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This Pamphlet comprises a consensus of opinions on the commercial value of an Isthmian Transit between the waters of the Gulf of St. Lawrence and the Bay of Fundy, for the conveyance (without transhipment) of bulky articles of commerce, which cannot with convenience and econofny be carried any great distance by the or- dinary railway, such as lumber, coal, gypsum (plaster), building stone, potatoen, deals, fish, etc., etc., etc. The statistics of existing trade, given in these pages, shew the importance of a short cut by steamers and sailing craft between Princo Edward Island and St. John and all ports in tha Gulf and Bay now separated by the Isthmus of Chignecto. The Pamphlet also contains an Estimate of the Traffic, that will follow the con- struction of the Ship Railway, supported by independent testimony of the most con- vincing character. It describes its suitableness for the purpose of carrying this traffic in preference to a Canal, which wa^ not designed for the transport of the modern steamers of the Gulf. It gives in evidence of its practicability, safety, and economy the opinions of eminent engineers and naval architects, who have specially examined its merits, and of its commercial advantages, the opinions of public men whose char- acter is unimpeachable, and whose experience carries weight. All that has been said in favor of the Bale Verte Canal years ago, nolibly in the veidict of the Canal Commission of 1871, applies with greater force at the present moment, because of the great increase of trade and productions since that year, which warrants the belief that the next decade will witness a still greater increase in their wealth if additional facilities of communication be provided. H. G. C. Ketchum, SackviUe, N. B., Juae 10, 1887. M. Imt. C. E. Chlgnecto Ship Railway and the Bale Verte Canal Opinion of the Press, Public Men, and Authorities as to Oommercial Value. "All the traffic of the Gulf and River St. I^awrenco which tends southwards stands in urgent need of the completion of this work.jl "It is obvious that if the Ship Railway is once built and made a practical high- way for ships it will at once receive a large traffic. — St. John Telegraph. "Mr. Francis Hall, C. E., the Engineer sent out from England in 1825 to survey tho Isthmus for a Canal, estimated the traffic in that year at 20 vessels per diem." — Haliburton'a History of Nova Scotia. "It is unnecessary for me to dwell on the importance of an undertaking which seems to be generally admitted." — Copt. Crawley, Moyal Engineer, 188S. "The use of steamboats being generally introduced in America, if this Canal were completed, ready access* would thereby be opened, not only with Quebec and Montreal but also with the upper lakes to a boundless extent." — Sir Thomas Telford's Reports, 1885. "There is no public work now presented to the Dominion which will be so far- reaching in its beneficial consequences, not only to Canada but the whole of the At- lantic Coast of North America." — Evidence of Hon. John Boyd, Senator of Canada to Canal Commission in 1871. "Any one who knows the character of the upper waters of the Bay of Fundy will understand that no Canal could ever be kept free from the sediment deposited by them except at an expense ruinous to the financial success of the work." — Frederieton Capital. ~ "We believe that either a Ship Canal or a Ship Railway across the Chignecto Isthmus will shortly become a pressing need that must be supplied." — Evening News, St. John. "Few, if any, proposed public works will have greater beneficial consequences to the Dominion than this." — Traveller, Boston, U. S. A. "Nature seems to have left but little for man to do in order to open up a highway for the ships of nations to pass between the Gulf of St. Lawrence — the Mediterra- nean, of British North America— and that part of the Atlantic Ocean into which the Bay of Fundy discharges its waters." — Alex. Monroe, C. E., 1866. "This great engineering project niakew a short cut for navigation between the United States and the ports on the St. Lawrence Gulf and River, and saving the long and dangerous voyage around Nova Scotia." — Scientific American, New York. •'Rfcferred to the industries which would be benefited by Ship Railway instancing the produce of Prince Edward Island, now often received by long voyages, also coal, grii^stone and building stone." — Hon. Hiram Black's Speech. "The number of vessels engaged in Canadian fisheries was 1,150; the average tonnage, 46,856; the average number of boats, 26,106; and the average number of men, 60,589— from roturii.s 1879-1880 and 1880-1881."— ^tr Leonard Tiliey's Speech in House of Commons. "It has been shown that there is a tonnage on the Bay of Fundy and Gulf ports of something like 2,687,550 tons, entering and leaving those ports, which would re- ceive the advantage of this work. Then there is the (American) fiuhing flett of net less than 690 vessels, and who can estimate the value t» the country at large if hav- ing the means of crossing from the Gulf of St. Lawrence to the Bay of Fundy by means of this Ship Railway, enabling vessels to carry two cargoes and make two voyages from Boston to the Gulf for every one by the existing mode of navigalion. It would not only afford access to the large American flnet of fi.shing vessels tiiat would be })a88ing across the Isthmus to the fishing grounds, but our own fishermen would bo able, by obtaining access to the American ports, to carry on their businosh with a vigor and success which are impossible at present. It is estimated that there would be a traffic of 600,000 tons." — Hir Charles Tupiwr's S/yeech in Hoiue of Com- mons. • "I regard the tide in the Bay of Fundy of the greatest possible advantage, be- cause it does not leave a vessel dependent on the wind to the same extent as else- where. The vessels go up with one tide and down anotlier." — Sir Churle» Tapper' » Speech. "I think this undertaking will be of very great benefit, to the Maritime Provinces especially. It will give them very easy access to the United States via the Bay of Fundy, anil more especially will that be the case in respect to the people of Prince Edward Island and the northern portion of Nova Scotia and New Brunswick. Con- sequently cargoes of potatoes being a perishable article now suffer very materially." — jhr. McDonald, M P. "When you look at the volume of trade that will seek this route it cannot but prove entirely successful." — Sir Charles Tupper's Speech at Amherst, N S "A very slight knowledge of the volume and direction of marine traffic between the Gulf and Bay of Fundy and the Atlantic, and a glance at the map would con- vince any person of the desirability of some means of transporting vessels and their cargoes across the Isthmus of Chignecto." — Daily Transcript, Moncton. "Engineers of the highest authority have given their assurance that the Ship Railway possesses in all essentials striking advantages over a Canal — advantages in points of expeditious transit, permanency of way cost of operation, length of season to be used, and capacity for commerce." — Chignecto Post "As to the traffic which is anticipated for the Ship Railway, evidence accumulates in favor of the scheme." — Daily Sun, St. John. "There is not the least doubt that the Ship Railway will share the same unforseen success that has characterised all leading lines of traffic on this continent."