'"r A 'V^ ^a IMAGE EVALUATION TEST TARGET (MT-S) 7 // <. ^A % y z 1.0 I.I U£|28 12.5 S 1^ 2.2 2.0 1.8 11-25 11.4 111.6 ^ y] /a /A 'W 0^. '"T CIHM/ICMH Microfiche Series. CIHM/ICMH Collection de microfiches. Canadian Institute for Historical Microreproductions Institut canadien de microreproductions historiques 1980 Technical Notes / Notes techniques The Institute has attempted to obtain the best original copy available for filming. Physical features of this copy which may alter any of the images in the reproduction are checked below. D D D D Coloured covers/ Couvertures de couleur Coloured maps/ Cartes gdographiques en couleur Pages discoloured, stained or foxed/ Pages d6color6es, tacheties ou piqudes Tight binding (may cause shadows or distortion along interior margin)/ Reliure serr6 (peut causer de I'ombre ou de la distortion le long de la marge int^rieure) L'Institut a microfilm^ le meilleur exemplaire qu'll lui a 6t6 possible de se procurer. 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The following diagrams illustrate the method: L'exemplaire film6 fut reproduit gifice d la g6n6rosit6 de I'dtablissement prd'ieur suivant : La bibliothdque des Archives publiques du Canada Les cartes ou Ims planches trop grandes pour dtre reproduites en un seul clichd sont film^es d partir de I'angle sup6rieure gauche, de gauche d droite et de haut en bas, en prenant le nombre d'images ndcessaire. Le diagramme suivant illustre la m6thot!e : 1 2 3 1 2 3 4 5 6 THE CORNWALL CANAL. ITS LOCATION AND CONSTEUCTION. BREAKS AND PRESENT CONDITION. A. SPEECH DKLIVEBED IN THB HOUSE OF COMMONS, BT DARBY BERGIN, M.P. Mr. BBRGIN moved for: OopieB of reports, plans and snrveya of the then propof?ed Corn- wall ..anal bv J. B. Mills and Benjamin Wrifjlu, Etq'a, Civil Engineers, and by Oapt."?. Cole, Royal Engineers, in the years 1832, 1«33 and 1834 :' also for eurvey and report of Colin Carman, Esq., C.E., of a pro- posed chan!2:e of location of Cornwall Canal, from Sand Bridge through Hooples' Creek to Archibald's Point, with plane, profile and estimates. He said : I make this motion for tho purpoeo of bringing before the House and tho country the present state of the Cornwall Canal, and the plans proposed for its improve- ment by the Chief Engineer of Canals. I am aware, that in introducing this motion and in taking the course I propose to take, lam assuming a large responHibility, and that in taking exception to the plans proposed by the chief engineer, I am called upon to substantiate by the records the statements which I propose to make. It will be fresh in yoiir recollection, Sir, and in the recollection of every member of this House, that a serious break took place in the Cornwall Canal, in the month of October last, near the village of Moulinette. This, Sir, was not the first 2 or only break that has taken place in the Cornwall Canal since it was opened nearly half a century ago. To explain the matter to the House and to the country in a raannor that will be satififactory lo them, I shalt be obliged to quote largely from the records to show that at no time, since the con- struction of the canal until to-day, has it been safe for the purposes of navigation. We all know that any yerious breach in the Cornwall Canal must bo attended with the most disastrous results to the roramoice of this country. The last bi-oak which occurred, it has been estimated, cost not less than five millions of dollars to this country, and for that reason I feel that it is my duty to bring bafore Parlia- ment the present stato of tho canal, the plans which aro proposed by the chief engineer, the contracts which have been let, and tho alternative nature of the plans which are now before the Government for the prevention of any further such accidents to this canal. No change of location, no plan for tho strongthenicg o' the banks, which does not put beyond peradventure any further breach of this kind, is one that can bo accepted by the people of this country. The Boards of Trade, the Mariners' Association, the ship- owneis, all view with alarm the present ptoposed plan of improvement, and they are all anxious that tho attention of the Government shall be closely directed to the present contracts. The works proposed are, unfortu- nately, under contract, and it may be objected that, being under contract, we ought to allow the contracts to be carried out. But 1, for one, hold — and 1 am not alone, for the most practica' men in this country, and men of high scientific attainments, are of the opinion that the plans are not satisfactory— that they are not plans which will make the Cornwall Canal secure, that they are not plans which will prevent any further interruption to commerce. It must not for a moment be supposed that, in the criticism I am about to make, I ana in any way censuriDg the Govern- ment of the country. The Government acts upon the report of its chief engineer, a man of high attainments, of long experience, who for niore than a quarter of a century has been advising all the Governments that have held power in this country, and he has held that confidence up to the present. I do not impute to that gentleman any ulterior designs in the plans which he has proposed, but I do say, from all I have been able to learn, from the enquiries I have made, from what has been said to me by practical men and by soientifio men, that his plans are not at all what they ought to be. This leads me to say this : that as the plan which he proposes to follow now is the plan which was adopted at the time of the corBtruction of the canal, commenced in 1834, 1 am bound to 8how some reason why that location was adopted, and why the plan Lo which we seek to revert wa8 not then carried into eflfect. Professional jealousy was the cause of the abandonment of the first f vey and the selection of the second location. Professional jealousy, the same monster, rears its head to-day, ».nd it is for this reason that the Chief Engineer of Canals refuses to listen to the proponitions made by other engineers and practical men. Let me road to the House an extract from the address made by Mr. Samuel Koefer, at the meeting of the Canadian Society of Civil Engineers, at Montreal, a few weeks since, lie said : *' It has been suKgaatod that some reference should be made to the first construction of the Cornwall Oanal, the enlargement of which is now in progre39, especially to that portion of it between Moulinette and Mille Roches, where the breaches have occurred, and it is my intention to do HO, not in this address but in a pnper specially prepared with illus- trations, to be read at one of the regular meetingb of the society. Hav- ing speut nearly six years of my younger days as assistant engineer, nnder I. B. Tills and Colonel Phillpotts, resident engineers in iis con- struction I may claim the privilege of contributing the facts in relation to thf ' aatioa of the benks that have corae under my own observation. " TP much, however, may be said here. " Thf canal and its b* nks were constructed of ample dimensions. The canal was 100 feet at bottom and 10 feet deep. The embankment waa raised to fourteen feet above canal bottom, and made twelve feet wide at top wich slopes on either side of two to one. " That portion of the canal embankment on the upper reach, which for upwards of a mile in length, from Moulinette to Mille Roches, holds the wate.' in the canal at a level of about twenty feet above the branch of the St. Lawrence, which runs alongside, is in fact founded upon the ;reacheron3 clay bottom in which were found springa of water, and in part in Bide*cutting permeated by streaks of sand. The embankment over this ground was formed with extra care, the earth being laid on la courses with carts, and where the outer slope ran out into the river it w Rs protected by boulder stoneB along its outer edge. Where springs were found under the seat of the embankment they were led out to the river's edge by French drains, and where the streaks of sand were en- coantered in the side-cutting they were cut off by puddle tiencbes, six feet deep or more, and the bottom and side bank lined with puddle three feet thick from the puddle trench to high-water mark. This mode of protection was not continuous over the whole line, but was confined to such par*^3 of the bank only as appeared to require it. «* Since the opening of the canal, there have been several breaches in this bank, the last and worst of all was the breach of last tall, which in- flicted Buch serious damage upon the trade of the St. Lawrence last year." It will be evident from that statement that the greatest care and prudence should be exercised before the Government undertake to carry out the work under the plans proposed by Mr. Page. The fullest evidence should be presented by him to the Government to show that a difierent condition of tho banks can be brought about