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The Jleporl of tlio Oommissioners appointed by the Government of this Province to enquire inio the financial condition and general management of the Grand Trunk Railway contains certain statements which are not in accordance with facts. I speak more particularly with reference to that department of the Grand Trunk Railway Company's service which is under my direction — the traffic workfng of the line. For a work necessarily corrective, if not censorious, in its original purpose and intent, the report is rife with instances of figures being dealt with in a strikingly negligent manner. To erroneous conclusions, deduced from false data, arithmetical blunders are superadded, until imposing-looking tabular statements, sententiously prefaced, can be slicwn to contain little else than dross. The m'stakes, oversights, or lypogiaphical errors to which i have taken upon myself to direct the attention of the numberless readers that a work of the ad captandum character of the report in question vill be sure to have, tend, without any exception whatsoever, to the disparagement of Grand Trunk Railway management placed side by side with that of eei'tain other lines Avhich the Commissioners have selected for eomjiarison. With i\w. opinionx ol the t'lininiissioiiers ou (jiicstions atfecting the geueriil traffic policy of (iraud Tiank ifaihvay management, or the mode of working the line, 1 claim not the right, nor have I tlie inclination to interfere ; and in touching upon matters tliat may eonceni myself personally in their report, \ sliall endeavour to confine myself strictly to (luestions of fact, unless where my own previously expressed views on railway working may have Ixen misapplied, misinterpreted, or iuadvert- <^ntly nnsqiioteil liy those gentlennMi. 1 wriii' iVoni (III tlr.iii-i' to criticise, !>iit to a .-fi'tain extent, with a view to rel)Uttin<' implicil or openly advanced charges of ill-management on my part of the very large and weighty interests intrusted to me — mainly, however, for the purpose of correct- ing actual mistakes— mistakes which, as they arc laid bare to them, the Commis- sioners themselves. 1 wduhl fain believe, will be surprised to see in their report. It might have been supposed tliat a document emanating from so high a source, issued under the "great seal" of a vSovernment Commission, and, as above observed, fault-fin;ling in its very conception, would have been revised with more than ordinary care /ic/e/v publication. Iletter, however, that the needed corrections should be INTIIODUCTOKY UKMAUKS. made at tliis lato hour tliuti not at nil, — and after till, it will not bo the tirHt important work that has called for an errata leaf after haviiij; fsillen from the press. Desirous that this " Appendix Extraordinary to the Report of the Government Commission" (I claim no higher title for these few leaves) should be read, as adding to the positive usefulness of the work itself, I will, with a view to that brevity which can aloue ensure hearers for adverse criticisms on a popular work, notice only the most salient of the mistakes which disfigure it, and which I trust to be able to sot right without in any way violating the rules of courtesy towards, or saying ought that need give just offence to the gentlemen over whose signatures ihey have appeared in print. Whether the Grand Trunk Railway Company may or may not have »'xi)cnded thirteen millions of dollars more than they should have spent, or whether they may or may not have expended it as judiciously as they might have done ; and whether they should or should not have leased or constructed certain subsidiary or extension lines, are questions of the past — the ]irirnary evils accruing from which are now beyond recall. The system of working and management of the railway, on the other hand, are all important in the present and in the future for all time to come, for it is in the administration of the purposes of the road that the Ealvation of the Company's pro- pel ty is to bo worked out if at all. No element of railway economy enters more largely into the accomplishment of railway success than the judicious use and application of the rolling stock of a line, and in animadverting upon that branch of Grand Trunk Railway management, the report draws, from results represented as achieved on others of the Trunk Lines of the continent, comparisons reflecting strongly and most unfavorably on the former. I would particularly direct attention to the " Tabular Form" on page 31 of the report, re-printed with corrective annotations a little further on in this "appendix." When the Commissioners see wherein I take exception to their way of putting the case I feel confident they will bo prompt to admit that their figures needed over- hauling, badly. Along and adjacent to all great line?