CANADA'S TRANSPORTATION PROBLEM. 459 



steamers plying from Quebec or Halifax on the Atlantic to Liverpool, 

 and from Port Simpson to Japan, China and perhaps Australia. At 

 Moncton the Grand Trunk Pacific will make connection with the Inter- 

 colonial, over which it will have running rights to Halifax and St. John. 



No more forcible evidence could be presented of the keen interest 

 now taken by Canada and the Canadian government in the adequate 

 development of the transportation facilities of the country, than the 

 fact that within the last year or two no less than three official commis- 

 sions have been created to deal with different phases of the same wide 

 subject. These are, the commission on transportation, the board of 

 railway commissioners and the national transcontinental railway com- 

 mission. The members of each commission are men of the highest 

 standing, chosen because of their special knowledge and experience in 

 regard to transportation. 



The first of these commissions is charged with the duty of investi- 

 gating every branch of the transportation problem in Canada. The 

 commissioners are to study the best available rail and water routes; the 

 improvement of lake, river and ocean ports; the improvement of 

 the St. Lawrence route; the adjustment of freight rates; foreign 

 competition in transportation; and other questions of a like nature. 

 The commissioners have already accumulated a mass of invaluable 

 data, gathered by personal examination, and supplemented by the 

 views of practical railway and shipping men and others connected in 

 one way or another with the transportation interests of the country. 

 When these facts and figures have been digested, the result will be sub- 

 mitted to the government, with recommendations from the commission 

 covering a broad and comprehensive plan of transportation develop- 

 ment by rail and water, designed to meet the large needs of a rapidly 

 growing country. 



The board of railways commissioners is a permanent department 

 of the federal government, with offices at Ottawa. The commissioners 

 are, however, continually moving about the country, from Cape Breton 

 to Vancouver Island, hearing and adjusting disputes of all kinds — as 

 to freight rates, station accommodation, the distribution of rolling 

 stock, and a host of other questions at issue between municipalities or 

 individuals and the various railway corporations. The board is vested 

 with very large powers, and their decisions have so far been character- 

 ized by a spirit of conciliation and common sense, which have com- 

 mended them to not only the people at large, but also to the special 

 interests affected. The decisions of the board may be overruled by the 

 privy council, but in practise the commissioners have fortunately a free 

 hand, and the results so far have been of immense benefit to the country. 

 Much of the initial success of the board in the settlement of disputes be- 

 tween the people and the railways was due to the wide familiarity with 