by the proposed plans, and a different condition of the foundations. I may say that in n \u y\ 1826 a survey, with a view to the construction of a canal from the Long Suult to Cornwall, was made by Mr. Clewos, a very eminent man, who had devoted the groator portion of his life to the study of the rise and fall of the waters of* the great lakes, and to the condition of the Si. Lawrence. That gentleman published a great number of pamphlets in connection with the subject, and he attained so high a reputation that he was called upon to make this survey and report to the Parliament of Upper Canada. In 1830, four years after, Mr. Barrett, also an eminent engineer, and with whom I had many conversations on this subject in my younger days when he was employed on the Lachine Canal, also made a report, and it was confidently expected by everyone that when the construction of the canal was undertaken, although it was of larger dimensions than the canal oa which Mr. Clewes was asked to report, and Mr. Barrett also, the plan suggested by Mr. Clowes would have been adopted, unfortunately, the commissioners appointed by the Parliament of Upper Canada to conbtruct the Corn- wall Canal did n-^^ ^'»el ihey could employ Mr. Clewos or act entirely upon h judgment, or on that of Mr. Barrett. Those engineers were Canadians, and the commissioners sent one of their number to the United States to employ Ameri- can engineers, not that ihey had any desire to throw any doubt whatever on the scientific attainments of Mr, Clewes and Mr. Barrett, but because they believed American engi- neers would have had more practical experience in the con- struction of canals. The result was not at all what we could have wished,, as I shall show by the records which I t^hall read presently. They obtained the services of Mr. Mills and of Judge Wright, who was at that time Chief Engineer of the Erie Canal. Those gentlemen, on their arrival in this country, entered upon an investigation of the works that were proposed. They felt, coming as they did from the United States, that it was necessary to their professional reputation to show that the Canadian gentlemen, who were employed to make the surveys and report upon them and locate the canal, did not possess skill and scientific attain- ments equal to their own and were not as capable of sug- gesting a canal route and a cheap and proper mode of con- struction, and as a consequence they reported a different plan, I quote from Mr. Mill's report. He says : "It is well known to the members of the board that two separate and distinct sarvejs had been made over the same ground in general, and for the same object, upon a smaller scale — one by Mr. Glewes, in 1826, the other by Mr. Barrett, in 1830. As neither ot these plans contemplated a canal ot more than 8 feet depth of water, and only 60 teet width on the bottom, and locks of 40/eet in width and 132 feet in length ; they I! did not conform in capacity in any reapect to the tPrma of the Act under -n'hlch this eximination was directed to be m0 ; a canal from the head ot Brownell's Bay to Mille Roches he estimates at $l03,9i!0. " The value of three miles of an artificial lake, instead of a canal, would be the stt-cff againfit fOine* xcesH of expense which probably will be incurred by following the lower level. " Mr. Fleming also reported in the eame way. He says : "On considering the first of these, namely, an entire canal, as now laid down by the engiueers mentioned, it appears to me to have been adopted un'der the impressiou of avoiding apprehended hazard from ice to any works which might be placed in the river between Brownell's iiay and Millo Roches, for, on the left 1 aak of this branch of the river, the canal route is necessarily very circuitous, and would be expensive to construct from the steepness and the brokennesB of the ground, whereon much deep side-cutting with heavy embankments must be made towards the river, for the level of the base of the canal must be from 13 t > 23 fieet above the surface of the river, which, in consideration of the magnitude of the canal proposed, becomes the more hazardous in point of stability by being thus supported by new embankments. At tbe upper si Je oi Mille Roches village, the same route leaves the bank of the n ver and proceeds abont one mile further on th-s same level to the first lock. On the last part tbe cutting is very deep, and through a soil of a quality, as iudicated by several places here, much disposed to slip, and waich may require, 1 would fear, somewhat more than the estimated expense, although this might be sufficient to accomplish the same quantity of excavation of better ground The contianatloa of this route to its debouche into the St. Lawrence presents nothmg remarkable but the deterioration of the lands aud the town ot Cornwall, wiiich it passes through. "Such being the features of this proposed route of an entire canal, I regard that -part of it which extends from Brownell's Bay to Mille Roches as unnecoasary and expensive, aud which, ia my opinion, should be entirely superseded, by adopting the river here in its stead, which brings me to consider the second route mentioned above. "It now will appear on this route, there would be a great saving in expense by the meie construction of the dam proposed at Mille Roches, instead ot forming a canal along the bank of the magnitude proposed. As additional to this dam is onlv required a stop gate in the entrance here ot the canal, it would a\i- oe advisable to threw a dam ot snaall height across the stream at a point above the position of the lock at Brownell's Bay, by which the waters from the Long Sault may bo 9 ♦hia last dam would regulate ad basin, as well ai for mill /tiTorded from the dam at Mille always refif II lated or occasionallv absolutely etc ppod. Tbe means of doinp; the latter would afTord the dam at Mlllo ilochei to be built on a! " St a dry fouQlatibn, find also the same for tbe locks at Brownell's Ba>, which also would allow to remove any ahallowness or impediments ot the channel. Pauls or buoys- may be auerwurdd placed to direct the course of deep water. " As tbe proposed part of this new route, on the canal, la not ret sar« rey^d, the expense of tt mast remain undetermined. Until this is done, however, it is clear this proposed alteration of route, from BrownelTa Bay, would afford a much bttter steamboat navigiition than an entire canal, and which would be, evidently, many thousand pounds less ex- T>f:usivo ; also, if well constructed in the dams and locks, the whole would require little annual npiirs ; besides, this reach upon the river would afford a safe protection for vessels to lay up in the winter months, fjr the dam here would form a barrier against all movements which might hereafter happan from obHlruction of the ice below, and with a very ordinary dam above the works at '^rownell'a Bay, thero could bo no danger apprehended on this side, ^ the supply of water as required for th purposes, which tiien might be propei Jiocuea. " Thus far I would decidedly recommend these alterations as euporior, both in respect of utility in navigation and towards reducing the whole expense to that of an entire route, as proposed by Messrs. Wright and Mills." Mr. Mills made a second report, in which ho partially ad- mitted all the objoctioQs which were made by the other enginoors to bo correct. He waid : "As such operations in larg<^ streams ever leave marks of their effects, T presumed they were «,o be found along the bankag a ditferent view oi the said plans and locations." And yet, ad' fitting the danger that would certainly follow from inundation and from the rapid rubh of water at particular boabons, he neverthelesa persisted in followiog out the original pkn and location ; and when Icotnetoreud to you, as 1 shall after a little while, the report of Mr. Page, Chief Kuginoer of Canals, made the other day, you will find h_ attributes the destruction of thie bank to the cauees laid down by Mr. Mills in this report. He refers again to what evidently wan a painful subject to him, Clewes' and Barrett's plan. U<3, somehow or other, was unable to rid himself of that, and on every occasion in which he got into ' 10 ! I \ \ I : f ! difficulty, he endeavored to convince himself against his better judgment that the plans he nsid rejected in the first instance were the plans he ought to have followed. He says, although there was no necessity for him to refer to any other plans at that time : " I wish briefly to refer to three plans that have been considered and, I believe, abandoned : " 1 . The one proposed involving a dam of the St. Lawrence at Point Maligne, near Oornwall. This plan, I believe, is abandoned, not, how- ever, because ot Its impracticability, but rather from its inexpediency, all things considered. •'3. Passing LoDg Sanlt by the original route— then dropping into