IMAGE EVALUATION TEST TARGET (MT-S) A/. #/>.A^ %/■/ h ■^■,%^ 4i. <.<, I «? l! i.O ■^ 1^ 12.2 I.I Hi ilio il.25 6" U 11.6 '-^^^ .%;^>%» Photographic Sdencss Corporation 23 WEST MAIN STREET WEBSTER, N.Y. MSBC ( /16) 872-4503 a>' w^ iV \\ I'l^^i^BV CSHM/ICMH Microfiche Series. CIHM/ICMH ColSection de microfiches. Cancdian Institute for Historical Microreproductions / Institut caradien de microreproducticns historiques ^ Tttchnical and Bibliographic Notas/Notan tachniquaa at bibliographiqust Tlia Instituta has attamptad to obtain tha bast original copy availabia for filming Faaturas of this copy which may ba bibiiographicalPy unique, which may altar any of tha imagas in tha raproduction, or which may significantly changa the usual method of filming, are checked below. n Coloured covers/ Couverture de couleur I I Covers damaged/ Couverture endommsgte □ Covers restored and/or laminated/ Couverture restiiurAe et/ou pelliculAe □ Cover title missing/ Le titre de couverturo manque □ Coloured maps/ Cartes gAographiquai* en couleur □ Coloured ink (i.e. other than blue or black)/ Encre de couleur C.e. autre que bleue ou noire) n n D n Coloured plates and/or Illustrations/ Planches et/ou illustrations en couleur Bound with other material/ Reli6 avac d'autres documents Tight binding may cause shadows or distortion along interior margin/ La reliure serrie peut causer de I'ombre ou de la distortion le long de la marge int6rieure Blank leaves added during restoration may appear within the text. Whenever pc^sible, these have been omitted from filming/ II se peut que certaines pages blanches ajout6es lors d'une restauration apparaissent dans le texte, mais. lorsque cela 6tait possible, ces pages n'ont pas 6tA filmies. Additionel comments:/ Commentaires 3uppl(imentaires: Linstitut a microfilm* le meilleur exemplaira qu'il lui a At* possible de se procurer. Les dttaiis de cet exemplaira qui sont paut-Atre uniques du point de vue bibliographique, qui peuvent modifier une image reproduite, ou qui peuvent exiger une modification dans la mAthode normala de filmage sont indiquAs cl-dessous. □ Coloured pages/ Pages de couleur I — I Pages damaged/ Pages de couleur Pages damaged/ Pages endommagAas □ Pages restored and/or laminated/ Pages restaurAes et/ou pelliculAes Pages discoioured, stained or foxeu. Pages dAcolorAos, tachatAes ou piquAes Pages detached/ Pages ddtachAes 0Showthrough/ Transparence □ Quality of print varies/ QualitA inAgale de i'impression □ Includes supplementary material/ Comprend du materiel supplAmentaire □ Only edition available/ Seule Edition disponible □ Pages wholly or partially obscured by errata slips, tlMuas. etc., hove been refilmed to ensure the best possible image/ Les pages totalement ou partiellement obscurcies per un feuillet d'errata. une pelure, etc., ont At* filmAes A nouveau de fapon i obtenir la meilleure image possible. This item is filmed at the reduction retio checked below/ Ce document est filmA au taux de reduction indiquA ci-dessous. lOX 14X 18X 22X a 12X 16X y 20X 26X 30X 24X 28X 32X The copy filmed here has bein reproduced thanks to the generosity of: Harold Campbell Vaughan Memorial Library Acadia University The images appearing here are the best quality possible considering the condition and legibility of the origin&i copy and in keeping with the filming contract specifications. L'uxemplaire f(!mA fut raproduit grdce A la g6nArosit6 de: Harold Campbell Veushan Memorial Library Acadia University Les images suivantes ont 6t6 raproduites avec le plus grand soin, compte tenu de la condition at de la nettetd de rexempleire film6. et en conformity a"ec les conditions du contrat de fiimage. Original copies in printed paper covers are filmed beginning with the front cover and ending on the last page with a printed or illustrated impres- sion, or the back cover when appropriate. All other original copies are filmed beginning on the first page with a printed or illustrated impres- sion, and ending on the last page with a printed or illustrated impression. The last recorded frame on each microfiche shall contain the symbol — ► (meaning "COIVE- TINUED '). or the symbol V (meaning 'END"), whichever applies. Maps, plates, chares, etc., may be filmed at differed It reduction ratios. Those ton large to be entirely included in one exposure are filmed beginning in the upper left hand corner, left to 'ight and top to