CHAPTER XLVIII. 



Proving the Hudson's Bay Route. 



inefficiency of the stationary parties to determine the^period 

 of navigation — the period of navigation to be proved 

 only by navigating the straits — true value of observ- 

 ing stations. 



. ANITOBA and the North-West are deeply interested in 

 the scheme now being carried out by the Dominion 

 Government of proving the Hudson's Bay route. A 

 great deal depends upon the series of expeditions which 

 the authorities are sending out, because if the result of these investi- 

 gations is unfavourable to the practicability of the route it will 

 unquestionably be condemned. It, therefore, becomes necessary to 

 ascertain to what extent these expeditions may fail to reveal the 

 true state of navigation, so that too much weight may not be 

 attached to possible results. To do this let us glance at the plan 

 that has been adopted to prove the Hudson's Bay route. The Select 

 Committee of the House of Commons, having the question under 

 consideration, recommended as follows : — 



" 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 naviga- 

 tion will remain what it is at the present moment : uncertain, of 

 short duration, without any attraction for capitalists. In this 

 direction, several have set forth their opinions as to the nature of 

 the examinations 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 