— Amherst Gazette. "From St. Andrews to Quebec inclusive, the ports of the Bay and Gulf collect- ively are visited by seven and a half milliims of tonnage. The trade is divided into two parts by the now impassable Isthnms of Chignecto. The Engineers' estimate is that oidy 600,000 tons of traffic would "make the work a paying investment. That would be but 3,000 tons a day for 200 days of traffic. This appears a very moderate estimate, and it is, in fact, but 8 per cent, of the shipping trade of the ports along the route from St. Andrews to Quebec. Indeed, looking to the future and remembering the great progress America is making, it is easy to see that the project promises to become one, not only of very great advantage to commerce but a handsomely paying property for the enterprising company." — Telegraph. "It was in the interest of the merchants to have the Railway constructed as soon as possible, as a large trade would be opened up between ports in the North Shore and St. John. The quarries and mines at the head of the Bay of Fnndy, in which the merchants of ^t. John were largely interested, would be materially benefited," — W. H. Thome, Esq., Board of Trade Meeting, St. John, soon re and h the -W. "Coal steamers on time charter, running from Pictou to porta in the United States (where rapidity of movement is nil important,) would unque8tionaV)ly use the Isthmus route." — F. W. Ilenthaw, E»q., P/Saider.t Montreal Board of Trade. " If the Railway works as well ns the plans indicate and engineers believe, it will revolutionize the commerce of the Maritime Provinces." — Daily Sun, "The great development of shipping, fishing, and general trade, in tiio sixty years since Mr. Hall's estimate was made, leads to the conclusion that Mr. Ket'-hum's es- timate of the traffic for the Ship Railway (600,000 tons) is not overstated. For each particular of these probable items of traffic, the name of some prominent public man is given as an authority, so that the estimate is not that of one, but of many well in* formed persons." — Daily Telegraph. " In the event of the Ship Railway being consummated. Lake vessels bringing down Western produce could carry back to Chicago cargoes of best brown stone. Fifty thousand tons yearly would not be an extravagant estimate in the immediate future for this trade alone. The owners of stone could afford to pay a handsome toll — a dollar a ton — for the transport across the Isthmus." — Joseph B. Bead, Manager of Stone Quarries, letter tr Sun. " The flow of traffic that will pass over this Railway can be imagined by a glance at the map. It will lower our freights to and from our natural markets, and in this way must save money directly to our people, both as consumers and producers." — Summerside Journal, P. E. Island. " This Railway will be of great use to those trading between the North Shore of New Brunswick and the United States, as it gives them a short cut to the seaports of the Republic. Prince Edward Island will be benefited in a similar manner, but in a less degree. Advantages from this connection by rail of the waters separated by the Isthmus of Chignecto would, no doubt, arise, which have not been foreseen. This is always the result of incr ased facilities of communication. They create a trade for Usjemselves." — Montreal Ueraid, Sept. 10th, 1885. " The Railway will afford complete water communication between Quebec and St. John, either ©f which cities is said to have one hundred fold the shipping trade with transatlantic cities that the two cities named have with each other." — Free Press, Ottawa. "The Gulf trade with New England, with the West Indies, and with South America, would at once receive a great impetus on the completion of this work." — St. John paper. "The line being virtually level and straight, the length but 17 miles, and the speed slow, it is evident the working expenses should be less than on an ordmary Railway. In fact, if the line is as solidly constructed as contemplated, the working expenses should be but little more than the cost of ' locomotive power ' added to the expense of lifting and lowering the vessels, a process which is daily economically car- ried out in the Victoria Docks, on the Thames, and elsewhere." — Sir James Brunlees' letter, ISth January, 1883. "In my opinion, a vessel would occupy 14 days in sailing from Charlottetown, Shediac, or Bale Verte to St. John, N. B., and by Ship Railway, from any of the above ports to St John, about one or two days." — Capt R. C. Haws, J/iverpool. Let- ter, 1st July, 1886. " There is no fear whatever of a ship undei^going any strain in the process of lift* ing out of the water (as would be necessary in case of a Sliip Railway) that she is not liable to at present in ordinary decking." — Sir E. J. Beed, M. P., evidence on Mexic- an Ship Railway. " Shipmasters, engaged in the European trarry Lyeter, C. E , Liverpool Docks. " If the 900-ton propeller could deliver Western or Canadian products «t Halifax or St. John, these places would thus become cheap depots for such products. Ab- sorted cargoes of fish, hoops, shooks, lumber, etc., could be made up at these ports for the West India Islands and South America, and could bring back return cargoos, from these countries, of sugar, cofTee, hides, tallows, etc., to be again re-shipped au return cargo to Canada and the Western States by the inland propeller, and thus delivered at less cost by such means than by any other possible route." — Hon. John Youth's Speech, Dominion Board of Trade, 1871. " Hundreds of American vessels would pass and repass through this Canal, and they could afford to pay toll, because it would enable them to make an additional voyage each season." — Hon. R, B. Dickey, Senator. "Aa object of vast importance is the opening of a safe and easy passage to Qu0>> bee several weeks earlier in the spring than can be reckoned upon by the present route and wholly avoiding the great danger of encountering the ice between Newfoundland and Cape Breton or in the Gut of Canso." — L. Donaldson, CfMmber of Commerce, St. John. " The practice of lifting a ship of large sizei, clean out of the water, has become aa every day occurrence." — Mr. William John, Shipbuilder. " Now this project, which has been very much talked about, was entered upon as a substitute for the well-known Bale Verte Canal That was an undertaking whicl^ was agitated in the Provinces of New Brunswick, Nova Scotia ftnd Prince Edward Island for half a century. It received the sanction of every govamor and every mil- itary commander to whom it was referred during the whole of that period, and it be- came one of those things that had to be done." — Senator Dickey "There are other points, besides those in New Brunswick and Prince Edwf,rd Island, and there are vessels trading weighing up to 2,000 tons, and some of these are at this moment, or were a few days ago, and had been for many days previously, pre- vented from getting through the Straits of Canso by the ice. Sometimes vessels are obliged to lie there for weeks — vessels of 3,000 tons — waiting for a chance to get throngh. With this avenue open between the Gulf of St. Lawrence and the Bay of Fundy they would not be blocked in that way. The Straits qf Northumberland are sometimes blocked with ice when Charlottetown and other ports are free from it, and communication is practicable between tliem and ports in Nova Scotia and New Brunswick." — Hon. Mr. Carvell, Senator. •' I was not surprined iit all to find opposition coming from the momberB who reprcflcnt Halifax in tluH House. From the first inception of the project of a Canal through the Isthmus w« met with tlio oi)po8ition of tho merchantH of llalifux, and it was ohvioUH why that opposition came from them. Tiiey wore