The Hudson's Bay Expedition. 33 



that there was a difference of opinion as to the duration of naviga- 

 tion in Hudson Strait. Mr. McElhinney, with the log-books of the 

 Hudson's Bay Company's ships, covering thirteen years from 1870, 

 to guide him, said that " three months' navigation is all " that can 

 be counted upon; while Dr. Bell, from personal experience, to a 

 certain extent, felt sure that four and a-half months, at least, could 

 be relied on. 



Such was the tenor of the evidence submitted to the committee, 

 viz.: that by Dr. Bell, decidedly favourable ; that from Hudson's Bay 

 Company, decidedly unfavourable. The other witnesses examined 

 threw but little additional light upon the subject. 



The committee made a lengthy report to the House, in which 

 they endorsed the project of sending an Expedition to Hudson's 

 Bay, and concluded in the following language : — 



" To declare that it will be time enough to pay attention to the 

 question of navigating Hudson's Bay when the railways become 

 insufficient to move the traffic of the North-West, appears to us to 

 be an erroneous view to take of the matter. What we have to do 

 is to promote production by offering to it new and more favourable 

 conditions. 



" There also results, from the evidence gathered by your com- 

 mittee, a necessity for the Government to examine a great number 

 of questions intimately connected with the navigation of Hudson's 

 Bay and Strait. 



"Without the intervention of the State, this navigation will 

 remain what it is at the present moment : uncertain, of short dura- 

 tion, without any attraction for capitalists. In this direction, 

 several have set forth their opinions as to the nature of the exami- 

 nations which the Government might have made, and as to the 

 organization and character of a proposed surveying and exploring 

 Expedition. 



" They almost all agree in stating that these observations should 

 cover a period of at least three years, and should be conducted by 

 means of observatories, erected on the shores of the Strait, as well 

 as on certain places on the coasts of Hudson's Bay. " 



While this enquiry was in progress at the capital, a select com- 



3 