* of railway on this continent, tiiurc exists a popular belief that the local rates and fares are " too high," and that the railway companies would certainly be gainers by allowing the " people of the country'' the advantages of railway transportation at rates below the intrinsic value of the "article" to the people themselves. To this somewhat illogical creed the Commis- sioners, in part at least, subscribe, and, with that same leaning to strong contrasts which marks their comparisons of engine mileage and car service, draw a very strong contrast indeed, an " instructive" one tliey term it, exhibitory of what might be acconiplislieil on tlio extreme western portion, in particular, of tlie Grand Trunk by copying the low fare policy adopted on the extreme ciistern porti'iii of the road by the Lessees of the Riviere du Loup section last year. litre again I have taken the liberty of ro-priiiting, from pages 47 ami •"•" of tlicir r, jxirt, eertaiii statements INTIIODUCTOHY HMMARKH. 4 put forward with much confidence by the Commissioners, und of placing in juxta. position therewith, and with equal confidence, notes and corrections from my own pen, producing a "contrast"' that even the Commissioners, I think, will allow extracts somewhat of its force from the " instructive" lesson which they would read to me on this question of local tariff. Another cry that may be heard along all the other Trunk Lines of America, as well as ours, is that which charges on their managers the sin of fostering the " Through" or " Foreign" traffic, to the let and hindrance of " local" business. With this cry the report harks in, and in seeking to sustain their unqualified adoption of the popular sentiment, the Commissioners, precisely as in the other instances above pointed at, sadly misuse figures. Where and how 1 will be prepared to show in good time. Apologising to the reader for the length of this preface, I will now proceed to single out a few of the most striking of the blunders from that part of the report which purports to have discovered the " CAUSES OV THE SMALI, RETURNS." tl' ' l-^' UIOMARKS ON KOI.LINC STOCK. REMARKS ON ROLLING STOCK. Extract from Report, /ntt/v i\0. " One of the principal causes, which has been strongly insisted on by every one connected with the company, is the ileficicncy of rolling stock. Mr. Shanly in his report of November last, which will bo found in the (App. XIV,) has given a tabular statement (C p. 07) of eight of the principal roads in North America, shewing the number of engines and cars per mile, and the gross earnings ami expenses of each: and taking the Great Western of Canada, and the Michigan Central, as bearing the greatest analogy to our road, he has shewn that the Grand Trunk would require an addition of 31 engines and o()8 cars, or of 01 engines and 846 cars, to stock it as fully per mile as those two roads respectively. He argues, moreover, that " all persons conversant with railways will readily concede, that a long road ought to have i larger equipment mile per mile than a road of one-half or one-third the length."— This latter conclusion we are not prepared to admit. If we consider only the through traffic, there is a definite amotmt of time lost, and of expense incurred, in loading, unloading and handling the cars at the two termini, which is the same whether the road be long or short, and us the speed and cost of moving are independent of the length, it follows that the same number of cars will take a ton of goods over more miles, and at a less cost, on the long than on the short line; and the same thing will be partially true as to tlio local trnfTic." KRMARKS ON IIOM.INO HTOCK. I My views in relation to the proportions that should exist between the supply of engines and cars for very long as compared with moderately long lines of railway, are not correctly quoted in this extract from page 30 of the report. What I did say on that subject in my pnWished repoi t of 23rd November last, was, that " all persons conversant with the tvorking of railways will bo ready to concede that a long line like ourg, having a nfretch of 853 miles between its extreme terminal points, ought to have a larger e(|uipment, mile for mile, tlian the road of one-half or one-third the length, &c., &c." Tiie leaving out of the words in italies could not but give to my theory a colouring widely