company." Present : — Hon. Attorney-General Macdonald in tho Chair. Hon. Mcssr.s. Cameron, Richards, Carling, McMurrich, and Wood. Messieurs. Cockbum, Carnegie, Calvin, Cojoie, Currie, Craig (Glengarry), Fraser, Gow, Hay.'i, McCall (Norfolk), McDougall, McKellar, McLeod, Ferguson, Lyon, Rykert, Sinclair, Wallis, Williams (Durham), and Williams (Hamilton). The order of procedure having been settled, The Chairman said the question before the Committee was the Preamble of tho Bill (No. 43), as follows :— " Whereas it is highly desirable that a Railway should bo made from some " point on the line of the Great Western Railway, at or near Glencoe, to or " near Fort Erie, on the Niagara River, passing through or near the Towns *■* of St. Thomas and Simcoe ; and the persons hereinafter mentioned having •'petitioned to be incorporated for that purpose, it is expedient to grant a " charter for the construction of such railway: Therefore Her Majesty, by "and with the advice and consent of the Legislative Assembly of the Pro- " vince of Ontario, enacts as follows :" — Hon. Mr. Richards — Before that question is put, I understand that Mr- Thomson wishes Counsel to be hoard on behalf of tho Erie and Niagara Ex- tension Railway Company, as the opponent of this Bill, and I therefore move that Counsel be heard. The Chairman — There is no doubt but that ho can be hoard. Is it the pleasure of the Committee to hear Mr. Crooks ? Tho motion was agreed to, and Mr. Crooks was then called upon. Mr. Crooks then said — Mr. Chairman and gentlemen, I do not propose in the slightest degree to weary the Committee in the course of any observations on the Preamble which has just been read by the Chair main, my sole object is simply to bring up the opposition to the present Bill in a proper form, having regard to tho rules which obtain for the regulation of these matters before Parliamentary Committees. Now, so far as many questions are con- cerned which may bo rn-ged in opposition to the Bill of which Mr. McMaster, and the other gentlemen whoso names are given here, are the promoters, it would be impossible to entertain them when discussing the various clauses of the Bill. The principal points, the principal objections, on which my clients rely in answer to this Bill, are objections having reference entirely to the expediency of granting any charter at all to these gentlemen ; and these are questions which are properly discussed and diBjJOsed of in tho considera- tion of the Preamble. When it comes to the consideration of the different clauBos of the Bill, then any person or locality which is affected by any par- ticular clause, can be heard upon that particular clause ; but when the Pre- amble is passed, then this Ooimnittee, so far as its conclusion is concerned, has determined that it is expedient to grant a charter of some sort or other, containing some clauses or other, for the purpose of building a line of rail- way, such as is recited in the Preamble of this Act. And, therefore, the i^HH ■«HH Erie and Niagara Extension Railway Company liave anked to bo heard by Oounsel in opposition to the Preamble, and have presented a petition, so that they are regularly before the Committee. The principal objection taken in this petition, and on which the Committee are asked not to pass this Preamble, is that the petitioners already possess rights which are of the nature of vested interests over that track of country over which this Air Line proposes to construct their railway ; and this is the first objection which I present to the consideration of the Committee. This objection is based upon the existence of a charter, under the provisions of which the Erie and Niagara Extension Railway Company is authorised to construct a line of railway, which, so far as the eastern portion of it is con- cerned from St. Thomas eastward to the Niagara River, traverses a line of country exactly the same as that which the promoters of this Bill ask you to give them powers to construct a line of railway over. And it is an answer to the application of any individual, or any set of individuals, for power to con- struct a railway, or any other work that would c«mflict with the charter already existing, that it would by implication be a repeal of chartered rights and privileges, and a declaration that the Erie and Niagara Company is to have no further existence, although by its charter it still has up to the 1st of March next, within which to organize and commence the construction of a line of railway over the same identical route ; and if you pass this Pi-eanible you then assert, if not directly, at all events by clear implication, that sun- dry other persons should be invested with similar chartered privileges. Now there are many instances in which, on such suggestions coming before a Com- mittee, or being made apparent to the Committee, the Committee have rejected entirely the Preamble. To mention