bottom, as many frames as required. The following diagrams illustrate the method: Les exemplaires originaux dont la couverture en papier est imprimis sont filmAs en commenpant par le premier plat et en terminant soit par la dernlAre page qui comporte une empreinte d'impression ou d'illustration, soit par le second plat, salon le cas. Tous les autres exemplaires originaux sont filmds en commenpant par la premidre page qui comporte une empreinte d'impression ou d'ilhjstration et en terminant par la darnidre page qui comporte une telle empreinte. Un des symboles <oinf of real moment is, — are the facts and arguments true, and the ^conclusions drawn from them legitimate and reasonable? To prevent misconception 1 may here say that I have not written a sinejle line on this subject for the press My sympathies have always been and continue to be with the great liberal-conservative party, but I will not follow a mistaken wing of it in an attempt to saddle the Province with a scheme which is demonstrably certain io imperil its revenues and add to the burdens of the people. The Act which is intended to give vitality and effect to the Contract is now before the pulilic, and Mr. Holmes has said all that could be said in its favor. No more cumbrous, and, to ordinary readers, confusing a piece of legislation has ever been submitted to the House. Had it been framed with the express purpose of obscuring its scope and intent, and mystifying the public, with its complicated references to the Agreement, Receipt, Charter, Provisional Companv, Chartered Company, &c., it could not have been more successfully done. On its face it bears the stamp of patchwork, and is evidently an English composition glossed over with some thin layers of Nova Scotian amondmenth. A brief attempt will be made to elucidate it somewhat. The " Provisional Company" is E. W. Plunkett and his asso- ciates of the Western Counties Com|)any or others. The " Chartered Company " is such a Company as he may succeed in inducing to take over from him, and carry out th'? pn)- visions of his Ajireetnent with the Government. The " Act of Incor{)oration," with its imposing array of aristo- cratic names, id mere provisional and prospective legislation. It 1 11379 (2) may or may nat jro into effect acconling a« Mr. Plunkett is able to hilHI the coti'litions imposed, and carry out the protnisesi he ha* made. The English Directors arc not uncomlitionally committed to the project in tlie Hense whicii is led to be inferred, but are at liherty to abandon it, provided t\u'.\r preliminary stipulations are not complied witli, and further investigation does not recommend the scheme to ihen). Menee the necei-sity for extending the time witliin which the Agreement is to go into operation, flcnce the- qnasi-legixlative existence given to the " Provisional (Jompany " (Mr. Phuikctt) to enable arrangcnnents to be perfected for the formation ot a Company to take over the Agreenient. Hence the ''otnplicated Act. which in one part incorporates certain persons^ «nd in another provides that "for the purpose of incorporating"' them, " o/' t/w,se iv/io vini/ he ,s)i/)stituted for f/tetn,^' the Lieut. - Governor ni;iy hereafter grant a ('barter; which C'harter, with anv Order or Orders in Council relating to it, is to have the same force !»nd effect ;:s an Act of the Legislature. Bi'iefly, the inferences t(* be drawn from this curious piece of legislative meehanisnt are 1. That the "Provisional Company" (Mr. Plunkett) has not succeeded definitely, but (»nly at most contingently, in form-> ing a Company to take over and work the Contract. jj. Thac the English Directors who are incorporated by the Act may or may not, according to circumstances, become mem- bers of the proposed Company. 3. That, therefore, time is to be given Mr. Plunkett further to negotiate, and, if necessary, form new combinations. 