different from what I meant it to wear. Besides its 858 miles of direct line, the Grand Trunk system embraces upwards of 200 miles of branch lines, and any observant traveller in passing over the road from end to end, cannot fail to have been struck, as well with the varying character of the region tra- versed as with the extent of dreary and comparatively non-productive country toward the termini, and, though endoweii with no gleam of railway science, he will, his journey over, easily bo mac'o to comprehend that there must be in the course of each year a very large amount of unprofitable hauling to be done, and that with a backward trip of some hundreds of miles to perform before again reaching the loading place, there may be good and sufficient reasons why a train of cars cannot always be had in the right place at the right time. In committing myself on this question to an opinion, the soundness of which the Comniissioncvs " are not prepared to ijdmit," I should perhaps have rested my case on the judgment of those accustomed to dealing with long lines, only, rather than have appealed generally to " all persons conversant with the working of railways." On a road of one hundred miles or so in length, there could clearly be no good excuse, supposing a tnin of empty cars to be at the wrong end of the lino in tiu' morning, for not having tliem at the right end by noon. KKMAHUH (IN KN'IIM: mii.kaok. REMARKS ON I:N(JINK miij:a(jk. Kxtmct from liefHn-t, /»((//(• :5 1 " It will bo admitted however, that toemibh! the And according to official returns of N. Y. C. R. R. Co 20,802 The total engine mileage of the rennsylvania road for the year 1859 was 3,204,220 Total No. of engines 205 Average No. of miles to each engine 10,070 1 have checked the above ciilculiitions carefully, and comparing the averages obtained with the figures in the report it is clea., setting aside their errors in data, that the Commissioners can work out i sum in simple divi.'sion correctly — when they take pains; but column No. 3 has not been properly cared for by them. The total engine mileage of the Grand Trunk for year ending 30lh Miles. June, 1860, correctly given in App. xiv. p. 101 of Report, was 3,530,546 The No. cf engines, according to commis'^ioncrs, was 216 And their average mileage on same authority .. 11,550 Rut by my way of dividing 3,530,510 by 210 it was 16,345 And taking for divisor the true number of engines by which the work was actually done 207 I find tiic true average number of miles run by each to liavc been 17,055 Instead of, as per report of the Ciovernment Commissioners 11,560 It seems almost a pity that the Government Commissioners should have selected for analysis on this all import;!!it subject of engine sci'vice the results of the Grand Trunk year ending 30th Juno, 1860, in proferonoo to that whicli expired on 31st December following. Tiioy had at their command the material t.> liave enabled them to bring down their stateiuoni to the later period ; and, had they only though*^ of it, it could hardiy have failed of being more satisfactCi-y, alike to their readers and themselves, if, in comparing the working of the now (Jrand Trunk with that of the old-cstabished arterial lines of two of the oldest states of the Union, they had presented the results, in reference to the former, of a year in which it had been worked in its entire lengtli rather than those of one during llio first half of which it was still in a fragmentary condition; for the year 1850 was fast drawing to a close before the line was completed and fully opened for traflic. I will state what tlie amount of work performod^by our locomotives in the whole year 18f;o was, and in doing ^o, will avail myself of the ii|iportunity tlius afforded UEMAKKS ON ENGINK MILEAGE. 11 mo for comparing Grand Trunk operations in that respect with those of certain other mes nearer homo than those the Government Commissioners liavc selected tor judging us by. The average number of engines in service on the Grand Trunk Railway in the year ending -Slst December, 1860, was 212 And the total number of miles run was ;j {(Qg Qra Average number of miles per engine 18 437 In the same year the average mileage of engines on the Great Western Railway of Canadii was -.g ,,ri And on the Nortiiern Railway (Toronto to Collingwood) 17,6G1 Thus, it may be seen that the engines of the Grand Trunk, due allowance being made for the res Jura of a new road, cannot have been handled very badly after aU;_not, at all event., so badly as the elaborate statistical statement on page •»l ot the report would lead one to ^'uppo■^e. 12 KBMARKS