REVIEWS OVERLAND ROUTE TO BRITISH COLUMBIA. 203 



entire length. For the same purpose there would on an average be annually 

 required 600,000 new cross-ties, as well as nearly 30,000 tons of new or re-rolled 

 iron rails. The annual repairs of rolling-stock would not cost less than 

 $l,000j000. Over 5000 employees of all kinds would constantly be under pay • 

 and as these men would usually represent each a family, there would not be far 

 short of 20,000 souls subsisting by the operation of the road. The aggregate 

 amount of wages in each year, after the road was in operation, would swell 

 out to nearly $2,000,000 ; while the gross expenditure for operating and main- 

 taining works would annually exceed $8,000,000. 



" Again, if to this last sum be added the interest on first cost, it becomes 

 evident that until the gross earnings of the railway in each year come up to 

 the enormous sum of $14,000,000, it could not pay interest on the capital in- 

 vested." 



Formidable as this statement may appear, and strongly as it brings 

 home to us the absurdity of an immediate attempt by Provincial or 

 even Imperial funds, and still more obviously by private enterprise, 

 which for a considerable time could obtain no return, to carry out 

 such plans, we think it may be well established that without any im- 

 practicable or pernicious expenditure a portion of the advantages 

 sought — well worth great exertions to obtain — may be secured within 

 a very moderate time, and (which deserves special attention) that the 

 immediate benefit thus gained is not derived from a mere temporary 

 substitute for what alone can fully satisfy our wishes, but results from 

 preparations for and progress towards the grand scheme which should 

 ever be kept in view as essential for our national development. 



Mr. Fleming's peculiar idea, and it is one which deserves much 

 consideration, is that whilst vast works must necessarily be carried 

 on gradually and completed as the several parts can be brought into 

 profitable use, it is possible and most desirable in opening a new 

 country to employ skill and foresight in determining the best posi- 

 tions for the main thoroughfares and giving them the direction which 

 must ultimately be most advantageous. When a new country is 

 gradually occupied without order or preparation, under the guidance 

 only of individual fancy, roads as they come to be formed will repre- 

 sent the nearest available paths from one point to another, where a 

 few people have collected together. Where the settlement of a coun- 

 try proceeds under the control of a government, the land is generally 

 divided into suitable portions or lots, which are given or sold to sett- 

 lers, road allowances being left according to a definite plan. This 

 plan, in order to save expense and trouble, is a formal one, producing 