well aware tliat the large commerce of tho (Juif of St. Lawrence would pass doM'u the Bay of Kundy and go to United States ports instead of going hy way of Halifax ; and they knew that it would not be an advantago to their city. lint Halifax js not all the Maritime Pro- vinces ; nor should the pecuniary interests of tho merchants of Halifax prevent con- Btruction of a work which will be of great advantage to all.the rest of the l)ominion. It is impossible to say what the traffic nuiy be, provided the work is a success. It is admitted, and all the ablest engineers that have been consulted state decidedly, that there is no difficulty in constructing this Marine Railway." — Hon Mr. Jiotaford, Senator. "We want direct comnnmication with Prince Edward Island, and I think Prince Edward Island wants it with us. Is it reasonable that Halifax should stand in the way of the produce of Prince Edward Island coming round to St. John if a better price is ofFored there for it ? I think it is only reasonable that we who wish to have a short route to St. John should get it and have tho advantage of competition. It in no argument that there is now no traffic between the Bay of Fundy and the Gulf of St. Lawrence. Open the Avay for tho traffic, and we do not know to M'hat extent it will develop. We have to look merely at the trade of the Bay of Fundy ; but if the whole of Western Canada find that trade Avith the West Indies can be carried on safer and on better terms by this route than hy sailing round the dangerous coast of Nova Scotia, it is impossil)le to say to what extent that trade will develop in conse- quence of the construction of this road." — flon. Mr. Wark, The following is extracted from the " Report of the Canal Commissioners " of 1871. Sir Hugh Allen, chairman : " The growth of Intercolonial trade depends on chtiop transit, since the merchan- dize passing between the Maritime Provinces and Ontario must be of a bulky charac- ter, requiring large vessels and rapid desj)atch to be really profitable. When a pro- peller can go direct with a cargo of coal, or other produce of the Eastern Provinces, to Kingston and Toronto, and there get a return freight of floui*, barley and other West em produce. Intercolonial Trade will have entered on a new era. When Nova Scotia coal of the best descrii)tion can be supplied abundantly and cheaply to Western ports, a great impulse will necessarily be given to the transfer of the trade of the St. Lawrence and Lakes to screw steamers, a transfer already taking place, as we have previously shown. With tho Canals enlarged coal freights would be reduced to the minimum point — a lake propeller woul(J always bring back from the lower ports a cargo of coiil, rather thaji come empty — ^just as the English timber ships have been accustomed to bring the same article instead of ballast. Iiseparably connected with the growth of Intercolonial Trade is the construction of the Bale Verte Canal, across the Isthmus connecting the Provinces of Nova Scotia and New Brunswick. The advantages that must accrue, not merely to the Pominion as a whole, but to the commerce of tlie Maritime Provinces, are so clearly pointed out by the Boards of Trade of all the leading cities of Canada, and by men interested in the development of our commercial interests, not simply the merchants of St. John and other places in the locality of the proposed Canal, but merchants of Hamilton, Toronto, Ottawa, Montreal and Quebec, that it is superfluous for the Commissioners to do more than briefly refer to a few salient features of the scheme. A steamer laden with flour for St. John, N. B., now goes down the Gulf as far as Shediac, where the cargo is transported by rail to its destination. The total distance by water from Shediac through the Gut of Canso and around the coast of Nova Scotia to the Bay of I^undy as far as the commercial Capital of New Brunswick, is about 6 • ' 600 milea, and the consequence is that there is little or no direct communication between the Baj of Fundy ports and those vf the River St. Lawreice. By a Canal through the Isthmus the distance from Shediac to St. John will not be much more than oBe hundred miles." " The construction of the proposed Railway has been submitted to Sir John Fow- ler, and the constructive details of making and working the line have been fully con- sidered and approved by that gentleman, who has consented to act as £ngineer-in- Chief. This Chignecto Railway, as finally decided upon, will be seventeen miles in length, will run through a* practically level country, and will be laid with four lines of rails, over which the cradles in which the ships are placed will be conveyed. The steamers and sailing vessels to be transported will be limited to 1,000 tons register, and they will be of the class which, having small draught of water, are adapted for lake and inland navigation. These are necessarily unsuited to the stormy weather and the navigation of the Atlantic — hence the advantage of the proposed mode of transit."— Railway News, London. " The cost of operating a Ship Railway may be ascertained by comparing it with the cost of working an ordinary railway. Mr. Corthell says : — " The cost per ton per mile on the best railroads is 3 mills per ton per mile for through freight. From this sliculd first be deducted the cost of such work as does not pertain to the Ship Railway. Deducting irrelevant items, we can properly reduce the cost 48 per cent., or to 1.56 mills ; but a still further reduction is proper. Much larger loads are carried, the ratio of paying to non-paying loads is greater, the fric- tional resistance to the motive power is reduced at least 30 per cent., the rails are . straight, the track perfect, the grades light, and greater results are obtained with less fuel and service. The above favorable conditions allow us to reduce the cost to 1 mill per ton per mile." — Telegraph. " The Minister having referred the whole question to the Chief Engineer of govern- ment railways, he reports as follows ; — 1. That the project is one quite practicable of execution ; 2. That the Ship Railway as proposed would be a good substitute for the Canal originally contemplated ; 3. That the advantage in respect of cost, as compared with that of a Canal, would be greater in favor of the Ship Railway, the cost of a half-tide Canal being calculated by the government engineers at from $5,650,000 to $8,217,849, whereas the subsidy asked for by the company, namely, of $150,000 for twenty-five years, if capitalized at 4 per cent, would be equal to the sum of $2,343,312 only." — Report of Minister of Railways. THE MEXICAN SHIP RAILWAY. " The Committee on Commeice, to whom was, referred the bill (S. No. 430, 46th Congress,) to incorporate the Interooeanic Ship Railway Company, and for other pur- poses, have had the same undar consideration, and beg leave to submit the following report : The first question the committee considered was as to the practicability of con- structing a Railway fer the purpose of transporting ships and their cargoes. The tes- timony before the committee conclusively demonstrates the fact that such a railway is entirely practicable, and that loaded vessels can be transported o>er the same with absolute safely and economy. In the first place the committee would refer to the testimony of Sir Edward J. Reed, K. C. B., late chief constructor of the British navy, who, in passing through Washington, kindly appeared before the committee at its invitation, and gave it the benefit of his views. The statement of Sir Edward Reed will be found printed in Canal full in the