PARLIAMENTARY DEBATES. 283
Thursday,
April 20.
Mr. TOBIN
said that for the last few years so
much had been said upon the question of Railroads, it was impossible to bring forward
anything new on the subject. There were
a great many things in the speech of the hon.
leader of the opposition, to which he would have
liked to refer ; but as he perceived that he was
not in his place, he should refrain from doing so.
If the present position of this country were contrasted with the condition of affairs
a few years
ago, it would be found that from some cause or
other, whether from the construction of railroads
or the spirit of commercial enterprize, or the
gradual expansion of trade, the Revenue had
swelled to an extent beyond the expectation of the
most sanguine. He had taken the trouble a year
ago, when it was proposed to
extend the railroad
to Pictou, to look into the question, and to contrast the state of our Revenue then
with what it
was before the railway system
was inaugurated,
and what did he find ?
(The hon. gentleman here said that he had
mislaid the memorandum of figures he had prepared ;
but speaking from memory) the
Revenue, which
in 1851 amounted to ÂŁ102, 632, had swelled in
10 years (1861) to over ÂŁ281,000,
and this year
the Financial Secretary estimates it at over
$1,300,000. So it will be seen
that since the
construction of railroads has been commenced,
that the trade of the country has increased—labor
has been multiplied,—and the expenditure of the
Province has been kept within its income. He
had prepared a few calculations as to the amount
of liability annually imposed upon this country
by the construction of these public works, and
first as to the two links already completed to
Truro and Windsor. Some hon gentlemen wished to leave these where they were ; but
that he
never could assent to. He believed that they
never could be made properly remunerative until
they tapped the waters of the St.
Lawrence on the
one hand, and the Bay of Fundy on the other.
In approaching this subject, he wished to
do
so in a spirit of fairness and candor. He did not
wish to state the liability we would be called upon
to assume at a dollar less than it really would
be.
For many years we have spent
large sums of the
public monies in constructing mud roads. This
session, over $250.000 has been
voted for that
purpose. And yet it is argued by some,
that
altho' the Province can afford to do that, she
cannot undertake the construction of the e public
works, which will add so much to the wealth and
material prosperity of the country.
To return, however, to the subject of liability—
he found that the Province had issued debentures
to the extent of a million of
pounds for the construction of the lines to Windsor and Truro—this
involved an annual liability of £60,000 for interest. No difficulty had ever
been experienced
in paying that interest—the
Province had always
been prepared when called upon to meet all demands, and certainly she was in a better
condition now, than when railway construction was
commenced. Then again, we have, after some
delay, undertaken the construction of the line to
Pictou—the propriety of that extension has always been admitted, and it was only a
question
of time as to when the finances of the country
would admit of its being undertaken. The estimated cost of that work is £500,000,
which will
impose an annual liability of £30, 000. That
liability, however, will not fall upon us immediately ; but will be extended over
three years, as
the work goes on—and as the business of the
country would also go on increasing, there is no
doubt, that there would be no trouble in meeting
these obligations. The
Government now propose
to subsidize any company to construct the line to
the borders of New Brunswick—which is estimated to cost £400,000, when
capitalized, involving an annual charge on the Revenues of the
Province of ÂŁ24,000 a year. It is also proposed
to extend the line to Annapolis. Last year, a
resolution was passed by the House, offering any
company that would undertake to construct the
line, a subvention of 4 per cent. on ÂŁ6,000 per
mile. It appears, after a lapse of'a year, that no
company is willing to undertake the work, unless
the Government will build the bridge over the
Avon—that bridge is estimated to
cost ÂŁ40,000.
The cost of the Annapolis road, at ÂŁ6,000 per
mile, will amount to £50,000—if that is capitalized at the same rate of four per cent—it
will give
ÂŁ20,400 annual interest to be paid by the Province.
Then again, take the cost of bridging the
Avon—
the hon. leader of the Opposition undertook to question the accuracy of the estimate—but
the only means of judging, was from the report of the Engineer, and he did not think
that the Government
had any motive or desire to conceal from the country the real cost of the work—the
interest at six
per cent upon the cost—as
estimated by the Engineer, will be ÂŁ2,400 a year.
It appears that Mr. Leversey on behalf
of the In—
ternational Contract Company, has
offered to construct
the road to the borders of New Brunswick,
provided the Government, or the City of Halifax,
take stock to the amount of £100,000. The
Government, probably looking at all points of the political horizon, have come to
the conclusion
that
they can manage to get the city to assume that
amount of stock. He (Mr. T.) was not going to
discuss that question just then—but he thought it
would be wise before they
passed any law to make
284 PARLIAMENTARY DEBATES.
the city liable, that they should have the agreement drawn up and the bond signed.
