FIEST RAILWAY CONTRACT. 75 



House of Assembly proposed the construction of a 

 road from St. John's, the capital, to Hall's Bay, the 

 centre of the mining region, with branches to Har- 

 bour Grace and Brigus, the total length of which 

 would be about 340 miles Such a line would open 

 up for settlement the large areas of good lands and 

 valuable timber districts already referred to in the 

 valleys of the Gambo, Terra Nova, Gander and Ex- 

 ploits, and connect the mining region with the capi- 

 tal. A joint committee of both houses of the Legis- 

 lature was appointed to consider the proposition. 

 Their report concluded by recommending the passage 

 of an act authorizing a loan of the amount required 

 to construct the line, within the limits of one million 

 pounds sterling, and in sums not exceeding half a 

 million of dollars in any one year. This report was 

 adopted by the Legislature by an overwhelming ma- 

 jority. Railway commissioners were appointed and 

 engineers were employed, and during the summer 

 and autumn of 1880 a preliminary survey of the 

 southern portion of the proposed line was made, and 

 this led to the 



FIRST RAILWAY CONTRACT IN THE COLONY. 



When the Legislature met in 1881 the tender of an 

 American syndicate for building the road was ac- 