ON ENUINK MILKA'lli. REMARKS ON ENGINE MILEAGE {Continued.) Extract from lUporU />«//«• '•'>'^' " It is also to be boruc i» mh.d «) that the NeAv York Oentral is a passenger road to a much greater extent than either the Pennsylvania Central or the Grand Trunk, and as the average load of freight per engine is calculated on all the engines, whether passenger or freight, the returns not enabling us to distinguish between them, the comparison in this respect with the other two roads does not do full justice to the .carrying capacity of the Now York Central. cents or about iVu of a cent per mile. The llcvonue accounts shew, that for the last two years the proportion of Ho per cent., which the running expensta bear to the receipts? has remniTied nearly constant, and su|)posing the through business to yield the aver- age profit, which may well be doubted, it would cost the comj)any, in running expenses and maintenance, 50i cents to take a barrel of flour from Detroit to I'ort- land, leaving a net profit of 10^ cents. Yet they pay 15 cent.s to the Uoston Uoats, and have consequently expended 4^ cents for tlie privilege of carrying the barrel, and of swolling their aggregate returns of business." ^ tlUMAniCS ON FOUKION FUEIQIIT. Tlio iiilmiasion Iuto iiiaile that " it is so evident that freight which goca over the whole liiK'iaii be earricilat little more than the cost of moving," sccma to have been lost sight of !iy the Commissioners before they hud got to the bottom of the next page, wlioro they assume " the cost of moving" to be 85 per cent, of the receipts, that being the proportion wliicli tlie n'hoh working CNpensca of the line bore to tho whole receipts in 1800. In adilition to tliis evident contradiction in terms they adopt ;i fullacioiis mode of calculation to show at how much loss our Boston business is done, —assuming that over and above the 15 cents per barrel of (lour, which is the proportion of the through rate due to the Steamboat Company carrying between Portland and P.oston, we also \y^j all the crpcnsrut^ transport between those places; lor instance, taKing TO cents as the' freight of a barrel of flour (Detroit to Boston) they first deduct 15 cents, which they hand over as clear profit to tho Steamboat Company, and then calculate 85 per cent, of the original 70 cents as tho working expenses of the Grand Trunk. This is entirely a mistake. Our expenses cease at Portland ; and if the Commissioners will have it that the more moving of the frci<»ht costs us 85 per cent, of what wo get for it— the 85 per cent, should bo calculated not on 70, but on 55 cents. It seems singular that one member, at all events, of the Commission sliou!d be so far away from understanding the mode in which " through rates" arc dealt with between the parties in interest. In calculating the cost to tho Grand Trunk of carrying this "through freight," they might full as well havo started at Chicago as ended at Boston, and, deducting the proportion of tho through rate belonging to the Michigan Central Railroad Company as well as the 15 cents due to the Portland Steam Packet Company, have then charged to Grand Trunk expenses 85 per cent of the whole original rate; in other terms saddling the Grand Trunk with all the expenses of the connecting lines in additi jn to its own. A repetition of their own figures will, perhaps, explain more clearly thii singular misapprehension on the part of tho Commissioners of a subject with which t!iey havo undertaken to deal so authoritatively. Assumed Rate Detroit to Boston, per bbl. of flour 70 cents. Assumed working expenses, 85 percent , 59t « Balance remaining over 10.', " Amount to pay to Steamboat Company 15 « Loss to Grand Trunk Company per bbl 41 " If the above formula were correct, this Boston business would certainly be a bad one for us, but docs it not seem hard of belief, even amid all tho many foolish acts laid to our charge, that wo would go on, year after year, toiling after so palpable a loss ? *1 22 REMARKS ON PORKION FRRIOIIT. The calculation should have been made in tliiH fusliion ; ABsunicd rate, Detroit to Boston 70 cents. Proportion duo to Steamboat Coniimny If) «« Leaviu}; to (M-and Trunk riG " Assumed working expenses (.S') percent) 40 J *' Bulanco for profit 8] " Not a largely paying bu-i, peiliaps, but a gain of eiglit cents i.x, at all events, better than a loss of four. The Commissioners, however, hero as in so lUiiny other instances, set cents more pi'r 100 lbs. to lloston tliaii to New York. Tho Boston rate, tiierefore, on wliieh tiie ( '"immissioners sliould liavo basod their calcula- tion, was 80 