Brownell's Bay, 'aiaed five or six feet by a dam at Mille Roche8~thence passing the original line nearly, and reduced seventeen feet to Corn- wall, 1 have made an estimate of the eiponse of this plan of improve- ment and find it costs about £1,000 more than the plan recommended to your board last year." And with him £4,000 extra expenditure wap not for a moment to be considered in connection with the safety of the canal, and the disastrous results that might at any time ensue, interrupting navigation and greatly injuring com-r merce. " 4th Plan. Drop into Brownell s Bay, raised five or six feet by a dam at Moulinette. At Moulinette drop into a pond made by a dam at Mille Rnches. At Mille Roches drop into the river at tho foot of the fall at this place ; ihence pursuing the river to French's Rift, through . which cut. and drop into the river below it ; thence following the river to Point Maligne, through which cut, and drop into the Oornwall Bay, where terminates the improvement. This plan, you may know, is not altogether new. At least it is as old as the spring of 1833, most of which WAS proposed to me by several persons at. that time, and all of which has been more or less considered by me in the course of my sur- veys ju reference to this improvement. However, it does not receive from me so much serious consideration, for the reasooB which I have above Stated. I believe this plan is thought well of by at least two of the gentle- men who have recently visited the ground. I am very decided in the opinion that it is the best plan, if the original one is to be departed from, and the levels reduced — therefore I determined to furnish the board with an estimate of the expense of it at this time. In the interval of the depar- ture of the gentlemen who have visited us and the meeting of th» Board of Oommibsioners there was not time for a minute survey with direct reference to this improvement.' ' Here we have an admission from the man on whose advice the canal was located, that the plan of Mr. Ciewes was the best and proper plan, and we have the admission, a little further on, that because of ft coraparatively trifling expense of 0102.182, which the construction of a canal that would be safe for all time would cost, he abandoned the old and stuck to his own plan, which he admitted was not the good or the proper plan. In considering his plans I have brought you as far as Moulinette and ?iillo Roches, for by that time he had realised that he had made a tremendous engineering blunder; and after a large sum of money had been expended 11 he abandoned his proposed plan 'of a river canal from French's Eift to Cor. wall, and insisted upon the construc- tion of that portion of the cana\ by the inland lonte. For- tunate it was for Canada that he had the good sense to abandon even that much of his proposed or river canal, "fhose who knew Mr. Mills, those who have any knowledge ot the public works that ho construct»3d, will tell you that he had a weakness for following the sinuosities of the river and building all his improvements upon its banks or as near to the bankn ss poFsiblo, his desire being to f-how that by superior engineering skill he could overcome natural difficulties in a way they could be overcome by no other engineer; and owing to the overweening self-conceit of this engineer, the commerce of the country has been imperilled and actually stopped more than once, with the disastrous result which we all know followed the break '.n October last. In the subsequent report, Mr. Mills made the usual statement which ho made every year during the pro- gress of the construction of the canal : " Although I have no doubt of the safety or perraaneace of the work." Now, why should he, above all men, refer to the safety or the permanence of the work, if he did not feel in his heart of hearts that the work was not safe or permanent, and it could never bo made so on the plan ho bad laid down. His consulting engineer, Mr. Wright, also had the same bogey before him at all times, and be too felt called upon, because of the reports which were made to the commissioners by the assistant engineer every month, to insist upon the safety and the solidity of the work. Speaking of that section of the canal, notwithstanding what the Chief Engineer of Canals may say, and notwithstanding what those who are wedded to his opinions may say— for I have heard one or two engineers say that they think that portion of the canal from the guard lock to Jirownell's Bay may be made safe — notwithstanding what they say, I shall be able to show from the reports that that portion of the bank is built upon a bad foundation, that it was improperly constructed at tne begin- ning, and is to-day in a most unsatisfactory condition, and at any day may be swept into the river. This is what he said about section No. 1 : " Prom the first, and throughout the whole course of my duties !a the service of your board, economy, permanency, and despatch, so far as they are relatively consistent, have been grand objects to which my attention has been directed ; and in any proposition relative to construc- tion, wherein plans are projected or changed, the above considerations have been in view, and they wore in fall view, when I proposed 3aid piers on section No. I, The following is simply the circumstance m which the suggestion originated : In prosecuting the worli along a sec. ! I »-.»«»««> -t^ 40.!:^ TTiCM-^^dCiM.-:-^ - 12 i tion of the upper part of this contract, I observed that au important portion of the earth thrown into the river was taken away by the current, which is made serious by a shoal juttinj? out from the opposite shore, which has formwd tlie channel bold on the north shore for about 2,000 feet. It became an object with me to counteract this current and throw it from the shore, by which I would not only save all the material carried out by forming a permanent protection against the abrasion and action of the river, but would be enabled to carry the bank farther into the river «ven than the original plan contemplated, thereby reducing the amount of excavation to an extent that the cost of the piers, oven at double the esti- mate, would be much more than compensated, and the work fiaally more secure. That this would be the result 1 have no doubt." Bat tho result did not prove to bo so. Notwithstanding that he had no doubt in regard to it, in the course of a few months, he was obliged to remove his centre lino 50 foot in- to the bank, which was composed of boulders and bardpan j and, two years after, he was oblig'r'd to move it 20 foot farther into the shore in order to save his bank. There can bo no doubt thflt Mr. Wright, the consulting engineer, was thoroughly aware of the dangeroas state of the bank, and of tho effect which the ice and a rapid current, in case ol iiood, would produce I need only refer to his report to the commissioners in June, 183.>, after tho bank had been carried away by the force of iho livor. On tho 1st Novem- ber, 18H6', at the close of iho season's work, Mr. Jones, tho commissioner, who reported that Mr, llarvie's section No. l— the most dangeroas soction, as I contend, now — bad to be changed because of tho slipping away of the banks, the quicksands, and the shitting sands, through which ihe water permeatod from tho river into the works, recommended paddle banks. Not only did the water permeate from tho canal when there was water enough in it, but it oozed through between tho natural bank and the artificial bank from the river, and thousands and thousands of dollars wero thrown away in the attempt to make that a safe bank, which never ought to have been constructed there at all. Ool. Philpotts, who was appoiniod after the failure of Mr. Mills, to satisfy the commissioners that he could construct it in an efficient manner and make it permanent, undertook to perform the work by puddling. I have it on the testimony of men who wero connected with the construction of that canal, men who are living to day and know of what they speak, that the puddle was made of tho poorest material, that Col. Phil- potts was not able to get the proper sort jf clay to make ihe puddle, and that the puddle was put on the top of quick- sands which should have been removed before the puddle was employed, Ool. Philpotts, in all his reports, was obliged to say that the condition of the ground upon which the banks were raised was bad j he was oblige! to say that 13 there were hidden springs in the bottom of the canal which permeated through the work, and thar there were quick- Bands there, but he hoped to save the work by the measures ho was taking and by the puddling with which he was en- deavoring to Btop the leaks. Now, I come to the report of Mr. Page upon the proposed work, the only one which he has made since l874, and 1 propose to deal with that report in the plainest possible terms, because I think we cannot put too clearly or too forcibly before the Government and tbe country the weakness of the present banks of the Cornwall Canal, and their insecurity. What this country demands is not a cheap work or a work of questionable patety, but a work that shall be perfectly safe and afford perfect security, a canal that will last dur- ing all time, and I maintain that this canal can be so con- structed and can be made safe for all time at an expenditure no larger, if not less, than is now proposed by the Chief Engineer of Hallways and Canals. 