§ MR. AYTOUNsaid, he would beg to ask the Secretary of State for the Colonies, Whether it is the intention of the Government to ask the sanction of Parliament, during the present Session, for a guarantee of a sum of money required to complete the railway from Halifax to Quebec. Even if the Government had no such present intention, he should like to know the reasons which were considered to justify such a guarantee at this or at any other time. He was induced to ask the question because he was informed only a few months ago that surveys for the purposes of the proposed line were going forward. In order to complete the line from Halifax to Quebec, he believed that 400 miles of railway must be carried through a most difficult country, in which the hills were composed of rocks, and, the rivers being numerous, engineering difficulties of magnitude presented themselves. It being tolerably evident that the works never could prove remunerative, it became important to ascertain on what grounds the Government imagined that a guarantee 235 might be granted hereafter. Two reasons had been given for the guarantee in the correspondence—one that it would be useful for commercial purposes, and the other that it would be useful for military purposes, by carrying troops on their way from this country to Canada. The line, however, passed through a strip of the country between the St. Lawrence and the United States sixty miles long and thirty-five broad, so that the railway would be within two days' easy march of the American frontier; and therefore he could not understand how the line could be useful for military purposes. For commercial purposes it would be useless for six months in the year, because it could not compete with the St. Lawrence when that river was open to navigation; and he had been informed by an engineer who knew the country that such a line could not pay its working expenses. Why should we guarantee money to make a line to carry our goods to Canadian Custom Houses, where they would be more heavily taxed than they would be on entering France. It was only by asking questions upon isolated subjects like this that the House was able to ascertain in what direction the policy of the Government was tending. He asked the Secretary of State for the Colonies whether it was the intention of the Government to ask the sanction of Parliament during the present Session for a guarantee of a sum of money required to complete the railway from Halifax to Quebec, or whether the idea was abandoned, and upon what ground, and if hopes were still held out to the colonies that ever such a guarantee could be recommended by the Government of this country? He hoped the right hon. Gentleman would also state upon what grounds he thought such a guarantee could be defended.
§ MR. CARDWELLsaid, the whole of the information upon this subject was already on the table. It must be perfectly well known to his hon. Friend that the greatest interest was felt in the North American Colonies in the completion of the communication by railway between Halifax and Quebec. He must know, also, that proposals had been made by the different Colonies, and the Duke of Newcastle, in the name of Her Majesty's Government, entered into certain engagements which were to be carried out upon certain conditions being fulfilled by the colonies. The whole of the corre- 236 spondence referring to these proposals was upon the table. If, within a period of about two years, according to the terms of this correspondence, the colonies should come forward and fulfil their conditions, he (Mr. Cardwell) should feel it his duty, on the part of Her Majesty's Government, to fulfil the obligations which Her Majesty's Government had contracted, and make a proposal to the House, and he hoped his hon. Friend (Mr. Aytoun) would think that the proper time for stating to the House the reasons for that proposal would be when the period arrived for making it. As at present advised, he (Mr. Cardwell) had no intention to make any such proposal in the present Session of Parliament. At the same time, he must guard himself to this extent. His hon. Friend knew that when the conference at Quebec proposed to adopt that most desirable scheme, the union of the provinces of British North America, one of the conditions which were kept in view was the completion of the intercolonial railway. Her Majesty's Government, in giving their cordial approval of the scheme of the confederation, had given also their cordial approval to the Resolution with regard to the railway. If the colonies put themselves into a position to complete the railway the time would come when Her Majesty's Government would be called upon to fulfil their engagements. When the time arrived, however, he should be perfectly ready to state his reasons to the House for the proposal.