REVIEWS. 



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ately, must hold the directly opposite opinion. It is mere assertion that it could 

 not otherwise have been completed. On the contrary, it was a national necessity, 

 and must have commanded attention from the Legislature. The very supposition 

 is grossly unjust to the public men of that day, who, as a rule, warmly supported 

 the work, and sustained it in all the crises through which it passed. The assis- 

 tance given by Parliament sprung from no other cause than sympathy with the 

 undertaking ; and had the country not been taken by surprise, so that the control 

 passed out of the hands of the Legislature into that of a Company, — which in a 

 pecuniary and responsible sense was never anything but nominal, — this Canal 

 must have been constructed by the Government, as the Cornwall Canal was a few 

 years later. As" it was, the work was virtually carried on by the Upper Canada 

 Government so far as supplies went, for the total subscriptions to Stock were be- 

 low £118,000. There cannot be a doubt that had this project been taken up by the 

 Executive, as it ought to have been, both the Imperial Government and that of 

 lower Canada would have contributed. But this opportunity was forestalled by 

 the few, who laid their grip upon the work only to delay it by incompetency and 

 mismanagement. The consequence is that this work is incomplete at this day. 

 Taking, for the sake of argument, even the present size of the locks as a finality, 

 the Canal must be held as unfinished until Lake Erie is actually the feeder without 

 risk of loss of supply, and there is at least 100 ft. width at bottom ; whereas at 

 this moment the width is but 50 feet. That slides and difficulties should have oc- 

 curred at the " Deep Cut " was caused by want of knowledge. Any engineer 

 knows, that by the help of good drainage and with banks of sufficient slope pro. 

 tected by sods, any cut may be secured ; and so much heavy excavation would 

 have occurred here, that it could have been done at a very low rate. The conse- 

 quence has been, that the work has had to be performed year by year by dredg- 

 ing machines, at great cost, and very slowly, and is even now scarcely completed, 

 forty years after its commencement. It may be asserted that this expense has 

 been necessitated by no new view of the subject ; a prudent and reflective mind 

 would have seen its necessity, in the inception of the undertaking. The loss to the 

 country by the recklessness of these men is immense. The Welland Canal has 

 cost as much as the whole of the Saint Lawrence Canals; and it is no exaggeration 

 to estimate that $2,000,000 of money have been wasted in its construction. The 

 locks are 200 x 45 feet against 150 x 26.6 feet, and the canal proper is just 

 double the capacity. 



•' The present position of this canal is, that it is utterly insufficient for the trade 

 which passes through it. That it must be widened and deepened, and that the 

 locks must be enlarged, is admitted, if it is to become equal to the requirements 

 upon it. Even should the policy of deepening the whole series of Canals be re- 

 jected, the Welland must be improved. The question is, to what extent should the 

 enlargement be made ? It is urged that much of the craft of Lake Erie cannot 

 now pass the Canal to Lake Ontario ; but the argument in this form has no great 

 force. There is a navigation peculiar to Lake Erie which is not met with on Lake 

 Ontario ; and the limit to be applied to the Welland Canal must be sought in the 

 navigation of the Saint Lawrence and not in the Upper Lakes — and here we have 

 no identity of view. 