4. That accordingly the option is reserved to the Lieut. -Governor at some future time to grant a Charter ; which Charter, with the Orders Id Council relating to it, nini/ contain more or less serious modifications of tJte Agreetnent for alf (hat the L^tgislature or the people can tell or prevent. The original contract is som(!what varied by the stipulation that the sum of at least $5,500,000 (inclusive of the £52,000) shall have been provided in " cash, Canada currency, or the equivalent ** thereof in Government or other bonds or debentures, and depos- " ited or otherivise secuied and applied ^^ to the purposes of the Ag'^eement. It will be seen ihat this security need not be in cash, but may be in bonds or debentures. This would be satisfactory enough, however, provided the bonds or debentures were really of value. What is of more moment is that the $5,500,000 need not necessarily come into the Treasury at all, but may be " otherwise secured or applied " to the purposes of the Agreement. In other words a part of it may be applied in buying the Western Counties Railway, and thereby converting the worthless securities of that I ■| \ ? I ,ifV (8) Company into valuable Syndicate sccuiities. The public should cont^ider what dependence is to be placed in present promises r>y the Ji^ht of past experience. When in 187^), Mr. Plunkett suc- ceeded in inducing Air. Holmes to gr.int him a small Provincial ijfuarantce on £50,000, it was stipulalo<} that the whole pro^-eed.-* of the iruarantec should l)e deposited ia the treasury- I lie |)rocecds were $22^,527.70, but of this sum only $9r),!KSl.()i; found its way into th(! Provincial Treasury, the halanct having been (tpplied — it is not suggested improperly — to tlu' purposes of the Agreement. If it was so in small things what may it be expected to be in largo':' The only f)ther matter calling for particular notice is the refi^'- ence in the Act of Incorporation — whicii may or may not cume into effect — to the Head Office being in Neva Sco*^ia, and meetir.gs of shareholders being held here;. Mr. flolmes has further add-d that the management of the enterprise is to be in the hands of the Local Board. Of course there will be a head office in Nova Scotia for administiative purposes, but it will be ni^ted that power is taken to have offices and hold meetings at places beyond the limits of the Province. It is here asserted. Mr. Holmes to the contrary not- withstanding, that the real executive and management will rest with the English Board, and that the Local Board will merely be a committee to carry out their instructions, and attend to minor details on the spot. It will, indeed, be a sine qua non that the entire control and management shall be in, and directed from, Lon- don, if P^nglish capitalists are to lend their aid and countenance to the scheme. And who are the shareholders who w(»uld attend meetings in Nova Scotia? The answer is obvious. It can only be shareholders of the Western Counties Company whose scrip will have been converted into Syndicate scrip. Outside of them, the Nova Scotian who at the present day will risk one dollar as a bona fide investment in the ordinary shares of the proposed company woidd be a natural curiosity the public would like to see. There are various other minor devices and loop-holes in this remarkable series of Acts, Agreement, Receipt, and Charters to which reference might be made. The original contract, however, remains pubstantially as it was. and the serious objections to itf ratification are as applicable as ever. It was assumed from the tenor of the contract that neither the Syndicate nor the Govern- ment intended to proceed with the Nictaux, Pictou and Dartmouth lines, although for a purpose they were made to figure as part of the scheme. They may be now taken as definitely abandoned : but the elimination of the figuies in the pamphlet respecting them in no way impairs the main facts presented, or the conclusions arrixed at. X (4) T. — Ability of Syndicate fo rnixe sufficient Funds. — TTiroAV- mg off the liabilities under what may now be called the abandoned lines, the Syndicate will still have to find about 'f;9,()0(),()()0 to acquire existing lines, construct the Louisburg Hranch, and pay the- Government some $2,;5r)O,OO0 on account of the Provincial inter- ests and the capitalized Sinking fund. It is stated that the whole railways are to be mortgaged, with powers of foreclosure and sale to secure the payment of the Provincial guarantee of $225,000 annually. Now, it is here enj[»hiitically re-affirmed th;it, if tlii* mortirage is to be a binding an written on, the only funds- in cash that can be raised by the Syndicate will be the proceeds of the guarantee, — an amount utterlv inade(|uate to carry out the scaeme. Various astute methods of "making a market" are known to promoters and and practised on vStock Exchanges, but no- real capitalist