not 70 cents per bairel ; leaving to tho drand Trunk (!.") cents instead of 55 ; and, deducting the Commissioners 85 per cent, for working expenses, tho bal- ance remaining for profit, &c., will bo 0,' instead of 8 J cents. It should also be noted that the rates agreed u[»on in Conventions of the Kivc At- lantic Trunk Lines arc tninimum rates; and that tho Grand Trunk has never como down to the minimum since the publication of tho Tariff of 18th October, 1800. It maybe worth wliilc, since so mueh is said abroad about the craving of Grand Trunk managers for " Through" or " Foreign" traflic, and since so largo a space in the report is devoted to endorsing what is said, to enquire what in reality this Bos- ton business amounts to in the course of a year, and what proportion it bears to tho local business of the line, to the hinderancoof which the Commissioners, lending a willing ear to a popular delusion, say that it is fostered. The total number of tons of freight carried on the Grand Trunk in the year lilst December, l.SiiO, was 086,317 The total tonnage to and from Boston and places in Canada and West of Canada, same year, was 40,605 Scarcely six per cent, of tho whole freighting business of tho line, and yet, limited as the quantity is, it is very far from being wholly of that " foreign " class of freight tho grasping for which is held up in the report as among the primary causes of tho misfortunes and difficulties of tho Company ; for of these 40,500 tons only about one- third came from beyond the Canada frontier, at Sarnia, the remainder having been 80 far "local " in its character that it consisted for the most part of articles of Cana- dian growth carrieil to Boston in the interests of Canadian people. For good or for IlKMARKH ON FOHKKiN FllKIOIIT. 'IP evil, then, BoHtoii bufliiicHst, after nil tlmt hnH been said about it, pinys but an insig- nificant part in (jruiiil Trunlv traflic ; and if it must be accepted us among the " Causes of tlio Small lleturns," it is, at all events, too remotely connected with them for a speedy remedy to bo looked for in its abandonment; a step that would be tan- tamount to tellinj; tlie people of tlio Province that if they will trade with Boston they can no longer be allowed to do so through the agency of their own Groat Railway. To assort tliat the existini; policy of (Jrand Trunk Traffic luanagemcnt is to prefer Boston to Portland as tlie Ti rniinus of the line, is to promulgate an error. The coninierco of the laaer city is of very limited extent as compared with that of the former ; the trade with which we accept ns a necessity rather tlian seek after as a ;i;ood. But that, in tlio nieaiitiine, no legitimate cflbrts arc wanting on our part to arrest the trade at Portland, can easily bo shown by a comparison of the business done there last winter, with that of any previous year : when for the first time in the history of the (irand Truidc llailway, and througli tlie unsparing exertions of those in whoso hand'; its trafiio mann^^cment is, a largo fleet of sailing vessels took in cari.'oes lliere for {'European ports, wliileotlier Ocean Stea.ners, besides those of the regular weekly line of tlio Montnal Company, made it a port of call. Tiio relative amount of business (lone with Porthmd and with Boston during our last Portland season, Drecndicr to Ajiril inclusive, was ns follows: — KASTW.MSD liufNI) I'lliaUIIT. Portia nd business proper 29,410 tons. Shipped to Kuropc 34,084 " Total tonnage to Portland (i(5,494 •' do. to Boston 7,184 " WKSfWAIll) 'liOlJM) I'UKIOIIT. Total tonnage from Portland 9,576 " do. do. Boston 4,157 " And the proportionn of tiie above coming from or going to tin- whstkiin states were : — i:aptwai!i> ROirND. To Portland 4,770 tons. To Boston 1,585 <« WEPTWAHl) llOUND. From Portland (jg it From Boston (J4 u •24 KARNINUS OK lllVIBBM DU LOUP SKOTION AND DBTKOIX SKOTION COMl'AUBU, EARNINGS OF UlVlKllK DU LOl P SKCTION AND DI:TK01T Si:CTK)N COMPARKD. ROMANCi:. J'J.itractn fnim Ilcport, luii/i' -11 . "Another qiicdtioii of considenib'.o iiUcvost arisi's, vi/. : wlictlu-r tlie lociil rates :irc not in sonic cases too higli, and wIr-'Iut a larf>;er rcvonue would not be raised by 1 • .1 • -I * t^ • * * reducing tlieni. "The Riviere da Loup line is a nolnble exiiniple of uliat may be done in ibis way. By loworin.u' the fares, and stndyin- tbo convenience of tbe population, Messrs. Abbott and Freer (Ciii. :24-2) succeeded in raisin;,' llie receipts of tbis section, wbich bas absolutely notbinj,' but local business to .lepend on, to a respectable fi;,'ur( — very far in exees/of tbe Detroit