524 Our North Land. 



completion of the Canadian Pacific, when wheat will be carried from 

 Winnipeg to Liverpool for twenty-five cents per bushel all the year round, 

 the advocates of the Hudson's Bay route will probably turn their attention 

 to some more feasible project. 



I have already replied to the above article, and my reply lias 

 been published in the Mail newspaper, through the kindness of the 

 editor of that journal. It is in the following language : — 



the Hudson's bay route. 

 (To the Editor of the Mail.) 



Sir, — I notice in your issue of this date an editorial entitled " The 

 Hudson's Bay Route," in which you quote from an article written to the 

 Brockville Monitor by Hon. W. J. Christie, late of the Hudson's Bay Com- 

 pany's North-West Council. You represent Mr. Christie as stating that 

 the Company's vessel Prince of Wales, bound out from the Old Country to 

 Moose Factory, did not reach her destination until the 26th September of 

 last year on account of the pack-ice in Hudson Straits. Further, that on 

 the return voyage she left the Factory early in October, and arrived at the 

 entrance to the Straits on the 21st of that month, when she found a solid 

 ice-barrier extending as far as the eye could see, and was compelled to 

 return. 



In connection with this you state that the Ocean Nymph, in 1883, 

 " another Hudson's Bay Company's sailing ship, met with the fate of the 

 Prince of Wales this winter, being unable to get through the Strait," and 

 then, commenting on these alleged facts, you condemn the Hudson's Bay 

 route in the following language : — " What would be the rate of insurance 

 on vessels and cargoes compelled periodically to accept such risks ; what 

 would be the probable duration of the voyage under such circumstances ; 

 how many vessels specially equipped for this route would be required to 

 carry a North- West harvest to Liverpool during so short a season; and 

 what would be done with them when the route was closed 1 These are some 

 of the considerations which it is impossible to avoid in view of the experi- 

 ence of this Hudson's Bay ship." In conclusion, you dismiss the subject 

 by stating that " on the completion of the Canadian Pacific, when wheat 

 will be carried from Winnipeg to Liverpool at twenty-five cents per bushel 

 all the year round, the advocates of the Hudson's Bay route will probably 

 turn their attention to some more feasible project." 



I wish, with your permission, to call your attention and that of your 

 readers to the unfairness of your opposition to the Hudson's Bay route. 