1 have Mr. Page's report, which was laid on iho Table ihe other daj, in regard to a portion of this work, in regard to the dams which were approved by Capt. Cole in the year 1835, and also approved by Mr. Geddc^, Mr. Thompson and other engineers^ and, a few weeks since, revived by Mr. Keefer. But, before touching on that report, I propose to read a portion of a let- ter without which that report would never have been made, and the Government would never have been advised as to the insecurity of the canal. It is a letter^ written by Mr. Samuel Keefer, who was engaged as assistant engineer in the construction of the canal, a man whose reputaiion as an engineer stands second to none, a man whose ability cannot be placed below that of even the ch'.ef engineer himself. This letter was addressed to the Minister of JJailways, who very properly submitted it to the chief engineer. In that letter he says : " In these troublous times, I can well understand how the j?reat affairs of State demand your most earnest attention, and for fear of in- opportune intrusion, I bare hitherto refrainel from reminding jou ot a matter of detail which just now is firing no little trouble and anxiety to those engaged in commerce ; but I leel that I must discharge m; Canadian co lacience of its duty by reminding you of my views for the enlargement of the Cornwall Oanal, as set forth in my letter addressed to you OD the 17tb February, 1885. My main object in suggesting the plan I did was to provide against disaster of the kind under which the navigation is now stepped by the breach near Mille Roches. I am in- formed it is the intention of your department to enlarge the upper reach of the old canal, in «t^u, following Its sinuosities orer the same treacherous ground, if such plan is persisted in, I think you may look for more serious breaches and stoppages after tbe enlargement than have happened before it, for the reasons I hare pointed oat, and, if the volume of trade by tbe St. Lawrence ever reaches the magaitnde expected, every stoppage of the traffic must be felt with tenfold severity." u Now, the plan that Mr. Koefer proposed to the Government in that letter in the month of October last, is the same plan which I brought before the Government about ten years aiwo. I laid the matter personally before the present Frime Minister and Sir Charlea Tapper, who was then Minister of Kaiiways and Canals, and ho ordered a survey to be made ; but, although that survey was made, and an estimate was made of the cost, just about the time Sir Charles Tupper resigned his position as chief of that department, no report was made by the chief engineer to the Government, so as to enable them to act intelligently upon it. He contented himself with vrrbally saying to Sir Charles Tapper's suc- cessor, that the plan was a ridiculous one, and would not give a greater head of water. We did not ask for it in order to get a greater head of water, but because it would enable a larger volume ot water lo bo brought into the canal for the purposes of manufacture and navigation. If that plan had been acted upr n, it does not require that a man should be a sago to be able to inform this House that no such accident as that which happened the other day, could possibly have happened to the canal. I shall deal now with Mr. Page's objection to the plan proposed of an inland canal from the head of the canal to Millo Roches, In his report dated the 27th of Fel iui..y last, he says : " When the work of enlarpting. i deepening it was placed under con- tract, proyision was made that tl. "ideniag might be done on either side that would be most likely to iui^ rove the line, that is to say, that although the widening was intended to be done principally on the north side of the present channel, it was ♦bought that some salient or promin- ent points could, with advantage to the general line, be in part removed. The material excavated in wiae;iing and deepening the prism, was, of course, to be placed on the south or river side of those places where the banks of the canal are close to the margin of the I'iver. " Here the Chief Engineer of Canals admits that he proposed tampering with the north side of the bank of the canal, to remove portions of it, and throw it over to the south side with a view of deepening the canal, yet, in the next para- graph he is obliged to admit that it would not be safe or prudent for him to do it, but that he must take the north side of the canal on the shore line. Speaking of the break, he says : *' The casualty above mentioned, and the information stibsequeBtly obtained, have, however, shown that it would be injulicioasto cut into the north or canal side of the south or river bank, consequently the widening must be done wholly on the nort^ or landward side, and the line of the south bank allowed to remain undisturbed, and the slope on the canal side continued down to the new bottom line at the same angle Mat present." 15 And yet, Sir, it poems to me a curious sort of mental obliquity on the part of the Chief Engineer of Canals who could recommend that the north portion of the south bank should be taken away, and almost in the next paragraph admit that if he did so the bank would be destroyed, and recommending that the enlargement must bo made from the north mdb. It is quilo evident that he knew himself that the proposal he made, that the contract he let, was upon false premises, and could net be safely carried out. He says : " This conclusion has beenRrrived at by ascertain. ng from some of the old contracts how the banks of the St. Lawrence Canals were intended to be formed, and it ia unlikely that they would be made much difforentfrom the manner therein described, which is as follows :— All the best earfh for making tight banks must be placed in the trout or middle part of the same, that of inferior quality in rear. In forming the bank, the earth, if carried by carts, must be laid ia courses not exceeding 12 inches, and all the best material must be placed iu the front or middle of the bank. The information received from rarioua reliable sources leads to the impression that certain precautionary measures were adopted in pre- paring the seats for some of the banks ; all of them were, however, no doubt formed as above stated.' ' Now, the chief engineer is incorrect. That bank of which I have spoken, from the present guard-look called now the head of the canal to Brownell's Bay, was constructed, not with carts, the'greater portion of it, but wilh hand barrows. Tho earth was deposited transversely to the bank by the laborers, and so soon as the bank haS risen to a height over which they could no longer dump the earth from the barrows, they laid down inch boards across the bank, and the boards were laid down BO that the barrows might not sink into the soft clay, and that the men might be enabled to wheel their loads easily. What was the result? Every three feet of bank formed a sluice-way? The result of the construc- tion was, when they abandoned the barrows, and the boards were split and of no further use, thoy were allowed to remain there, and to-day this part of the bank of the Cornwall Canal and durinf^ all these years, has been tap- ped by the sluice-ways which act as channels for the water, suokiug it in and sucking it out, to the destruction of the bank. This is not a matter of which the chief engineer can be ignorant, because I have it from the superintendent of the canal on more than one occasion, that in repairing the banks they have come npon portions of the old boards and planks, and although there was better material on the face of the bank, the part of the bank which was constructed with carta was constructed of good and durable material. The core of tho bank, which ought to have been made of the best material, and the soathorn portion of the bank, that which is I 16 along tho river, was raado of the poorest material, anything that they could get ; but thoy put on tho inside, to keep the water in tho canal, a face of 8 feet of the best material they could get, and that they mado with carts and laid longitud- inally. It is now a little more than half a century ago since tho Cornwall C>:nal was constructed. During a great many years that sound, good face which was put on with ca^ts Baved the rotten outer banks of the canal, and