line, witb all its tbron-b tr:itllc. We entertain no uoubt that a Mu.ibir policy would materially increase tbe receipts between Quebec and Iliclunond, and probably on nniny otber sections." (Qu. '2i-i, 'i.'iO.) Pivje .00. "Tbe total loss by tbe Detroit road during tbe year 1800, we liavo before alluded to. It is ^-jry.tjIl^O, or iS per cent, upon tbe j^ross earnings of tbe rest of tbe line, which only shews a net profit of It! per cent., out of which to bear its own charges for rents and interest on capital. Mr. Shaidy's special report upon tlie line, which will be found in tbo Appendix (p. lOletseip) is well worth perusal. It shows conclusively that the line never can pay expenses, and candidly admits that it can only be made to appear to do so by merging its receipts and cxpemliture in those of the rest of tbe road. We would especiaiiy e.iU attention to his allusion to the French settlers along the line, whose sedentary habits, he says, rentier tbe local trafilc of this section as unproductive as that ta lliviere du Loup ; but we would at the same time point out that tbe receipts on the latter section (Appendix VII!., p. 44) were raised by Messrs. Abbott & Freer on the average of U months, although only partially opened during half the time, and having necessarily no through traffic, to ?;];) per mile per week, and after it was ail opened to §1:5 ; whilst their compatriots in the West, including tbe much coveted tbn.ugb. trallic of the Western States, only yielded for the year ending December ol, §i'S per mile per week. The contrast between the two extreme sections of the road is instructive — the one is complained of as forced upon the Company, and opposeil to all ' commercial principles ;' the other is sought after as essential to their commercial policy, and is called by Mr. Shanly, *a necessity whi>'li tliey could not possibly have avoided.'" EARNINGS OF IIIVIEKE IHI LOUP SECTION AND DETROIT SEOnON rOMPARED. 25 REALITY. At the close of tlic year ISa!*, that pnrt of the Graiul Trunk Railway known as the " Rivicro du Loup'' section was lease-l or "farmed" to two gentlemen carryin-r on busnicss un.ler the name and style of » Abbott and Freer." They had both pre- viously had some railway experience on other parts of the line as contractors for keeping up the i.ermanent way, aiul the highly satisfactory manner in which they had performed all their undertakings pointed them out as fit and proper persons to be entrusted with the working of a part of the road which, from the very limited and peculiarly Wal nature of its traffic, it was deemed a Ivisable to keep apart from the general working of the Cra- 1 Tnmk proper. Previous • December. 18;V,l, that part of the line had been open for traffic as fai- ns St. Thomas oidy— a distance of -Itt miles from the junction with ,ho Quebec and Richmond line, or IS miles from Tniute ficvi opposite Quebec. AVhen the lease was made to Abbott and Freer. ,he road had just been completed as far as St. Paschal (r)3 miles below St. Thomas), and from Poiuto Levi to that point, KM miles, w;is workeil by tlio lessee-. Cor the first half of IStiO. In the beginning of July the Section was completed in its entire length, to liiviero du Loup, Vli\ miles, and was so worked by ^Messrs Abbott and Freer until Decem- ber last, when tlie lease exiiireil, and tiie road was resuuu'd by the company. rmnuilialeiy u|)(.n their uudcrlakiTig the working of the road the Lessees inaugu- rated n system of very low rates and fares, their tarifi" per passenger and per ton of freight, jier mile, being aiioiit half what is levied on the (Irand Trunk proper. The rceei|ils nl' \]w road under this system were as follow : iiAi.i' vi:.\ii KMUNo ;;()rii .h'm-. IStio. Xumliei' nf miles worked \{)\ (Jrnss earnings 314,404-11 Average earnings per week f)r)7.4G ""• 1^0. per mile per week 5-52 .lAi,!- VKAii i.:m)i\(; :!lsr dkck.miii:!!, ISCO. Number of miles wcu'ked 1 2(1 Oross earnings if 30,143-02 Average earnings per week 1,150-38 Do. Do. per mile per week. ... O-^O 7 26 EARNINOS OF RIVIKRE DU LOUP SKCTIO>f AND DETROIT SECTION COMPARED. WHOLE YEAR ENDING 31st DECEMBER, 1860. Average number of miles worked 113J Gross earnings for year $44,638'03 Average earnings per week ?85842 Do. Do. per mile per week 7*56 That the low scale of rates adopted by Messrs. Abbott and Freer was, and is (for it continues in force) well suited to the mode of life and habits of the people with which they had to deal I fi'cely concede, but must at the same time record my opinion against it« applicability to other sestions of the Grand Trunk, not excepting the Detroit and