one, we have the case referred to in Todd's Parliamentary Practice, respecting " The Clifton Suspension Bridge Company. " That Bill was refused upon the ground that it was in interference with a corporation possessing in substance the same identical rights as those sought for. Upon this one single ground, therefore, it seems to me that the only conclusion the Committee can come to, is that it is not expedient to grant the prayer of this petition. In the next place, we show that the Committee cannot pass this Act with- out destroying entirely all the labours which have been bestowed upon the charter now existing. Since the time this charter has been obtained, dif- ferent engagements have been entered into, upon the faith that this House would maintain this charter, and that the Erie and Niagara Company would have until the 1st of March, within which to place itself in a position to fulfil them. We say, in point of fact, that in passing this Preamble you would sanction the confiscation of the Parliamentary pri\'ileges which this Legislature has already conferred upon the Erie and Niagara Railway Com- pany. It would be practically a confiscation, it would be preventing any action on the part of the Provisional Dii'ectors up till the 1st of March. It was quite possible, having regard to all the preliminary effbrts made, and without in the slightest degree trusting to the profession of the Micliigan Air Line people, it is quite possible, I say, for the Company to be organized be- fore the Ist of March next, and to enter upon the commencement of its works. It is not upon the Michigan Air Line that this Company is obliged to depend, nor upon the amount which they promised to advance. The Canadian people may look forward to the future without the slightest apprehension that tnis charter and its privileges will pass into Aineri- can hands, and may believe that nothing will hinder the arrangements which will result in the early completion of this work. In coneadenug this Preamble, it is not a question as to what are the probable means Thich can be obtained by the Erie and Niagara Company for the con- struction of thb extension line — it is merely a question whether you are in a position now to determine by passing tlie preamble of this Bill to confis- cite rights which are in full existence, and rights which would otherwise bo in full existence until the Ist of March next. Whether you do or do not, and whether this Legislature does or does not, grant the prayer of the " Erie and Niagara Extension Railway Company," with reference to the different amendments sought for in their charter, you ought not to confiscate rights already existent. The next < 1)jectlon that I present — and I propose to ex- amine Mr. McMaster liimself apon this — is with reference to the interests of the promoters of this Bill. The promoters of this Bill are the gentlemen whoso names are mentioned in the first Section of the Bill. We have already had the statement of Mr. McMaster that, though they arc nominally the persons who are promoting this Bill, that they are in reality the Great Western Com- pany, and that it is in its interest they propose that this charter should be granted. Now, the Great WesterTi Railway, \inder its present charter, has no power to enter upon the construction of this line of railway. Before it can do so it nuist obtain further Parliamentary power, and for this power it must resoii; to the Parliament of the Dominion of Canada. The Great Western Company comes within that category of railways which are not within the jurisdiction of this Legislature. And, bearing upon this, you wUI find that by the lUh Section, Act of 22nd Vict., A. D. 1858, it is empowered to lay down its lines of rails out of this Province, in order to place itself in communication with American railways ; and, therefore when these gentle- men come forward and state that they are acting, not as individual support- ers of this Bill, but that they are acting on behalf of the Great Western Railway Company of Canada, I say, first that they are entering upon an un- authorized course in connection with that Company ; and. next, that they ar eappealing for pf)wer to a Legislature which the Great Western of Canada can not appeal to. The (Jreat Western Company is precluded from obtain- ing the rights they seek here ; they must obtain them by application to the Dominion Parliament. On this ground, therefore, it seems to me that the preamble of this Bill should not pass. There are several instances referred to in Todd's Book, Avherein it appears that the promoters not being author- ized to take up the imdertaking was the ground for refusing to pass the preamble, and for declaring it not to have been proved. Even if the Directors of the Great Western Company were unanimous for this application, their action would be entirely nugatory. Any action of the Great Western Railway Company would require the consent