prevented their being carried away; but after half a century, the wind, tho aloet, the snow, the agitation of the banks of tho canal by vessels going through, and by tho natural wear and tear, this eight feet of good bank has been obliterated, and there is not to-day six inches of good face on the whole length of that canal from the head of the Sault to Miile Eoohes. And wo are asked, Sir, to admit that a sound, and safe, and proper bank could be made by taking tho soft material from tho bottom of this canal by dredges aud lift- ing it with derricks and throwing it over to tho outside, of the river; and we aro told that any plan that wo shall adopt in oppowition to Ihis, will cost a very much larger sum of money. Before 1 get through I shall bo able to show you that the estimates prepared by the chief engineer, that tho contracts which he has entered into, form but a email portion of tho expense thai will be necessary for the safety of the canal under the plan that he propostjH, and 1 shall bhow it from his own reports, lie says; ' ' For two miles along the bank of the Sault Rapids.the soil \i of strong clay and gravel, witE stoae and boulders imbedded in it, and is admirably adapted for making a ationg and permanent embankment between the canal and the swift current of the river, the outer edge of which is well protected by the boulder stouea takea out of the excara- tioa of the canal." This, ho said, is Mr. Keofer's opinion. Mr. Keefer was not employed on that portion of the canal, and he spoke from momory, but Mr. Keofer nowhere said that the foundation upon which that bank was built was a safe and a proper foundation. On the contrary, we have the evidence of Col. Philpotls, of Mr. Milif, and of Mr. Wright, that this Bection\No, 1 was the most difficult of the canal, because of its shifting sands, its hidden springs, and the shelving bottom, fle objects to the plans which aro proposed for dams across the head and foot of the canal, and says : "It is not stated whether it is contemplated to place the dams at the narrowest part of the ' Saj ' and use the present towing path with a bridge over each of the openings of the channel ; or to place the dams obliquely, and iu a position that would make them correspond as nearly as possible with the line of those parts of the island and canal bank with which they connect." 17 V/^ell, Sir^ I would havo supposed that, after the long experience of the Chief Engineer of Canals, he would not at this time of day, tell U8 that it was necessary to have a towpath by which Lo tow the immonse vessels we are going to have through 14 feet of water, so soon as this work is built, by horses along the bank. He must know that the day for towing vessels by horses in a 14 foot channel, is past ; he must know that the plaD. whioh was proposed by these eminent engineers years ago, is a ^)lan which most effec- tually forbade anything like a tow path, and, therefore, the objection which he nr.akes on that score, is one which ought not to be entertained for a moment. " The shore along the north aide of Sheik's Island haa a very tortuoaa -and irregular outline, so that to make anything like a snitable towing path along it would be attended with a vast deal of uncertainty besides expense ; still were this not done in tht caao of making the •' any " the navigable channel, a e\flng bridge would be required for canal purposes over each of the openings made in the bank, instead of one awing bridge for public travel across the canal at Moulinette." I do not remember when I have read anything more disingenuous. If the dams are built, and in wording this paragraph he presupposes they are built, no bridge is neces- sary. Anyone who may desire to visit that island, the inhabitants of the island, coming to the main shore, would cross upon the tops of the dams from either end, and no bridge would be required, and the fine road along the island would be used by them. Probably the best road in the township of Cornwall is that on the north shore of Sheik's Island, and no bridge whatever would be necessary. In that connection let me say^ that the plan Mr. Page sends down in .connection with these proposed dams is a plan more misleading than calculated to give reliable infor- mation to the Government, to members of the House and the country. He lays down water lines as if that island were flooded. It is true that in one or two places where the banks are shelving, the water may come up on the shore a little distance, but a small bank of not over three feet high In any place, and not extending an entire length of more than 200 or 300 feet, would prevent one drop of water at the highest known flood injuring any portion of the island. The chief engineer proceeds : " Having already stated how it la proposed to enlarge and deepen the present canal and the manner in which the material excavated is in- tended to be disposed of, namely, to strengthen the weakest and leaat aecure parts of the present banka or those parts of them that are closest to the margin of the river, the aggregate extent of whioh, there la good reasoa to believe, is lees than one-third of the whole d '%nce,or less than three times the length of the two dams that would /.o required to connect Sheik's Island with the banks of the canal." ^ B ( 18 Well, Mr. Page, the chief engineer, when he penned that paragraph, must have reckoned on an entire want of know- ledge by the Govornmont, owing to his having concealed from them the true state of affairs, and ho must have reck- oned on their lack of knowledge in regard to the couc*ition of the banks when ho said that three times the length of the dan:.s is the whole distance. Why, tbo hagth of the bank that isur.BOunJ, f.nd wLich be cannot make wafo by the plan he proposes, is bet voon foar and live miles, and the length of the dams which we ask hin to construct so as to give us a free inland canal, safe at all times and which will furnish water tor navigation and for manufacturing pur- ■;))9eB, is as follows ; One jf about 300 feet and another of )0 feet, or altogether 900 loet, as against the distance of five miles. And we must not forget that the construction of those two dams would give us an inland lake over 15,000 feet long, with i depth at the head of not less than 18 feet and at the foot of 43 feet, an average depth of 34 feet and 1,200 feet wide. Is that not a desirable object to be at- tained, although Mr. Page says it would be six miles away from the foot of the Cornwall Canal. That is true ; but the construction of that dam would give an unlimited water power in the village of Old Mille iJoches. It would furnish power for many manufacturing establishments and would give employment to many thousands of hands, whereas tt>-day very frequently the mills in Cornwall are stopped for lack of water in the canal. Speaking of the water in the canal, let me point out to the Government the dangers of the tortuou ) entry to that canal. There could be nothing worse. Vessels frequently go against the piers and their cargoes are injured or lost. And we are to be told by the chief engineer of this country that we must construct the canal where defective, and that we must retain the same unsafe and unsatisfactory entrance ? Let me call the attention of the Government to the change it is proposed to r .ake in the construction of the canal. We say, and wo say it advisedly, and I shall be able to prove it if the best engineering talent be consulted, that Lock 19 should not be put under contract at all, but the head of the canal should be placed at Lock 20 instead of at the head of the Long Sault. Instead of taking vessels through lock after look and consuming, as they do, from ten to twelve hours in passing from the head to the foot of the canal, by the plan proposed, which will make the canal safe, and so that it oan never break away, we shall reduce the time oousumed in passing from ten to twelve hours down to four to six hours. Is not this an important matter to be considered in the 19 iutorestR of the trade and commorce and navigation of this country, that wo should not only minimise the expenses of transport, but we sh^Mild also economise time, and by doing this necessarily lessen the charges attendant upon a groat length of time being consumed in making the passage through a given portion of the canal. On this ground alone I think we are justified in ca'Ung the attention of the Government, and asking thorn to take some other advice in addition to that which they now possoss, I want further to call attention to tho disingenuous manner in which the chief engineer speaks of the construction of the dam. He says: " Those who have given careful atteatioa to Buch matters and are free to deal with the question oa its mflrits, ' ' I scarcely understand that phrase. My opinion is that every man in this country in tree to deal with this question on