He believed that if the proper papers had been signed
by the properly constituted authorities, there would
have been no difficulty—but the members of the
City Council felt that they were not bound by any
loose expressions or pledges made by some persons
at a public meeting in the Temperance Hall, and
which never had been ratified by any resolution of
the City Council. These are the views of many of
the members of the City Council, whether correct
or not he was not prepared to say. If the city of
Halifax, took stock to the extent of ÂŁ100,000, she
would receive from the Province four per cent. If
the Province took it—they would have to pay 2
per cent more. All these sums added together,
would give a total annual liability of $578,700,
which the Province would have to pay after the
whole of these works were completed—representing
a debt of $9.645.000 ; but this
of course would
not accrue at once, but would be spread over
a number of years. This appeared a pretty
large debt for a population of about 350,000
people, amounting to about $1.65
per head.
Mr. LEVESCONTE.—Have you taken into consideration, that the Province only guarantees the
amount for 20 years, and that it will not be a permanent debt.
Mr. TOBIN perfectly understood that the
liability would cease at the end of twenty years—on the
extension to Annapolis, and New Brunswick.
Mr. LEVESCONTE.—It
does not require as much
money to capitalize a sum for 20 years, as if it was
for ever. He thought the hon. member had made
this mistake.
He had also included the St. Peter's
Canal in
his calculations, which he had put down at $125,000. He had also taken the trouble
to make another little estimate of the indirect advantages
which had been derived from the construction of
the two short lines of railroad to Windsor and
Truro. He found upon looking over the returns
of 1863 that there were 110,137 passengers carried
over the road and 56,471 tons of freight—9,784 free
passengers and 1,192 had season tickets—then
take into consideration the time saved in travelling—a farmer leaving Windsor for
Halifax by the
old route, would have to stop at the
various places
of call on the road, each one
costing him something, and by the time he had completed his business to Halifax, it
would be several
days before he
could get home again—whereas now
by the railroad, he could transact all his
business and be
back in two days.
He put down time saved at $99,161—saving
in
freight as compared with the cost of transportation over the ordinary road at $282,355—free
passengers must have saved in time—at
the rate of
$2 each $19,568—season
tickets, these are chiefly
used by parties who have opened up a
number of
works along the line, such as slate quarries—
powder mills—ice houses—he would put down the
direct advantages to the parties at $5
each, which
would amount to $5,960—then
add the amount
of net proceeds received according to
the Commissioners report, $149,647—42 making a total of
$556,718,42-100 while the amount of interest,
the Province will be liable for, after the completion
of the entire lines, will only be $578,700.
Therefore, in view of these
calculations, he thought it
would be the best thing to go on with these
works,
even if we had to run some risk. It was true that
the obligations they were about to assume were
heavy, but he believed that the revenue and resources of the county would increase
to such an
extent as to meet every liability that they were
about to incur.
No one could deny but that it would be a
great
advantage to this country, to have direct railway
communication with the whole continent of America, and if New Brunswick has determined
to
construct her line to the borders,
it surely was
the duty as well as the interest
of N ova Scotia to
connect with her, and thus open
communication
with Canada and the United States of America.
It was well known that people who travelled
abroad, had a great repugnance to sea voyages,
and no doubt if these lines of railroad were completed, travellers from Canada, New
Brunswick,
and the United States, would come to Halifax,
to
take passage to Europe, and thus increase the
passenger traffic and
consequently the remunerative qualities of the road.
They had all been accustomed for years to
build great hopes upon the construction of the
Intercolonial Railroad. For his part
he must confess that but as a means for the
consummation of a
Union of the Colonies he had no
great faith in it.
As a commercial speculation it would be years before it could pay. As a national work
however
it was a matter of great importance, and as a
means of transporting mails and passengers it
would be exceedingly valuable. At present the
mails and passengers have to be transported
through Boston by sufferance.
Suppose any disturbance should take place between England
and the
United States and that should happen in midwinter, and it would be necessary to land
the
mails and passengers, it would take ten or twelve
days to transport them over land to Canada.
