512 Our North Land. 



of the Straits can be made with safety, no doubt a .route may be 

 established for a sufficient length of time to make it very valuable 

 to the future of this country." 



Sir John A. Macdonald said: "I congratulate my hon. friend for 

 the manner in which he has laid this matter before the House, 

 as well as the others who have taken part in this very interesting 

 debate. The Government and Parliament have shown their desire 

 to assist in the construction of a railway connecting Manitoba and 

 the North- West with Hudson's Bay. Parliament has granted two 

 charters, one for a road to Nelson River, and the other to Churchill. 

 These two companies applied last Session for power to amalgamate 



a very wise proceeding, as it is clear two railways could not be 



built, and that a union of energy and capital and resources would 

 be required in order to have any chance of constructing such a road. 

 As those two railways, having Hudson's Bay termini, varied very 

 much in route, the Government treated them as separate lines, and 

 granted them the same land subsidy in aid of construction as was 

 granted to the other railways — six thousand four hundred acres a 

 mile, but at a less rate. The other companies got their land at $1 

 an acre ; the land was given to these two companies at 50 cents an 

 acre ; and when the companies amalgamated, the Government 

 considered the matter of so much importance that they decided to 

 give the amalgamated companies the separate land subsidy at 50 cents 

 an acre. That is, of course, a substantial aid to the railway. 



" It cannot be expected, however, that capital will be found for 

 the construction of this railway unless it is ascertained that Hudson's 

 Bay and Hudson Straits are accessable for a considerable portion of 

 the year. As has been said by the hon. gentlemen who have 

 spoken, there is a great diversity of opinion regarding the length of 

 time during which the Straits can be successfully navigated. It 

 may be true that a vessel can get through almost every month in 

 the year ; but that is not the question to be decided. The question 

 to be decided is, whether for a reasonable number of months in the 

 the year there is a probability, amounting to a certainty, that the 

 navigation of the Bay and Straits can be regularly carried on, so as 

 to be profitable in a commercial sense ? I am old enough to 