Port Huron line, between the results of Grand Trunk policy on which, and that of private individuals on the oilier, the Commissioners would draw so " instructive" a contrast. Tiie racagrencss, at best, of the traflic on the Kivierc du Loup line, and which on the 12G miles open in 18(30 advanced to §7.o(3 \ >r mile, per week, as against about 3o.G0 on the 40 miles worked in 1850, rendered the experiment so far a safe one that, whether it failed of its intended effeet or whether it succeeded in doubling the earnings, the result could neither be very hurtful nor very much the reverse to the interests of the Company. To the Lessees, who inaugurated the experiment at their own ri^k, I give all due credit, but it is ijuite certain that the progressive increase of traflic under the very cheap transport system, after a year and a half of trial, has not been such, compared with the steady progression on other parts of the line, as to warrant one in prescribing it for the Grand Trunk generally. The gigantic patient, though undoubtedly sick, is very far, let me say, from being in extremis. Youth and a good constitution will work wonders for him yet, but, meantime, his strength must not be brought too low by quack medicine, and the low faro regimen so strongly advocated by the disciples of Mr. Chapma'i. The average receipts of the Detroit and Port Huron line for last year are correctly stated by the Commissioners at 328 per mile, per week, but for men with so impor- tant a mission to fulfill, they have published a singular and unwarrantable mis-state- ment in amiouncitig the earnings of tlie Ilivieru du Loup line to have been raised, by the adoption of a policy opposite to that pursued by myself as Traffic Manager of the (Jrand Trunk ll::ilway, to a " respectable figure, very far in excess of the Detroit line with all its through traffic." The figures I have (juoted above in refer- ence to the former section, and which will bear any test the Commissioners may choose to submit them to, show that the average receipts of the Uiviere du Loup line have, in reality, attained to but a fraction in excess of one-fourth of the earnings of tiie much condemned Detroit line; presenting a "contrast" fully as strong, and, ii> its way, perhaps fully as "instructive" as the illusory one brought out in such strong prismatic colours in the lleport. \ UEMAKKS ON LOCAIi AND THROUail Tl' ' FFIC. 27 In introducing my remarks on the Report I engaged to limit them to a few only of the most salient of the mistakes, oversights, and consequent fallacies wliich crop out, invitingly for the critic, on almost every page. I must redeem my pledge : but will first take permission to lay down a few dry aphorisms, as articles in that creed which the Traffic Manager of the Grand Trunk Railway, though a new man were to fill the oflicc every year, will sooner or later have to rehearse-. 1st. — Local Tuaffic always must have, as it always has had, a preference over Foreign Traffic. It pays beat, and it is in its interests that the most expensive portion of the costly machinery and organization of the line has to be maintained. But ho wlio would lecture with elTcet on tliosc two sources of railway revenue must itpproach his subject with all narrow and sectional feelings laid aside, remembering that, among railways, the Grand Trunk of Canada, so called, has, in its geographical features at all events, no parallel. The terms "local" and "foreign'' must bo construed in a sense widely different from that which, at school, he was taught to attach to them. To the Manager of the Grand Trunk Railway the citizen of the United States, in Michigan .:t one end of the line, and in Maine at the other, must be as much a "local" customer as the subject of Her Majesty between. The flour which the Merchant In Detroit sends to the Lumberman in Portland must have no "foreign" taint in his nostrils. Unless this lawhc recognized it is in vain to preach about working the Grand Trunk on " commercial principles", as the Liverpool cant phrase runs : and if, after the fashion set by the Government Commissioners, the part which this Province has had in the undertaking is to bo for ever dragged forward to hamper it with an invidious nationality the Government loan, so far from being a boon, can only be looked upon as a curse, clogging continually the legitimate working of the machine. 