testimony takjn before the committee. Specific reference vrill now be made oaly to some of the matters therein contained. In aae part of his statement he says : "I have no heiitation in saying that the modern ships of to-day are vastly strong- er everywhere than they were half a century ago, and that they are now, as ^ rulbi perfectly capable of being docked in dry-docks with their cargoes on board. Of course, if they can be docked in a dry-dock (a graven and sunk dock,) they could be docked upon an iron lifting or hydraulic dock." Again he says : " I should like to say at first that, as a naval constructor, I have no fear whatever of a ship undergoing any strain in the process of lifting out of the water (as would be necessary in the case of a Ship Railway,) that she is not liable to at present in ordi- nary docking. I would say, further, that I am quite sure that the processes of ordi- nary docking, as carried on in a vast number of private establishments, are very negligent and insufficient in comparison with those which would be adopted in the case of the hydraulic lifts connected with the prbposed Ship Railway." Again, in speaking of the allegation made by some that in the transportation of ships by railway there would be much jerking and vibration, which would be liable to cause damage. Sir Edward says : .^ " They seem to think there are no vibrations or jerking, or forces of some kind the ship would be subjected to on the railway that she is not subjected to at sea. That feeling, I know, is a pretty general one. I can only attribute it to the fact that the gentleman who so think are not acquainted with the strains that ships undergo at sea." Again he says : " The next thing I would say is that we have ships on railvfays, and we have them in the worst forii. Nothing is commoner than heaving up slips upon which ships are pulled up out of the water. They have to take their bearing first at the bow, and gradually come up until they get upon the solid, ^d are then hauled up by chains. "That has been done everywhere, all over the world, thousands of times in this country, and it is how carried on to a very large extent indeed. With docks for ships of 3,000 or 4,000 tons, nothing is thought of pulling these ships up, and nothing is thought of any strains they undergo under the circumstances." In speaking oi the liability of ships while in transit to be blown over by violent storms. Sir Edward says ; " If it is sufficient on a Ship Railway to provide against something like the worst hurricanes at sea, then I have no hesitation in saying that it is perfectly impossible for these ships on the railway to come to any grief from wind, because the resistance to hold the ship upright on her cradle on the railway track is, I think, very many times greater than the forces which keep her upright at sea." After speaking of the i>rack and locomotives which would be required for the Ship Railway, Sir Edward says : " With a track like that, and with locomotives adapted to it, there would be no difficulty in transporting ships. It would be best to avoid a very high rate of speed. It would not be necessary, I should think, to move these ships at a greater speed than eight or ten miles an hour, although I am quite prepared to believe that, with a proper track and locomotives, vessels could be transported much faster." Mr. William Jobs, who was for some years the scientific adviser of the committee of Lloyd's Register of British Shipping, London, and who built the Inman steam liner the City of Rome, in a letter dated October 6, 1881, says : " The practice of lifting a ship of large size clean out of the water has become an 8 every-day occurrence. The further step of lifting her to a considerable height is not a great one, especially if you can start Trith her floating in a considerable depth of water. Beyond these the conveyance of her over a railway, provided the latter is moderately level and moderately straight, is a simple matter, which is certainly not outside the reach of civil engineers." Mr. William Pierce, sole proprietor of John Elder & Company's works, Govan, Glasgow, and who built the Arizona, the Elbe, the Alaska, and others of the largest and finest steamers afloat, in a letter dated August 26, 1881, says : " I am of the opinion, from what I know of the working of iron floating docks that I have designed and built, that iron steamers of 4,000 to 5,000 tons' displace- ment may be docked loaded, without any injury whatever. It is also my opinion that a Ship Railway for vessels of this size may be constructed and worked successfully, provided the land is solid and the line moderately level" Nathaniel Barnaby, C. B , present chief constructor of the British navy, in a let- ter dated London, October 8, 1881, says: " I note, therefore, the question you wish to put to me, which is : * Do I think the problem insoluble of constructing a car on which a fully loaded ship can be safely transported over such a railway as could be built through a tolerably level country f " In reply to this) I say not only that it is soluble, but that the solution is, in my opinion, fairly indicated in your plans, as laid before the committee on interoceanic canals and shown to me. " Ships which would be strained by ordinary docking would be liable to be strained also when suspended on a car net specially designed for their crazy condition, but such ships would be still more strained in their ordinary sea passages." Mr. William F. Bifckley, president of the Now York Balanced Dock Company, in a letter to Mr. Eads, dated February 14, 1881, gives the following list of vessels taken out on his dock with cargoes in them : " Ship Great Victoria, 2,386 tons ; ship Triumphant, 2,046 tons ; ship America, 2,054 tons ; ship Hagerstown, 1,903 tons ; ship S. C. Blanchard, 1,903 tons ; steamer Colorado, 2,765 tons ; steamer Rio Grande, 2,5G5 tons ; steamer Thingvalla, 2,436 tons ; steamer Monarch, 2,366 tons ; steamer Lepanto, 2,310 tons ; steamer State of ITevada, 2,488 tons." And says : "We do not refuse any class of ships or steamers, even with their coals and car- goes on board, whose length does not exceed the length of the dock. In every case in which we have taken up steamers with cargoes in, it has been done without the least strain or injury to the vessel. As the rule is to make a charge for raising cargo in the vessel, they usually come without cargo." « " Captain Eads's proposed Ship Railroad has a precedent in Germany, where ves- sels of sixty tons capacity are carried overland from the upper to the lower part of the Elbing-Oberland Canal, in West Prussia. This Ship Railroad has been in successful operation for over sixteen years, but when the idea was first broached it was ridiculed by everybody. Even then, however, there had been a precedent for the scheme in a road over our Alleghany range, on which canal boats were carried." — American paper. "A screw steamer has been transported, without a strain, fifty miles by rail from Pensacola Bay to a lake in Walton County, Florida." — Detroit Free Fre$8, June 5th, 1886. BOMBAY HYDRAUTIC LIFT. " The Peninsular and Oiiental Steam Navigation Company having takcd over from lil from me 6th, rer from the Indian Government their large Hydraulic Lift, capable of docking vessels of any size and draft up to 5,000 tons, they desire to call the attention of Shipowners to the great advantage of this additional docking facility in Bombay, where, owing to the dry climate and cheap labour, such work can be better and Jess expensively performed than at most home ports, — For further particulars apply to