its merits. — «« — will scarcely fail to observe that dam3 of such a height, made other- wise of moderate dimeasioas ia the ordinary way, of the class of materials of which some of the b^nks are represauted to coasiat, woald not be likslj to receive a favorable impression of their security.' ' Why should they be constructed in that way ? Why should they be made of the material of which some of the banks are represented to consist? Why should they not bo made of good material and be properly made ? How, then, can be presume to condemn a. work because of his own proposed construction of it in any but a proper and sdtisfactory manner ? " In fact they might roapooably be led to the conclusion that the adoption of the proposed means to meet uncertain risks might result in others quite as perplexing, if not even of a still more formidable kind, unless precautious were taken other than usual for even banks of the height required." That would certainly be the case ; and it would bo his duty to see that they wete properly constructed of good, material and placed beyond a chance cf breaking away. Ho, far- ther, says: "At places where the present banks are close to the margin of the river and the water alongaide more than five feet in depth, a rough class of narrow crib-work will be placed to keep the bridge material in posi- tion until it is consolidated. Tho whole of the bauKs are afterwards to be well protected by a facing of stone.' ' It is said of a lady's letter that the gist is nearly always in the postscript. So it is in this document. We have before us his estimate of the cost of the oonstr action of the works 2i 20 I ■; Mi !li which ho has proposed, bnt we have not before us the esti- mate of the cost of the stonework which he proposes to employ for the purpose of strengthening the banks made of the slush and soft material whitih he intends to throw over them. Practical men, who have been engaged in such work, and who have completed them and who know their cost, say that the strengthening of the bank with that crib-work and rough stone, as ho calin it afterwardn, would coHt almost as much as the present work under contract. And Mr. Page himself admits that there is bomething wrong about his plans, because he says : " It is, no doubt, true that placing the dredge raateriftl on the outer side la not the position whore it would be most serviceable to banks of the description these are represented to bo; still, the material will have a sectional area and extent, and be of a nature that, when full^ con- solidated, it would almost, if net altogether, retain the water la the oanal were the old banks opposite the respective places where it is used removed altogether." Wo desire to wholly retain the water ; and this recalls to my memory the reports of Mr. Mills and Mr. Wright. Almost in identical words with theirs, ho says: " Of the feasibility, efficiency and safety of enlarging the present canal in the manner described in the specification on which the work is let, the slightest doubt is not entertained by me ] but as regards forming the ' §ny ' or north branch of the river into a navigable channel by means of dams at both ends of Sheik's Island, it must be confessed that my perception is quite as obtuse as was that of the late John B. Mills, who, it appears, tailed to see the importance of it." Now, Mr. Speaker, although he sees '• the feasibility, effi- ciency and safety " of enlarging the canal in the way which he propoees, yet in another place he admits that the material is bad,' and he proposes a plan by which, in raising the soft material and mixing it up in boxes and dredges, he hopes that at sometime or other it will become solid. He says that the plan proposed was objected to by Mr. Mills, and he adds, as regards forming the *' Sny " or north branch of the river Into a navigable channel by means of dams, that " his per- ception is quite as obtuse as that of the late John B. Mills, who, it appears, failed to see the importance of it." Will it be believed that Mr. John 6. Mills did not fail to see the importance of it ; will it be believed that Mr. John B. Mills recognised the importance of it, and that he was so fully alive to it, that, when leaving the canal, to the chief comr missioners, he reported as follows. He was called upon to report as to the two plans : the Hooples* Creek plan, which I brought before the Government 10 years ago, as my Right hoD. friend at the head of the Government will remember, and his own plan along the river. Here are his words : 21 " It is a favorable feature of the river pltn, that for so (treat a part of the distaiice you occupy the river, conseqaently that you hare so much less canal io danger of doran^ement and rmiuirin^ repair. The works in uontomplation will certainly be safer at either extremes of the height of the floods than at any point between (considering the location as it respects the lino the same) : cou3«qu«ntlj,if the works are not quite ap, then the nearer they are to the point of the water subsided the more safe they are. (Tpon the inland route you will observe that your works are not only up, but out of the way of danger from ice and flood. By these remarks, I wish not to disguise the fact, that there may be accidents and thKt there is danger of breaches and interruptions in the use of similar works, "v^atever be their situation and whatever be your forecast and precaution ; but in the case before yon, the nrobabilitiea of interruptions, derangements and expense of repairs in tno one, hardly deserve to be named wl:on considering tlu; other. "The river plan appears favorable, when conaidering the first expenditure. " And mark what ho says : " But before you pronounce it the economical, the judicious, and altogether the best plan to be pursued, you must consider what it ac- compliBhes and what you have got for your money. In the first place, you have got an iraperfeci improvement, and one which does not secure the ends contemplated ; secondly, the works and construction of the improvement, the bosineas, the commercial operations of the whole country are jeopardized upon an unexpected and oft-occurring casualty, which may be avoided for the sum or £25,000 or £30,000 ; thirdly, in case of repairs being necessary they must ba done at greater expense, and the same advantage cannot be taken of the season for rapairs. These are matters which aru perfectly within the comprehension of your board, and I hope they will receive the conflideration which they deserve." If a more emphatic or a more positive oontradiotion could be given to the report of Mr. Page by Mr. Mills, to whom he appeals, I should like to hear of it. Monday, March I8th. Mr. BERGEN. When the House rose at six o'clock on Wednesday last, I was discussing the manner of the con- struction of the Cornwall Canal, the foundation upon which it was constructed, and the materials with which it was constructed, and I quoted to the House the opinion of Mr. J. B. Mills, the engineer, as to the want of safety of a bank constructed along the river, and the necessity of con- structing an inland canal* I now come to that portion of Mr. Page's report of the 27th February last, in which he says : "It is quite true that the volume of water that passes down the ' Sny ' is very small compared with the main body of the River St. Lawrence ; at the narrowest place immediately below the rapids, the sectional area of the waterway at the loweststage of the river is about 600 square feet, all of which passes through the dam at Moulinette and the P 22 t i i , ! i! l! openings made in it. When the river ia at ite hifib atagei, the volume that paascH down the ' Bny ' ia, of course, proportionately greater. In January, 1868, during an ice jam, larg^Miuan titles of ice pa88«>d down the north branch, and destroyed in a great measure the mills and dam at Moulinette. If there bad been a dam at that time at the north-west point of the iBiand,itis fully believed that no one can say with any degree of ceitainty what would result, nor inrte»^d what would be the effect al any time ot closing the north branch of the river. The St. Lawrence is on too grand a scale to admit of the probable result of in- t^rference with it to be even approxi nated by the use of formulsB fairly applicable to ordinary streams. It is a well-known fact that the river Las been seriously affected by causes either little understood or alto- gether, ignored by those desirous of accomplishing certain objectSi apparently irrespective of ulterior results." This criticism of tho chief engine jr upon the report of Mr. Keefer in certainly a raoBt uniair one. He gives his Minister to underHtand that a large volume of water passed through the ChenaiileH, and that, if a dam were conHtructod, as waH proposed, at the head of Sheik's Island, a serioas result would enHue. If such a dam of tho proportionH mentioned