1:1 2nd. — TuuouGii or Foreign Traffic will continue to be done, in annually in- creasing amount, as the means of doing it are supplied and perfected, even though the Government Commissioners should sit en permanence and perennially proscribe it as one of the " causes of the small returns." That it has injuriou^^ly affected the returns so far can be true in reference to its absence only, for it has heretofore formed but a very minor clement in the receipts of the road. The earnings of the Detroit line arc an exact index of what tlie far-western business of the whole Grand Trunk amounts to, and thoy show that that class of freight has never yet attained to the dimensions of one-fifth part of our total merchandise traffic. The more complete and perfect the means for doing local business the more easily and profitably can we take the " foreign," wliich, with the line fully equipped for the fullest local wants, would flow to us nearly as so nuich gain. Wo can calculate with tolerable accuracy the ratio in which our local business must increase, and we know that it cannot be in extraordinary proportions, or of much more rapid growth than the growth of the country itself. We know, too, that we must not reckon on having every year in Canada, so redundant a crop as that of 18()0, and we believe that were "foreign" business to ''c wholly sj)urned now, when plenty ii. in our borders, we might some day have to call it w!ion it would not answer. r 38 iu:mauks om Portland business. The occasional delays to freight, owing to natural causes, or to causes inseparable from the training of a great undertaking, have, doubtless, engendered a strain of popular ill humour against the management of the line, a feeling that the Commis- sioners have carefully labored to foment ; but, the annoyances past, the good sense of the people will bo ready to allow tint g'^ huge a piece of machinery as the Grand Trunk Railway, cannot in fairness be expected to work with perfect smoothness and regularity from the start, and that time must be granted for bringing all its parts into harmony. Tiie delays referred to are in no way traceable to the grasping at " foreign" business, for we were doing none, or next to none, of it when they took place, and unpopular as that term " foreign" now is, the time will come when the people of Canada will see with pride a great stream of trafTic, in the grain of the West and tlie cotton of tJie South, flowing through their country and enriching its commerce ; for neither through sectional prejudices nor through any course of nar- row minded po'iey can the Cirand Trunk Railway long be pvovoiited from taking its legitimate stand :imong the great biirhwavs of America. ord. — I'uKTi-ANP, if It is ever to take a higli rank among the seaport cities of New Englanil, must look to tlie legitimate enterprise of her citizens to ensure her position, instead of waiting in the vain hope of liuing enabled some day, through a change o^ policy in Grand Trunk management, to underbid her neighbour Boston for the trade of Western Canada and the Western States. Boston will never allow that ; for not only is she nearer by imlependent lines of communication to every point in Western Canada, (west of Prescott,) and in the Western States than Portland is L^ the Grand Trunk, but even Portland itself can be reached from all points beyond Lake Ontario in fewer miles by way of Boston than over our line. The continuity of the Grand Trunk miiy bo taken as a counterpoise to this disadvantage, and as placing Portland, in resjicct of distance, on a par with iJoston, ami we proclaim our ability to deliver all the products of the west in Portland, and to supply the West with imported mer- chandise and home manufactures /rem Portland, as elieaply and expeditiously as the like trade can be sustained between the West ami Boston. Portland, with her noblp harbour, the terminus of a great arterial line of railway, presents an inviting field for commercial enterprise ; but it can be turned to proper account by legitimate com- mercial means only ; not by the vain experiment of trying to undersell in market.s where she bas been long and favorably known a powerful and well-established rival ; her equal, at least, in all natural advantiiges ; her superior in all artificial ones. The consequences of such an attempt would be a ruinous competition, in wliieh the Grand Trunk Railway Company would be the victim, while to Portland, though she might grab some few fleeting ailvantages in the scramble, no permanent advance of com- mercial position could jiossibly ensue. 4tli. — I'lisrox Imsiness, though altogether the least desirable that the (Jrand Trunk is embarked in, will, like all its other "outside" business, continue to be done in increasing amounts from year to year, and alwai/it at luw ratett, because, a.s alrea ir i-jii '<