114 The Bight Bon. Sir John Macdonald [April 18, 



the London and North Western jiailway. Three men were required, 

 one of whom was ordered to go before it carrying a red flag to wave 

 in front of the noses of the horses to prevent them from being 

 nervous. [Illustrations on screen.] 



That state of things, of course, could not continue. It was 

 ruinous to us as a matter of trade. If you will look at this diagram 

 to the left here, you will see the extent to which it is still 

 holding us down commercially. No one in this country could afford 



Imports op Foreign Auto-Cars, 1902. 



January .. .. ., .. .. .. £43,855 



February 52,682 



March 70,5^3 



£167,050 



At the rate per aimum of £668,200. 



to expend capital to build motor cars until the Act of 1896 was 

 passed, while makers on the Continent were establishing a very large 

 business. Last January the imports of foreign motor cars were valued 

 at 43,865Z. ; in February they were 52,682/. ; and in March, 70,513Z. 

 — thus increasing month by month, as they will do during the rest of 

 the summer.* The total for the three months is 167,050/., which is 

 at the rate per annum of 668,200/. It will give you an idea of it if 

 I express it in this way : we are sending out of the country every 

 day 2120/. of money — more than the salary for a whole year of the 

 President of the Board of Trade himself. Such a state of things 

 could not continue ; and it is to the great credit of Mr. Shaw Lefevre, 

 and succeeding him Mr. Henry Chaplin, himself a lover of horses 

 and an agriculturist, that in 1896 a reasonable Bill was passed, which 

 everyone now thinks must be modified — that is to say extended, with 

 proper safeguards. 



The motor most chiefly in use for road traction is, what I shall 

 call, a spirit-driven engine. It resembles the gas engine, with which 

 we are familiar both on a small and on a large scale. You all 

 know what happens when a housemaid goes into a room where 

 there has been an escape of gas, carrying a naked light. The 

 housemaid and the room suffer severely. Still more awful acci- 

 dents happen in coal pits, when men digging into the bowels 

 of the earth let free gas which, mixing with the air and being 

 Bct fire to, causes terrible explosions, destructive of life. It is like 

 the old story of the fisherman in the Arabian Nights, who found a 

 bottle sealed up with the seal of Solomon. When he opened it a 

 vapour came out, which formed itself into a gigantic genius, who 

 immediately announced his intention to destroy his deliverer. 



Till fifty or sixty years ago it had not occurred to anyone that it 



* Since the date of this discourse, the rate per annum has increased to 

 1,586,688Z, if taken on the montli of August, in which the net imports amounted 

 to 132,224?., or, in round figures, 4265/. daily. 