had been constructed in 18K8, at the head of Shei.k'H Island, uot a drop of water could have passed through the ChenaiLos channel. The reference ho makes to tho gentleman whose report he is criticising, is unworthy of a professional man. The Chief Engineer of Canals might very properly eoy that tho plans recommended by Mr. Samuel Koefor would not accomplish tho ends desired, bat there was nothing to warrant him in fspeaking of Mr, Samuel Keeffer in this way, and to say that the causes af- fecting iho river were "either little understood, or alto- gelhei igLored by those desirous of accomplishing certain\ objects, apparently ii respective of ulterior results " Such a criticism ought not to come from the Chief Engineer of Canaly, but it serves to prove, as I said in the tirst part of my remarks, that the professional jealousy which served to make this an unt-afe canul fifty years ago is to-day attempt* inp to bring about the same result. Ho says : " The effect of cutting loose a sheet of ice in a bay, thea swinging it across the channel, has been known to lead to the drowning out for a time of a considerable tract of land aloQg the margin of the river, and the closing of a branch of the river at the head of the Beauharnois Oacal is well kaown to have led to a vast deal of trouble aad an outlay for land damages of nearly $400,000." There is no parallel whatever between the two cases — the closing of a branch of a river at Beauharnois, where there was a swift current, the length bOO or 800 feet and the depth 18 feet, and the closing of what ho chooses to call the river, but which is not the river, only a little Chonailles, at the head of Sheik's Island where there is never more than two feet of water. In the latter case it is not possible that 28 a damuu^o could havo been done by erooting a dam at that piv-.o. Ho ondeavoit*, bowovor, lo create the impreHHion that damage would roHult to thoIandH on the American side of the rivor, and ihcroby to induce the Minister to imagine that a dam should not be conntructed at the head of Sheik's Island* What i** the ^-'ct? After the dam was erected, all the water would go uuring the period <8 here, have resulted in the destruc- tion of the banks OJ the Erie Canal — "In a dozen or more places the wheeling plankp nsed in constraction had been covered up, and thus provided for the escape of the firb*. film of water which finall}'' resulted in a breach. In another case an old tow- rope left in the bauk resulted in a breach. A third nnlooked-for source of tronble resulted from the dumping of the wheeling planks, running «oroB8 the bank, on material containing small stones." *■ ill i I'! 1 iii in j j i 1 r i r ! i i |i! IN 1 24 One would suppope that the engineer was 8peakin j ;!) I,'' ; .1 i ■ i ■1 i 1 1 1 .•I I i ! I'M Ni injured for life over and over again, beoaase the gates wore 80 out of gear that it was impossible for the men to handle them. One man is lying today a helpless cripple, with an injured spine, and he will be so for all time, having been stricken down in the very prime of life in his attempts to open a gate which two men could not open without difll. culty. His little iamily are deperidont upon him for bread, he is powerless to help them. Not far from the canal h another man, a living corpse. In attempting to open the gates, he so over-exerted himself that his bowels were forced out, he was at death's door, and fox years past he has had a living death. All these things might have been avoided if the service of the canal had not been starved for years and years. Every representation that has been made with the view of having the service improved has been mot with the answer : Wait until the canals are enlarged, and then we will have this done. It is the old story over ^gain : Wait till the horse is stolen, and then lock the stable door. What I have said of the lock gates I may also say of the foundations. The foundations of each lock are rapidly going to pieces. At the foot of each look, except lock 17 — and 1 will explain why it is not in the same condition in a moment or two — I am speaking now of the old looks — there is a hole from ten to twelve feet deep, and as much in diameter, under the foundations, made by the constant dripping of the water during all these years; and the same would be found at lock 17, but that they found that the bottom was going to drop into the hole two or three years ago, and then they filled it up with stone. Is that a condition in which a great public work like this ought to be? And the mitre sills— well, the less I say abou their condition the better. That there is not a good mitre sili on that whole canal — and I do not except those on the new locks — is a fact that cannot be questioned. Now, Sir, let me draw your attention to the method of opening the gates. We all know that a few years ago the Chief Engineer of Canals made a change in the gates. It was not^n improve- ment, because most of the so-called improvements he was obliged to change almost immediately after constructing them. The valves did not work well ; complicated machinery was employed, some of which is left. What I maintain is that everything in the shape of machinery in connection with the canal ought to be of the most simple character. It ought to be of a nature that can be comprehended by the {)Oore8t intellect. !f ou know the material out of which lock aborers are generally made — not skilled men, machinists or mechanics, but ordinary laborers; and therefore the 33 lie ok machinery put into their hiirds to work with ougho to bo ot iho t»iuiplc8t kind. But itirttoad of that, the machinery given to thorn was of the most oomplioaieil kind. Then, one would think that in putting in those new lock» to im- prove, as he said, the Cornwall Canal, the chief engineer would improve the method ot opening the gateis. But no ; he went back to the old complicated plan of capstan and bars, which was in une when the canal was built. That plan would not work, it would not open and shut a gate, and the superintendent was obliged to resort to the old method ot opening the gates. He took the crabs from the old locks and employed them ou the new locks in order that the gutes could be opened urid shut. Tbe (.'hiof Engineer of CanuU knows all aboni ihuL; I huvo been with him on the canal, and he has seen all ilnnj and— will you believe it? — in the specifications for the now locks he pioposes to build on this canal, the same old method of capstan and bar, which experience has provt.n cannot work, has boon called for. This is the way in which tbe Cornwall Canal is being managed, and it is time I should cull the attention of the Government and the country to the matter. Why, Sir, the superintendent of the canal, the masters, the lock laborers, all are blamed for every little accident that may bapj>ori on that canal ; but the real master, the man without whose authority the superintendent cannot dismiss any man, is the man to blame, and not the men under him who uave no control over the canal except to cany out his inslruciious. You have no idea ot the difficulty 1 have had in obtaining information about thi's canal. I have gone repeatedly to engineers employed by him and asked tor information, but I could not get it with- out the authority of the chief engineer. 1 will uhow you how important it is to the country that information should be obtained and laid before the country as to the navigation ot the St. Lawrence, and how impossible it has been tor me, up to thic time, to get that information. We have, 8ir, on the Luchine Canal-- 1 do not know whether we have not also on the Beauharnois Canal — a telephone apparatus, which has been found to be of immense service. We have asked Mr. Page over and over again to give us a telephone service on the Cornwall Canal ; but no, no matter what other canal gets a telephone service, he has none for the Cornwall Canal. You can well understand that once a break takes place in a gate, or a weir is stopped, or a valve breaks, or any acci- dent occurs that requires immediate attention, should it 3b I' n 34 I' ii ' ' ■i ii , ' 'I ! happen at the head of the canal, a man ban to como, per- hdpH in the dead of tho ni^ht, twelve mil^s to tho Hiiperin- tondent to give him information, and then they have to travel bfick twelve miles again, m that from twelve to twenty tour hours is lost, to the serious damage of the trade of the country, before any r< pairing can be done. All that might be avonled by tho establishment of a tele- phone, which would cost but a triflo. The 0(»rawall Canal iH lighted pp, as it has been for many years past, by coal oil. Why can it not be lighted, as iho Laohine Canal is, by electric light, and thus give extra advantage to mariners? We found the benefit of the electric light during the breach in the canal in the fall, when electrical apparatus was estab- lished