will embark a dollar in a second mortgage on Nova Scotia Railways, if proper limitations and conditions as to foreclo- sure and sale are secured under x\w first mortgage. II. — The Provincial Linhility. — Under this head Mr. Holmes ingeniously attctn|)ts to elude the real issue by harping upon the increased liability, vvhi<'h he makes $73,062 per annum. He arrives at this amount, first, by deducting the present liability of $.30,000 under the Western Counties and Windsor and Annapolis guarantees; second, by applying the miscalled sinking fund, which will exhaust itself in 41 years, to mere interest purposes; and third, by applying the interest on $1,.3'3(),000 in reduction of the guarantee. He triumphantly apj^eals to the " merest school-boy "^ if thie calculation is not correct. And further on he says, " these " are the men from whom we are to abstract nine million dollars "in cash, for which we are only to become liable for $73,062." But Mr. Holmes is reminded that the $30,000 a year for which the Province is at present liable is not to be cancelled ; it is mere- ly to be transferred, and therefore the liability becomes $103,062. But, more than this, mucli capital has been made out of the sup- posed benefit the Province will derive from getting back i$l,350- 000. According to Mr. Holmes: "This investment *»'ill yield " us the annual sum of $67,500 continually, which will be ready " at any time, with the principal if necessary to respond the guar- *' antee." "The getting this n»oney into the Treasury will justify ♦' us in going on with the building of the Nictaux road." " We " will now be enabled, should this> measure not be defeated, to offer " to the i^ople of the different counties increased road grants," How can Mr. Holmes both eat his cake and have it? How can he use $67,500 continually for interest, and at the same time use it for increased road grants? or how can he use the principal to m respond the gunrantoe, nnd go on with the Nictaux rond, and yet draw $67,500 per annum from it continually ? It in to be feared he will require the assistance of the schoolmaster in addition to that of the schoolhoy to verify his cidculations. The truth ivS, that in- asmuch as the SH7,5()() will inevitably be rf rjuired to meet the guarantee, the Province will derive no benefit whatever from the vaunted deposit of $l.Hr)0,000. There is no getting over, behmd, or beyond the fact that the Province is to become absolutely liable for $22"), 000 nninially in p(>rp('tuity, less s(nno $54,000 tin; receipt of which is entirely dependent i»n the deposit and investui'^nt at 5 per cent, of the capitaliz( d sinking finid, and such interest as may be got from the uns[)ent balance of ^Ij.S-'iO.OOO. III. — The Knrnings of the Hftihorn/s. — The figures and argu- ments under this head, which were submitted in the pamphlet, are re-asserted with every confidence, and appealed t<» as incontroverti- ble in the main. No attempt has been made directly to impugn them. It is true Mr. Holmes stated that " Mr. Murphy, who is " well known as an engineer of very great care, felt justified in " making an estimate of .i!;200,000 a year net profit." All that need be said in reference to this is, that if Mr. Murphy did give such an estimate, he did not know what he was talking about ; and this is said without any disparagement whatever of his ability as an engineer, or his knowledge regarding the baUding of railways. A very different kind of knowledge and e.\j)erience is required for the control and working of railways. The question is pointedly put : How can railways such as the Western Counties and Eastern Extension, let alone the Cape Breton line, which can only earn from $500 to $700 a mile, per annum, be properly maintained and operated, except at a loss? All the possible gains on the Pictou and Windsor branches will be fully absorbed in making good the losses on the extensions, and the Syndicate system for years ta come will not do more than barely meet its expenses, leaving noth- ing whatever to respcmd the Provincial Guarantee. In this connection it is asked. What did Mr. Holmes intend to convey by his grandiloquent reference to the Intercolonial Railway as having *' actually balanced accounts last year, and during the " present year it will turn the balance the other way?" The Inter- colonial Railway, which is a great through route, controlling