Peninsular & Oriental Stbam Navigation Company, London or Bombat." — Advertisement in Liverpool paper. " I have but one opinion regarding the question — which is, that ships of the larg- est class, loaded with full cargoes can be safely lifted, and transported in the manner proposed without subjecting them to any more strain thiW they would undergo during a sea passage, and in fact much less fatigue than they would encounter during gales of wind such as ships are at times subjected to in all oceans of the world'" — A. K. Miller, of A. K. Miller tL' Co., New 0) leans. " In reply to your questions, I would state that T was manager and Superintend- ent of the Marine Railway at Nassau, N. P., Bahamas, for ten years, and during that time — as near as I can remember — I hauled out and repaired between 800 and 900 vessels, about one-third of which were steamers, and perhaps one-fifth of them loaded. "As we charged so much per ton for cargo on board, as far as practicable the ves- sels were discharged before being taken out. " My experience was that it was easier and safer to take out a loaded vessel than one in ballast. The railway was about 800 feet long, and similar in all re4)ect8 to your model, the principle being the same. There was not one dollar's damage done to any vessel in hauling (fUt while I had charge of the railway." — Epes Sargent.. " For nearly fifty years, I have been more or less connected in some manner with Ship Railways ; and for many years with all classes of docks and ways, for hauling out and repairing ships, and for about thirty-eight years, have owned a Marine Rail- way, and we have often taken ships out full of cargo and water. From the informa- tion which I have derived from you and your plans, I have no doubt but that your enterprise will be a success ; and I trust you wUl soon have the great pleasure of see- ing it in full and complete operation." — D. D. Kelly, East Boston, "A Boat Railway has existed in Cornwall since 1826, and is at this moment, I believe, in iull employment. The Bude Canal was designed by Mr. Green, and cost Lord Rolle £128,000. It runs between Bude and Launceston, and is twenty miles long. At Hobbacote Down the canal boats ascend the uplands by an inclined plane 900 feet long, provided with two lines of rails terminating at each end in.the canal. The boats are provided with small iron wheels to fit the rails, and are raised bjS^ endless chain, moved by two vast tanks, alternately filled with water and descending into wells 220 feet deep. There are seven of these inclined planes. The canal is situated in a remote and unfrequented part of the country, and is so ingenious that I make no excuse for troubling you with this letter." — Letter of G. Bitckston Brown to Pall Mall Gazette. Example of a Canal Boat Railway in the United States. " If further assurance of the ability of ships to safely endure out-of-water hand- ling were required, it might readily be found in the every-day handling of loaded canal boats at portages. In staunchness a sea-going vessel compares with a canal boat about as a well-mnde beef barrel does with a cracker box ; and the capacity of canal boats to endure railway carriage was amply demonstrated forty years ago on the Port- age Railroad of the Allegheny Mountains. To connect the canal systems of Ea'^tern and Western Pennsylvania, a system of gravity railways with ten inclined planes was constructed between HoUidaysburg and Johnstown, thirty miles or more apart 'as a bird flies;" ai^d up and down these steep inclines the large boats of the 'Pioneer Packet Line ' made regular trips until the Pennsylvania Railroad was built." — Scien- tijle American. 10 " It appears to be a settled conclusion that the little Isthmus of Chigneeto is to claim the glory of possessing the first Ship Railway of modem times. Doubtless there are many whc do not see the force of this reference to modem timea, but let us say that as in many other achievements in which the people of the past ages eclipsed us, so it was in transporting vessels overland from sea to sea. Grecian excavationa have unearthed the remains of a road which had polished granite in place of rails, and was in use 500 B. C, and for about two centuries later. It was called the 'Diolcus,' and extended from the harbor of Schcenus to the eastern part of Fort Lechseum, ob- viating the danger of Cape Malea. The founder of the ' Swedenborgians ' — Count Emanuel Swedenborg — who was also an engineer, designed and put in operation a road twenty miles long, for conveying loaded vessels over the mountainous country between Stromstadt and Idefjal, in Sweden. We cannot say how long this 'rolling- machine' was in use, but in 1718 Charles XII employed it during the war with Rus- sia in transporting cannon and sloops of war." — Amhtrtt Oazette, Dec. 11th, 1885, The alternative project of a Ship Railway at Suez was very thoroughly considered by two prominent 'engineers, Messrs. Brunlees and Webb, of England, who also made surveys and projected a Ship Railway for an interoceanic crossing between the Atlan- tic and British Honduras. "A ship, they say, is a structure made to float in the water, buoyed up by a mobile substandl, the nature of which not only prevents unequal strains upon the ship from her general weight, but also helps her to resist the internal or bursting strain of her own cargo. Out of her proper element, they argue, all these (Auditions are reversed. " In answer to these apprehensions it is enough to say that they are founded in a view of the case which every shipbuilder knows to be altogether inconsistent with fact. A ship afloat is not uniformly buoyed up by the water. On the contrary, es- pecially where there are waves of any magnitude, a ship's support is not only unequal, but incessantly variable as to position. This fact ia so well recognize?! by ship-build- ers that every sea-going vessel is so built as to be able to bear her entire weight when supported only at the ends, or to withstand the strain of being held up wholly at the middle, with both ends unsupported in the air. If a ship is unable to endure these severe tests she is unfit to battle with the waves. As for the bursting strain of a cargo, with or without a counter pressure of water outside, every ship at sea has to withstand it, more or less completely, with the passage of every large wave ; while at the same time she is buifeted with heavy seas, which strike with blows like those of a battering ram. Indeed it would hardly be possible to devise an apparatus capable of subjeC^ng a ship to so frequent and severe horizontal, lateral, and tortional strains as a ship endures in every gale. In comparison with them the strains that would be put upon a ship in transit over a properly constructed railway would be as nothing. On the railway carriage the ship would rest on an even keel, uniformly supported from stem to stem, and as secure from lateral and twisting strains as when cradled in a dry dock ; while the forward motion of transit over easy grades would be less try- ing even than that which ships are constantly subjected to in well-known marine rail- ways connected with ship-yards." — Scientific American. " We do not doubt the commercial advantages of the work. No one can question that if the Isthmus of Chigneeto were removed, uniting the waters of the Bay and Gulf, that a tonnage amounting to hundreds of thousands, if not millions, would pass each season, between the continent north of us and the continent south. The Ship Railway is a cheap metnod of removing the Isthmean obstruction to navigation." — Amhenl Gazette. " The work that was to be done by the Ship Railway is to be carried out on a small scale on the French lines which connect Brest and Toulon. Early next month 8. train will leave ^rest carrying on five specially adapted luggage tracks a fir8t-c)liiiikn, iliisls, boards, battuna, HoaulliuK, ulujiboanis, cedar and pine shingles, laths, palings, pickets, slilj) timbers, knees, masts, spars, cedar sleepers, pine hacmatao railway ties, telegraph poles, spiling, hemlock bark, hemlock boards, staves, hoops, sugar box shooks, black ash, elm, maple. Pine boanls, oak, elm, walnut, ash. Products qf the Westei^ Provincei. — Flour, msal, barley, oats, corn, wheat, pork, beef, bides, mineral oil, agricultural ini- plomeuts, machinery and other heavy manufactures, phosphates, ores, etc. From. AgrtadtunU and Animal Prodvcta from Prince JS. Estimated at forty million superlicial ft. Quebec. Huntreal. Toronto, Chicago, and all lake ports. TOWABDI. Ports of Charlotte town, Bummersido, George town. Products of the Sta and the Fiaheria of Labrador, Anticos- the GvXfofSt. Lawrence.