74 CARIBOU SHOOTING IN NEWFOUNDLAND. 



propriated a sum of money for a preliminary survey 

 which was made in 1875 under the direction of Mr. 

 Fleming. Two years then elapsed before any other 

 steps were taken. At length, Sir William White- 

 way, Premier of the colony, to whom belongs the 

 honor, of not only introducing the railway system 

 in the face of the most bitter opposition, but of perse- 

 veringly carrying it out for more than fourteen years 

 as a prominent feature of his policy undertook to 

 grapple with the matter in earnest. His first experi- 

 ment was (following the lines drawn by Mr. Fleming) 

 to offer an annual subsidy of $120,000.00 and liberal 

 land grants along the line to any company that 

 would construct and operate a line across the island, 

 to be connected by steamers with England on the one 

 side, and on the Gulf of St. Lawrence on the other 

 with Canadian railways. The imperial government, 

 however, refused to sanction this policy on the ground 

 that it might be regarded by the French as an in- 

 fringement of their fishing rights, which were secured 

 by treaty, on the west coast where the terminus would 

 be. This project, therefore, had to be abandoned. 



Two more years elapsed, when Sir William con- 

 ceived the idea of building a narrow-gauge road suited 

 to local requirements, and to be known as the Hall's 

 Bay line. The resolutions which he submitted to the 