a larger and more profitable business than the Syndicate system ever can. has at length, by means of the most trenchant economy, euc- ceeded in balancing receipts and expenses, but pays nothing ichat- ever on the $40,000,000 of capital sn^ih in its construction. And yet sane and practical men are asked to believe that the local railways of Nova Scotia, with their miserable traffics, and with no great termini or outlets, will not only earn their working expenses, but $225,000 a vear in addition ! («) IV. — The Securilifs. — This has been alruaily touched on in the reinaiks on the $5, AOO, ()()() loquired to he *' deposited or otherwise secured or applied " to the purposes of the agreement. The nrnouiit as already shown will be inadecjuate by some $;J, /)()(), 000 to carry out the scheme. But, says Mr. Hohnes, we nre to have a firs-t niortjiage on all the railways, and such " other se(;uri(i(!s " as the (lovernineiit mav recpiire. Verv good. When Mr. IMnnkett had his first little j,Miarantee transaction of" £50,000 with .Mr. IIolin(;s, he palmed oil on that iniio(!i'tit, it hnnorable, .)g after the $()7,50() and $54,278 had been deducted? An explanation would be welcome. In connection with this question of security the people and representatives of Cape Breton shoidd insist, if the measure is U) be permitted to pass, that a clause be inserted in the Act to the general effect, — That, inasmuch as $900,000 is to be raised on the Proemcial (Judrantee for railway extension in Cape Breton, that Httm in cash nhall he deposited in the Treasury, and held hy the Gorernnient in trust for that purpose, and paid out propor- tionately when and as the work of construction and equipment proceeds. No specious arguments or cajolements should induce them to depart from this position if they are really in earnest to secure railway extension. V. Ea»tern Lines. — Mr. Holmes can take what comfort is possible to him from Sir Charles Topper's telegram. It will be Seen that my assertion that but for the intervention of tLe Syndicate scheme the Dominion Government would have retained the Pictou Branch, built the new Pictou and Dartmouth connection;., and purchased the Eastern Extension was correct. I am not resj)on- sible for the ChroHicfe\n, — ha» Antigonit*h, Pictou and Colchester, — has Hants, Kings and Anna- polis no interest in this matter that they so quietly permit their railways to he ahsoihed hy i.nd nuinaged in the interests of Yar- mouth ? l^it, says Mr. Hohne.s in a patriotic outhurst, '• these are "the men selected to manage thi.s vast enterpiise which is almost *' e(puil to half the Pacific; lliilway itself and equal to the Inter- " colonial Railway in regard to the length of road and the " importance of it «( character as a commercial work." Mr. Htilmes' geography seems to have heen as much neglected as his arithmetic, and he is reconnnended to refer to the " merest schoolhoy " for the information that the Syndicate system will only he one half the length of the Intercolonial and not one-sixth that of the Canadian Pacific Railway, and tliat it must necessarily he incalculahly inferior to either in the '• iin[)ortance of its character . s a con»- uiercial work." Did time and inclination serve, Mr. Hohnes's "masterly" speech might be dissected, paragraph hy paragraph, and shown to consist of a farrago of assumptions, inconsistencies, fall .cies and miscalculations. Neither serves, however, nor indeec'. is it worth the while. Accordingly I have only dealt here with those points which had a direct bearing on this enquiry. I leave the question now (and it is not likely I shall eay anything further on the sub- ject) to the dispassionate consideration of the Legislature and the people. In these remarks, the main conclusions arrived at are but briefly summarized, — the facts and arguments of which they are the result are treated at more length in the pamphlet. These con- clusions are irresistible, and the [)ublic and their Representatives are warned to pause and seriously consider them before they launch the country on so perilous a career. The question is not one which it requires a statesman to grasp and understand, — any ordinary business man, any man of intelligence and forethought can easily see, when the matter is put fairly before him, to what disastrous issues this Syndicate project will certainly load. Halifax, 1st Feb., 1882.