there, and work was done both night and day* That would greatly facilitate the working of the canal, and had we an electric light of our own at the time the break occurred, much time would have been eaved. All these drawbacks mean great delay in the pasf'ago of vessels through the canal, and ihewo delays have been complained of time and again. They have been fre- quently brought before the chief engineer, but he never could see his way to increase the facilities or to lessen tho time occupied in passing through the canal. Now, I have pointed out to him a way by which he can make an uninterrupted inland canal at less cost than by the maans which he proposes. By making the head of the canal at lock 20, he will diminish the delay in passing through the canal from the number of hours I have mentioned to four or five hours, All these things I have mentioned — the tele- graph or telephone, the electric light — will contribute to- wards tho safety of the navigation of the canal. I wish to say a word or two as to the condition of the lock houses. I suppose that tho plans for these houses were submitted to the Chief Engineer of Canals. I know that the intention of the G-overnment has never been directed to the conaition of these look houses, but now that they will of necessity bo obliged, in consequence of the change in the location and the new entrance to the Cornwall Caual at the foot, and in con- seqnence of the floods which occurred, to build new lock houses, I ask them at all events to make some little provi- sion for the health of the people who occupy them. These houses have two small rooms on the gsound floor. They are only one story in height. The lock laborers, al- most without exception, are married mon with families — some of them very young, some of theai almost at the full age, or, at all events, young boys and girls at the age of puberty ; and they are obligeld to crawl in by a 35 littlo hole under the roof or else remain in the Harao room with their parents below, la that a condition in which laborers ought to be placed by the parties having control of the canal ? Thoy ought at least to have a room or two, and these rooms ought to be of the height and size that would give them a safBciont quantity of air to breathe, to enable them to live in health during the hot season, for wo know that, during the hot weather, people confined in small rooms cannot possibly be in a good state of health. I think it my duly, because thenearo little matters which have not yet been brought before the Government, and of which thoy could possibly know nothing, to bring before them now in order that precautions may be taken to socure the health and safety of the lock laborers. 1 have spoken strongly upon what I beliovo to bo the defects in the management of the Cornwall Canal, and it may be that some^ot those who have listened to me are under the impression that I have some personal feeling against the chief engineer. Quite the contrary. The only personal feeling 1 have for him is one of very great respect. I believe his intentions are good, but intentions will not remedy the evils of which 1 com- plain. He, no doubt, has upon his hands perhaps more than he is able to attend to, and in that case help should be provided for him. Having said so much about the Corn- wall Canal, I think it only proper that I should say some- thing about the approaches to the canal from the westward of the river and to the eastward. The general impression is that no vessel can reach Montreal from Kingston that draws more than 14 feet of water. As the river is at pre- sent, this is true ; but if you will look into the reports of Mr. Page, you will find that, at a comparatively small ex- pense, a channel of 20 feet, safe aiii commodious — a wide channel without any danger of collision — can be made, all the way foom Kingston to Montreal. Gentlemen who have been in the habit of going to Kingston by the river from Preecott and Brookville know what a narrow and tortuous channel it is in many places. We all know that at somo point between Brockville and Kingston the channel is so nar- row that it is alncost dangerous for vessels to meet, particu- larly at Fiddler's Elbow, which is a point pretty well known to almost everyone who travels over that route. Some years ago, when 1 was at Prescott in command of the 69th Battalion, I had occasion to come in contact with a corps of engineers belonging to the United States service, who were then making a topographical survey of the lakes and river. We had the honor of entertaining these gentlemen at dinner one night, and during the course ot oonversatioo 36 'l|l ' I the cbiolof the purty ibt'orincd ino that ho hud hud u voiy plouHanl interview, a (ow duyH botore, with our hurvoyors in their cump on one ol the if^landn abc.ve: lie furthoi lold mo, to my u^«torli^•hmut>t, that our ODgineoiH hud pointed out to him Hovoral mlHtakeif^, and on going baok to oorrfct their survey bei'ound that everything whioh hud boon bald by onr engitioerH wati Btrietly corroct, and that the fault itad boon in hin own men, who had been careless in throwing tho lino and plummet. He »aid : We have been taught also a useful lesBOn by your engitioerH, who employ long poles when the water is swift, uiid in that way they got a more accurate mouHurement tban by line and plummet, which are apt to be curried away, and to muko the wuter appear deeper than it is, I have looked over the plans issued by tho United States, and I find there IS a perfectly safe and wide channel of moi'o than a mile and a half shorter from firockvillo than any of the channels now employed by our people. I would like to know what has become of the rejOit of the hurvoy made by our engioeers at that time. 1 have looked in vain for it through the public docnmentn. 1 have ap- pealed to Mr. PagoH ODgineert*, and they told me they bad no authority to /^ivo mo any inloimation ; that what- ever report was mode, was mudo to the chief engineer, and that if he did not give it to the country they had no authority lo give it; and they would not enlighten me in any way. But the fact is as 1 have stated. 1 have studied carefully the plans of the United States ongineern, and I find that wu can have a safe, wide channel, comparatively, in place of tho tortuous and insufficient channel we have now, in no place less than 20 feet of water, and in places even 200 toet. A survey of Luke St. Francis was made in the year 18 i4 by Mr. Thomson, and the result of that survey, macie under the authority of the Government of Upper Canada, showed that all the way from Cornwall to Coteau there was a channel nowhere less than 20 feet. And to-day vessels ure grounding every little while upon tho bhoals in Lake St, Franci« when within a few feet of a chanud 1,200 feet wide, no lesB tlian 20 feet deep, and in the majority of places bO feet deep. Why is that? Because the engineer has not ii^sued a chart of that channel and Fainted out wh^re the wide and deep and safe channel is. might go farther and might keep on until 6 o'clock point- ing out the laches in connection with this Cornwall Canal, but 1 think I have shown enough to prove to the Govern- ment and to the country that the closest enquiry should be made before any money foe expended upon the con- 37 tracts which have been let by Mr. Page. If I had been able to get the information, if I had known that the oon- tracts were goin^; to bo made without proper onqniry on the part of the chief engineer, I would have moved in thin matter twelve months ago, but I uud no idea that the oontraots would be let in that way, though I knew that Mr. Page wan obstinately determined to pnrHuo h\» own course. When I took him to the head ot the canal, and showed bin. the current which carried the ico inaido the pier and showed him that there was do Buoh <;urrent .^^^H oopies' Cr eekjty Archibald's Point, and that there never coula be an'oBstfublion by ice if the canul wore carried in through there, bo refused on the ground that so much money ' ^d been expended before. 1 pointed out to him that he was in no way reeponnible for the location of the original cunal, that he was not in the country at the time, and that it would redound to his credit to remedy the evils which were complained of. He saw those evils and admitted them, but he would not change them because so much money had been already expended. He was de- termined to send much good money alter bad, and the result is seen now. I tell the OovernmenC that, if they will issue a Koyal Commission, as I hope they will, I shall be prepared to establish every statement I have made by the best scientific and practical authorities in this country. With the permission of the House, I desire to add to the resolution : Aid the plant, profiles and eetimates made by Mr. Olewes in tb« jcar 1836. A / ^/v ;/ A. SIKBOAL, Superintendent of Printing;. 4b • /