— Vlah of all kinds, ti, Bay Chaleur, Gas- cursd, frozen, pickled, canned, dried or pvliai)in,P.iS.l8land, alive; cod, halibut, mackerel, ling, pol- lock, salmon, napelin, herring, smelt, ale- wives, lolisturs, oysters; also cod, seal, purpolse and whale oils. Products of Uinei and Quarries. — Coal fi'om Pioton for steam purposes; free- stone, plaster, rough and oaleined, grind- stones, marble and slate, and ores. Coal from ijydney, via 8t. Peter Canal. Miscellaneous Products. — Merchandize, vessels seeking short cut and looking for cargoes; steamers, tugs, schooners and small craft generally going to winter in St. John. RETURN TRADE. Tropical and Semi-tropical Products.— Sugar, molasses, cotton, coffee, hides, tallow. Products (ff the Mine. — Bituminons coal of Nova Scotia. Also anthracite coal Arom Pennsylvania, and the Gulf waters generally and flrom Quebec. Pictou, Port Hood, Wallace, Cape Bre- ton (west coast), Gloucester. New Sydney. Quebec and Gulf porU, P. E. Island, S. America, Brazil, Gniana, West Indies, Southern States, and exchangeable at St. John for Western Ca nadian products and manufactures. Prom collieries of Cumberland Co.,8'th Joggins, Spring Hill, Hiblmrd, Lawrence. Milner and other mines at Haccan and River Hebert. via St. direct. John and St. John, United States West Indies, Guiana, Brazil, Buenos Ayres. Total tons.. Coming in the lake pro- pellers to St. John, can there exchange for south- ern products, and coal, plastsr and atone. Total tons. To 8t. John, Portland, Boston, Providence, New York, West Indies. Total tons. Ports of the U. States, north and south. Cape Cod, New Bedford, Glou- cester, New York, New York, New Orleans, West Indies, Brazil, Buenos Ayres. Total tons.. To United States ports. West Indies, St. John. St. John. Total tons. To United States, and to St. John, and to wiU' ter in Bay of Fuudy. Total toBS. . To Montreal, Quebec Toronto, and all lake ports, also to Gulf ports and P. E. Island. Total tons.. Montreal, Toronto, Queb«c,8 nd all lake iwrts, also to P. E. Island and all Gulf ports. To same ports. St, John and direct. Total tons. Tomb. 80,000 50,000 60,000 60,000 60,000 16,000 60,000 80,000 Adthoritt. Sen. Muirhead. W. Elder, M. P. P. Ed. Jack, C. E. P. C. Winslow. Hob. J. W. Law- rence. Hon. J, Boyd. J. Pickard,M.P. J. Pickard, M. P. Hon. J Young at meeting of Do- minion Board ofTradeinlsn Hansard, 1876, p. 1,144. C. Burpee, M. P. Hon, J. C.Pope. J. C. Hall. W. Elder, M. P. P. Hon.J.S.Carvell R. O. Lunt. J. C. Hall. W.Elder, M.P.P. Hon. R.Harshall C. Milner. Alex. Wright. H. A. Budden. P. Newbery. Hon. J. Boyd. A. Wright. Report on Bale VerteCanal.p. 11. C. Burpee, M. P. Hon. J. Boyd. Hon. J. Young, speech at Do- minion Board of Trade, 1871. J. Pickard, M. P. C. Milner. Quebec Bflard of Trade. J. W. Lawrence. Alex. Wright. C. Milner. Hon. J. Boyd. Ssn. Dickey. Hon. W. Muir- head. Carried forward 445,000 » • 17 AnTicLca or Commbroi. From. Toward*. Ton. AUTHORITr. Broualit forward.. Quebec, Montreal, To- 44S.000 PnxiucU ofth» (^mrry. — Ulivc, grey and Dorchsstar, Hope- Hon. J. W. Uw brown freiitoue. well, Harvey. 8t. Ma- ronto, and all citlss and r«nca. ry's Hay. Woosuin) In the rough, used as Windsor. Martin's To Ontario and the J. G. Tompkin. W. Elder, II.P.P. a fertilizitr, and mauurautured valulned Head, Hillsboro, West. plaster. Shupody. Total tons.. 40,000 Mcrehiimlize, Mantrfiicturet and Supiilies. United States, St. To Quebec and all Gulf Hon. J. Young, —{king the return iii'o|)ellur cargoes in exchange for lumlwr from North Shore N. John, and Ilay of ports. Chamber of Fundy ports. Commeroe, Ut. ])., N. H., and Quebec, and agricultural products uf P. E. Inland. John. Total tons.. 69,000 J. PIckawl. M. P. * AflsceUnneotiS.—The fishing Reets with Outfitted in Bay of For the Gulf Fisheries, Hon. J. W. Law- bait and supplies, and other cargo, ves- Pundy or St. John. Labrador, Anticosti, I3ay rence. seU seeking cargoes, steamers, tugs. Chaleur, Oaspe Basin. Senator Dickey. smucks and small craft. Total tons.. Grand Total . . 80.000 000,000 *ThU item will be con^ideniblij increased when lh«flshery quMlioii it settled with the United States, Extract fhom the Report op Sir John Fowler, K. C. M. G., C. E. " The information obtainetl by my partner, Mr. B. Baker, when inspecting the site of the proposed works in October last, enables me to confirm the opinion I have from time to time expressed as to the entire practicability of the proposed Ship Railway, and the Hydraulic Lifts and Docks connected therewith, and the fitness of the designs to effect the object of the undertaking. " The lifting of vessels with cargoes is now of common practice, with even double the tonnage contemplated to be transported on your Railway, without doing any in- jury or subjecting the vessels to any strain beyond what they were designed to with- stand in the ocean. " It is a great advantage to have found a straight line coupled with very favorable gradients. With the slow speed contemplated, the substantial design of the perma- nent way and all the various works, the cost of working expenses must necessarily be very moderate. " With regard to the time within which the entire works, can be completed, I am of opinion that the entire undertaking can be carried out within 2^ years from the commencement, the machinery being finished and m operation some months earlier. " I am. Gentlemen, your obedient Servant, "(Signed) John Fowler. " To the Directors of the Chignecto Marine Transport I Railway Company, Limited." J " The views of Sir John Eowler are entirely supported by Mr. ColUngwood Schreiber, the Chief Engineer of Canadian Government Railways, who, in his Report to the Secretary of the Department of Railways and Canals, refers to the proposal of this undertaking as follows: 'This project I consider quite practicable; the con- struction of a substantial Ship Railway ♦ ♦ * being, in my opinion, a mere matter of cost, which, there is no doubt, can be'accomplished with skill and money.'" — He- port of Mr. ColUngwood Schreiber. 18 REVENUE. Assuming that 600,000 tous of merchandize will annually pass over the line, it \rill require an equal amount of register tonnage of hulls to carry that amount. The revenue greatly depends on the manner of regulating the tolls, but the follow- ing general principles will bo observed : — 1. To oncoujage and develop non-oxistent trade by low rates at first until the Railway is worked up to its full capacity. 