of at least two- thirds of its shareholders, and that, too, expressed at a meeting convened specially for the purpose. It is not pretended for one moment that this scheme has been submitted to the Great Western shareholders ; and, in point of fact, it is entirely a new proceeding, and even the Chairman of the English Directors of this Company, and the other officials in England, were not called upon for their approval of it until after their recent arrival in this country. Therefore, it is clear that if this scheme is brought forward by the Great Western Railway, or on behaJf of it, that these objections lie at the very threshold. Jt may be said, nevertheless, that this is not the Great Western Railway Company's ijroceeding at all : that it is an application of the gentlemen — all gentlemen of standing — whose names appeal* in the first Section of the Act. But I endeavoured on the former occasion — and I will endeavour to do so now — to ascertain from an examination of Mr. McMaster whether Mr. McMaster is prepared now to add to his laborious duties the weight of becoming a speculator of the same class, and falling into the same class to which it is said Mr. Thompson, one of the principal members of the Erie & Niagara Railway Company's Board, belongs. And these other gent- lemen whose names are mentioned merely appear in a representative character. But it would no doubt be a very satisfactory thing — a very consolatory thing — to the Bouth-wcstern region of Ontario which tor a lonf; time, and through a variety of causes has been deprived up to the present of railway communi- cation. I say it would be a consolatory thing for the people of this locality to know, and to be thoroughly assured, that they have theee gentlemen as individuals ready to carry through this undertaking, because if this were so, then those capitalists would be found, of whom Mr. Thomson has been in search ever since you gave him the power to constnict hia line. And if the community see therefore that these gentlemen are prepared to undertake this line as private individuals, they will rightly expect iinder the charter which these gentlemen obtain as individuals, to see that they are obliged to fulfil its obligations. Then, I say, in the next place, that all the probabilities are against the Great Western Company constructing this railway. It may be said, that I am anticipating the action of the Great Western shareholders — anticipating what the Groat Western Company as a corporation may itself bo prepared to do. The btst mode of deteiinining the probable course of action which this company will take in the future is to see what it has done in the past. It is a necessity which exists that the Great Western Railway should in some form or other overcome the excessive gradients at Hamilton. That is a necessity which was as apparent in 1856 as it is now, and although the corporate privileges of the then existing charter had been secured for the Great Western, notwithstanding this the actions of the gentlemen who in the interest of the Great Western Company secured these charters were repu- diated by their shareholders entirely, and one gentleman Avas victimized to an extent which is almost appalling to think of. One jjentleman, at the head i>{ the Canadian Board here, made himself liable for some £50,000, and that solely in the interest of the Great Western Railway Company in order to ob- tain those charters which that company is now so anxious to secure, and al- though as I have said, the desirableness of accomplishing this object was just as groat — be just as apparent in 1857 as it it is now. We shall find that however sincere Mr. McMaster and these other gentlemen are in advocating this meastiro in the interest of the Great Western Company, that when it is placed before their constitutents in England for ratification, they Avill be dealt with as was Mr. Buchanan and the Board in 1856, and should they be so unfortunate as to advance money in securing this charter, they will be left to suffer the loss of any sum which they may liave advanced. I propose to call Mr. Buchanan, who in 1856 when a similar scheme came up, and when those who had the interest of the Great Western in charge thought it Ava.s very desirable that one of their number should advance this large siim of money, did so, and the consequence was that although their railway charters were secured neither railway was built, and Mr. Buchanan left with this large deficiency of upwards of $200,000. Now beyond this it is quite ap- parent that so far as the English mind is concerned — and in dealing with the Croat Western Railway Company, you cannot look upon it as a Canadian en- terprize, — because the gentlemen in this country only hold sufficient stock to qualify them for the position of directors, while the large body of the share- holders reside in England, that this would be against taking up the present project. And