2. To discriminate as to nature of cargo, its destination and distance travelled. To compote with freights around Nova Scotia. To make a charge on the hull as well as on the cargo. To regulate the charges on the cargoes by weight, measurement or capacity. To make special rates for regular running linos of steamers. A fair general average rate would be fifty cents per ton on tho cargo and ten cents per ton on the hull. The revenue at this rate would be : 600.000 tons at 60 cents, $360,000. 3. 4. 6. 6. WORKING EXPENSES. It is obvious that the whole load transported is a paying one, excepting the cradle. That ia to say if 1,000 tons weight be carried on a cradle weighing but 250 tons, as estimated, the paying load boars to tlio dead weight the proportion of four to one. It is therefore a freight line wholly. The speed slow. Fuel cheap. The line straight. Gradients almost level. No station expenses. The freight loads and unloads itself. Works so substantially built that repairs and maintenance will be light. The cost, therefore, of working will be but little more than inexpensive mainten- ance and locomotive power, added to the cost of lifting and depositing vessels from and to the docks. The proportionate cost of locomotive power to gross earnings in English railways is 17^ per cent. The transportation will cost about half a cent a ton per mile, the maintenance of the permanent way and works about $1,700 per mile per annum, and the working of the machinery of the Hydraulic Lifts about $20,000. A careful calculation of the whole cost of the working expenses shews they will come under 30 per cent, of the receipts. A considerable revenue may be derived from the Hydraulic Lifts at each terminus if used for cleaning and repairing vessels, and during the winter when the Railway will not be used for transportation purposes, any number may be placed on the Railway for the purpose of repairs, and at the same time give employment to the stafl' of mechanics during that season. 19 HISTORY OF THE PROJECTED BAIE VERTE CANAL. The history of the Cnnal project sufficiently (lomonstmtoa the importance of an iHthmian transit Tlio failure to commence the construction of a Canal may l)e at- tributed to the constantly increasing demands of commnrco since its first inception, requiring additional dimensions to satisfy the growing trade ; the differences of en- gineers as to the sources of supply of the feed water ; its great cost growing with every surtejr ;■ the uncertainty of its fulfilling the actual re(pnromcntft of the present day ; its incapacity to carry steamers of the size now used in the Gulf of St. Lawrence ; the generq^ unbeliei that with the excessively slow passage of vessels through a Canal it would really bo so advantageous as a Ship Railway, and because of the Report of the Commission of 1873 (Hon. John Young, Chairman,) wherein the distance to bo saved from Baio Verte to St. John was misrepresented by 200 miles. In 1822, a survey was made by the New Brunswick Government foi a Canal to be fed J:)y fresh water with a depth of four feet. In 1825, another survey was made by Francis Hall, C. E., for a Canal having a depth on the lock cills of eigld feet. In 1826, Thomas Telford, the celebrated Scotch Engineer, reported on the survsy of Mr. Hall, recommending larger dimensions and a depth of thirteen feet. In 1843, Captain Crawley, Royal Engineers, after making a survey at joint ex- pense of New Brunswick, Canada and Prince Edward Island, pronounced Canal of even nirie feet depth impracticable on account of deficiency of fresh water supply ; and he objected to using Bay of Fundy tidal water to su})plemont the deficiency, on account of its turbid nature aad great quantity of mud held in suspension in that water. In 1869, John Page, Chief Engineer, Public Works of Canada, is of opinion that by adopting a lower level an abundant supply of fresh water may be obtained, ftnd that the Bay of Fundy water should be prevented from entering the Canal. In 1872, Mr. Baillarge recommended water supply to be taken from Bay of Fimdy, by using one or two rivers as reservf ; and settling ponds, and a navigable draft of fifteen feet. In 1872, Messrs. Keefer and Gzowski recommended a half-tide Canal, twenty miles and a half long, at a cost of $5,317,000. In 1871, Mr. Baillarge estimated a Canal based on Mr. Reefer's project for 12 houre, at $5,650,000 And based on his own project for 16 hours, ... . .... 8,217,849 Also cost of a whole-tide Canal, .... .... .... * .... 8,592,849 Total length of Canal, nineteen and a quarter miles. In 1873, Mr. Page condemns Mr. Keefer's project and approves Mr. Baillairge's, and submits estimates of cost as follows : — For a half-tide Canal $7,700,000 Three-quarter-tide Canal, 8,100,000 FuU-tide Canal, 8,600,000 He reports " that the construction of a navigable channel between the Bay of Fundy and the Gulf of St. Lawrence, on any line that can be selected, will be an undertaking attended with unusual difficulty, not only from the nature of the work to be done, but from the great difference in the elevation of the respective tides." wm\> 11 20 The locks were m have a width of 40 feet, and the Canal a navigable draft of aixtetn feet. The sum of $8,500,000 would scarcely have been sufficient, if land damages had been included, and as it would have taken at least sir. or seven years to complete, the interest during construction would have increased the total cost to about $12,000,000. The width of the locks was not sufficient to admit paddle-wheel steamers, which must be the chief means of transport for general merchandise, being especially suited for the shallow harbours of the Gulf of St. Lawrence. The importance of the omission to provide for the thinsfer from Gulf to Bay of the most numerous tonnage of the inland coasting trade of Canada may be illus- trated by the fact that in 1882, out of 14 million tons of entries and clearances not less than 8,394,000 tons consisted of paddle wheelers ; and out of all these steamers now plying in the Bay of Fundy and Gulf of St. Lawrence not one could have passed through the canal ADVANTAGES OF A SHIP RAILWAY. The advantages that a Ship Railway would possess in this locality over any Canal, are self evident, and may be enumerated as follows : — " The Ship Railway can transport vessels of greater width and draught than the proposed Canal was designed for. " It would be open for the transport of vessels at an earlier date in the season than a Canal could possibly be, and could be used when the Gut of Causo is closed by ice. " The transportation of vessels would bo more quickly performed. " The execution of the work would take but one-tjiird the time. " Its cost is but one-fourth that of a Canal that would accommodate the same sized vessels. " The maintenance, repairs, and operating are less expensive owmg to the difficul- ty there would be in keeping the works of a cj.nal free from injury by frost and ice. Owing to the fact that in summer, southerly winds prevail with the regularity of trade winds, it would then be almost impossible to sail a vessel through the Canal from the Gulf of St. Lawrence to the Bay of Fundy j the task of towing would be nearly as expensive as transportation by raiL " The capacity of the Ship Railway can likewise be more easily increased to meet the demands of commerce, whether as to size of vessels, or as to the number of them." DESCRIPTION OF THE SHIP RAILWAY. The length is to be seventeen miles. There is bo be a Doc't at each end of the line, where vessels will be received in quiet water previously to transportation. In each of these docks there will be erected an Hydraulic Ship Lift, somewhat similar in construction to those in operation at the Victoria Docks on the Thames and at Malta and Bombay. These Lifts will be especially designed to raise loaded steamers with absolute safety. A Ship Carriage or Cradle resting on wheels and provided with keel blocks and bilge guards will be first placed on the rails which rest on the gridiron cf the lift. The gridiron, which ia actually a portion of -the Railway, is lowered with the cradla upon it and immersed in the water to the bottom of the dock. 21 The vessel which it is proposed to transport will then be guided to and floated •xactly over the cradle — the keal and bottom of the vessel corresponding with the line of blocks and cushions previously arranged to receive her. The arrangement of the blocks and cushions will vary according to the lines of the various craft? to be trans- ported. Once in the proper position llie gridiron will be raised to the level of the keel, and then the blocks will be hauled in while under water, close to the vessels bilges and sides. A rack with palls at the back of the blocks prevents any movement. The operation of raising the whole mass then begins by means of the hydraulic presses ranged on both sides of 1/he gridiron. The length of stroke is forty-two feet in each lift. The engines and presses are calculated to raise the average sized vessel, with cargo, to the level of the railway in the space of ten minutes. When the lifting process is finished the rails on the gridiron will correnpond in level and coincide in line with the railway track on terra firmai the gridiron will then be locked securely to this level, so that by means of an accumu- lator and another hydraulic apparatus the cradle and ship together may then be hauled ofi" the lift and thus transferred to the Eailway, where they will be ready for trans- portation by means of locomotives. The principle is simply a combination of the hydraulic ship lift with a marine slip or railway extended, either of which may be seen in this country in daily operation. The operation of lifting vessels with cargo of much greater registered tonnage than contemplated here has been most successfully performed at the Malta Hydraulic Dock for many years without the slightest failure, although that dock was not specially designed for lifting loaded vessels as these will be on the Ship "Railway. The work of hauling will be done by locomotives especially constructed for the purpose instead of by stationary engines as on a marine slip, thus doing away with costly stationary engines, ropes and gearing, besides performing the service in a much quicker time. Two locomotives will haul the largest vessel to be transported (not to exceed 2,000 tons weight) at the rate of ten miles an hour, or at greater speed, if necessary, for smaller class vessels. The locomotives and cradles will be supplied with powerful brakes and appliances for both stopping and starting the load whenever required. When the vessel and cradle have arrived at the other end of the Railway, the locomotive will be passed into a siding, and the vessel and cradle will be pulled on to the other hydraulic lift in the same manner and by the same appliance that they were first hauled on to the Railway. They will then be lowered and deposited into the water ; and as the gridiron sinks into the bottom of the dock, the vessel floats herself ofi" and may then be pulled into the dock, or if a steamer may steam away to her des- tination. The empty cradle is then again raised to the level of the Railway, rolled on to a traverser platform where it will be shunted to one side, thus leaving the line clear for a succeeding vessel to undergo the same operation. It will thus be seen that the whole operation is simple, rapid, and economical, scarcely any expense besides that of the lifting, hauling, and depositing being necessary. The weight of the vessel and cargo as shewn by her displacement is not to exceed according to the Government requirement, 2,000 tons dead weight, or a vessel of 1,000 III '. IJel, * 22 tons gross register laden. The line of Railway itself will be of the most substantial character. It has al- ready been set out and levelled, and the woods cleared. The most ample borings haye been taken and tsst pits dug to test the nature of the foundations and the quality of the material The result has shewn a bed of rock extending over the entire distance. There will be four lines of steel rails of 110 lbs. weight per lineal yard. The cradle for the largest vessel will be supported on bogie trucks so that the weight, evenly distributed, would not exceed 10 tons on each wheel To provide for any unequal distribution the wheels and axles will be designed to bear more than double that weight. " The London and South Western express engines have 9 tons on a wheel, and the rails weigh 82 lbs. per yard. The Great Northern engines have about the same weight on their express heaviest loaded wheels. On the Great Northern the armour plated trucks have 8.4 tons on a wheel, and the latter are spread 6 feet 6 inches apart, therefore load equals 3 tons per foot of line. Their heaviest tank engines weigh 56 tons on 12 feet 10 inches base, and the equivalent load is also 3 tons per foot as the wheels are spread 4 foet 9 inches apart. The Great Northern rail is 82 lbs. The above loads traverse at high speed not occurring on ship railways, so heavier loads might be put on that rail" — B. Baker, M. Inat. C. E. The distributed weight of ship and cradle on the sleeper bed area will compare favorably with that of a train of the heaviest locomotives in America, whilst the rail is nearly twice as heavy, and sleepers much*«tronger. STATUTES OF CANADA.— 49 Via Cap. 18. An Act to amend the Act to provide for the granting of a subsidy to the Chignecto Marine Transport Railway Company (Limited). Assented to Wednesday, £nd June, 1886. Her Majestt, by and with the advice and consent of the Senate and House of Commons of Canada, enacts as follows : — 1. The term during which a subsidy may be granted out of the Consolidated Revenue Fund of Canada to the Chignecto Marine Ti'ansport Railway Company (Limited), under the provisions of the Act forty -fifth Victoria, chapter fifty-five, shall be twenty years instead of twenty -five years, and the amount of the subsidy that may be so granted shall be one hundred and seventy thousand six hundred and two dollars a year, instead of one bundled and fifty thousand dollars a year. 2. T..e Company shall only call on the Government of Canada for the \< /ment of such sums of the subsidv payable as above mentioned (which shall not in any case excuad the amount then due and payable), as may be required to make up the net earnings of the undertaking to seven per cent, per annum on the authorized share and bond capital of the Company, namely, five millions of dollars. 3. In case the earnings of the undertaking should exceed seven per cent, per annum upon the aforementioned capital, the Company shall pay over to the Government of Canada, one-half of the surplus profit beyond the said seven per cent., until the whole of the subsidy which may then have been paid to the Company shall have been repaid to the Government by the Company. "4. The Indenture made on the fourth day of March, in the year of Our Lord one thousand eight bundled and eighty-six, between The Chignecto Marine Transport Bailway Company {Limited), and Her Majesty the Queen, represented therein by the Minister of Railways and Canals of Canada, a copy of which is in the Schedule annexed to this Bill, is hereby approved and ratified." ippipi iPIIIWiJ lli-l.' «■'!''-'■■',■' '™' '■*"-"-