then there is the cardinal rule to be overcome, which all English railways have adopted since 1864, that no increase should be made in their capital account for the purpose of destroying opposition in any one particular territory. Th*t is now a cardinal principal of railway policy, and it is always laid down at the meeting of proprietors. We find that the Lon- don and Brighton Company, which was once prosperous, ruined itself by its great additions to capital account, on enterprises into which it entered with the view of controlling a particular territory, and amongst other instances, we have the case of the London, Chatham and Dover Railway, and Mr. Laing, and other gentlemen who have been called in to extricate these companies t from difficulty, all say that this policy of securing tcmtoriea, so us to destroy competition, is niinous, and yon will not find the intelligent propi-ietom of the Great Western Company authorizing an addition to tlieir capital account to construct a lino whicli in reality is in opposition to their present railway. Again, the Great Western Company is not, and the proprietors will feel that they are not, in a position — in a financial position — to un- dertake the building of a lino which, on the testimony of Mr. Joy, would be only destructive of any profitable amount of business on the present line, and on which, having regard to the enormous cost I»er mile which this line stands — the Great Western — in at the present, it is so diflHcult to realize a dividend. I allude to this argument for the pur- pose of enabling you to see that when certain gentlemen come here, and with- out in any way producing their credentials, decl.vre their intention to con- struct a railway in the interests of the Great Western Co. , that their proposals emanate from themselves, and in view of the cardinal principle that I have re- ferred to, the efforts of these, gentlemen, will be entirely migatory, and the only result of acceding to their prayer will be to destroy an enterprise which had, to a certain extent, exhibited a certain amount of progress, and which, considering the circumstances by which it was hindered and opposed, is per- fectly satisfactory, and 1 think the Provisional Directors of the Eiie and Nia- gara Extension Railway Co. can take credit to themselves that at all events, up to the present, they have strenuously endeavoured to fulfil the public duties which under that charter was reposed in them. There is another dif- ficulty. It is proposed to constioict this branch line on some i)oint of the Buffalo and Lake Huron Railway, and thus to obtain that outlet Avhich Mr. Joy referred to at Buffalo, by the Erie Railway, as they no ' possess it at the Suspension Bridge by the New York Central line. There is nothing to pre- vent the Great Western Railway Company, if it can make an aixangement with the Grand Trunk Rrailway Company to obtain this outlet now by availing themselves of its branch from Paris downwards. But there seems, as far as one can judge, the greatest difficulty in these two companies coming to any aixarsgement for the user by the Great Western Company of the Buft'alo and Lake Huron Line. But if that difficulty could be removed, the Great Westerft, without any expenditure of money, would be brought into conmui- nication with the Erie Railway at Buffalo. These, then, are the objections which, on behalf of the Erie and Niagara Extension Railway Company, so far as their interests are concerned, I am instructed to iirge. But beyond these, it is quite competent to them to urge objections of even a higher char- acter — objections in the interest of the public, based upon considerations of public policy, and to present for the consideration of the Conmiittee other rise. It was a work that Zimniermun, with all his energy and ability, could not accom- plish. 1 may be allowed, in the interests of the Erie and Niagara Railway Company, of which Mr. Thomson is the president, and on whose exertions they principally rely, to say that thoy hope to be able to carry to a successful ixmipletion tho enterprise for which they have been chartered, and ask you not to listen to tlio.so stories that have been raised to the personal disparage- ment of Mr. ThoniHoii. Mr. sheriil" Munro, the tither day, expressed in the liij^diest manner his estimate of the services Mr. 'J'humson had rendered to (he undortaking. It is important for you to come to a right decision in re- .^ptct to the coiirso of legislation in the future, and, fur a moment sinking the consideration of the ([uestion affecting the interests of the c to the 1st of Marcli next - that in tliis interval there will be no advance made by the Erie it Niagara Kailway C^ompany, and that they will fail to organize and ctjmmence actual wdi'k. Tliat will be the result of your adopting tho preamble of this T?ill ; you will be doing an act which, if you were a municipal body you could n