Unless this line is continued, and the
contemplated union takes place, he had serious doubts
whether Canada would long remain in her present
position as a province of British
America. She
must have an outlet to the seat. He read a
speech the other day of Sir Etienna
Tache in which
he said, that unless acrostatic science was
more fully developed, Canada could not reach
the sea by ballooning. However, it is quite certain
she cannot remain much longer in
her present
position. He could not help
regretting that Nova
Scotia and New Brunswick should
be so unpatriotic in a matter of such national
and paramount importance as this, as to talk about dollars and
cents, that they should be so unpatriotic to the
mother country who had spent so much for
their
defence, as to refuse to make
even a small sacrifice
for the purpose of helping her to maintain
her
power on this continent.
He must confess that his
views rather went with
the member for Yarmouth in his idea that the
Government ought to retain the control over the
trunk line to New Brunswick, but if there was
PARLIAMENTARY DEBATES 285
any doubt as
to whether New Brunswick would
build her line to the border, it there was any danger of any difficulty occurring,
he was willing to
agree to this proposition, rather
than run the risk
of the line not being built.
On the subject of the Intercolonial railroad he
would say that if built by the United Provinces,
even if it remained unremunerative for a while,
it would not bear too heavily upon the revenue,
because when all our revenues are combined we
would be in a better position to bear the burden
than we are now. All the
revenues would go into
the common treasury, the public works would be
of such a nature that the combined means of all
the Provinces would be sufficient to sustain them.
It appeared to him surprising that hon.
gentlemen
in discussing the question,
appeared to think that
Nova Scotia was always
going to be Nova Scotia,
they forget that they would all
be British Americans—all our people would be
associated together
for business purposes, with one code of laws, one
currency, one system of custom duties.
But he would not say any
more at present,
about the union of the
colonies. The hon gentleman concluded by recapitulating the
advantage
Nova Scotia would derive from the extension of
railroad communication, if providently and economically carried out.
Mr. MILLER said,
he did not intend, at that
period of the session, to weary
the house with
any lengthened remarks upon the subject
then under discussion. The resolution
before
the house proposes to grant from
the public
treasury, as a free gift for the next twenty
years, the sum of four per cent. on
$40,000 a
mile to a company to complete railway connection between Truro and Moncton, and the
further sum of four per cent. on $24,000 per
mile to extend the railway from
Windsor to
Annapolis, not including the Avon bridge.
This resolution will, therefore,
add to the burthens of the country about $23,000 for the next
twenty years.
It
would be in the recollection of
the house
that when this question was brought up last
year, and the subvention resolution was moved
by the Provincial Secretary, he (Mr. M.)
moved
a resolution, by way of
amendment, to this
effect:—
"Whereas,
The revenue of this Provinee is now
burthened with a liability of about ÂŁ60,000
annually
for interest on the money
invested in our existing
lines of railway.
And whereas,
The Act of this Session;
providing for
the construction of the line to
Pictou, will entail a
further charge of at least ÂŁ25,000
annually.
Therefore
resolved, That it is unwise, at
the present
time, to pledge the public credit to
the extent required by the resolution before the House."
That
amendment, he regretted
to say, was
lost by a large majority, and by
the votes of
many whose duty it was to have sustained it.
It was true, that the impression
prevailed at
the time, whether rightly
founded or not, that
although the subvention for the
Annapolis
line was included in the original
resolution,
there was no serious intention of carrying it
into effect; and some of those
who voted for it
might have been influenced
by that idea.
Whether that was a sufficient
excuse for
the action of any hon. gentleman
upon a
question of such magnitude as this, was
not for him to say. If any such consider
ations controlled the votes of any
members
of the house last year, he trusted such would
not be the case on the present occasion,
and that the people's representatives would
consider well the consequences that would
flow from the vote they were about to
give—a
vote which must add enormously to the taxation of the country. When he
looked at the
conduct of the gentlemen who were
now conducting the government of this
country—when
he observed the reckless extravagance of their
general policy, and contrasted it with their
retrenchment pledges, and the course they
pursued a few years ago, when in opposition—
especially with regard to railways, he was inclined to look with much suspicion
and distrust upon their present action
on this subject.
What had produced a change so startling and
extreme? If the government then in power
had endeavoured to fasten upon the
resources
of the province the liability which
is now
sought to be imposed, those gentlemen
would
have raised a howl of indignation throughout
the whole country. He was curious, therefore, to enquire into the
causes which
had let to this sudden change of policy.
To his mind there was only one satisfactory
solution of the inconsistency of the administration, and their apparent desire
to plunge
the country inextricably into debt. They
all knew that the members of the
present
government were heart and soul
wrapped
up in carrying to a successful termination the
confederation of the British North American
provinces, and that hitherto the
most powerful
argument used by the opponents of that measure was the increased taxation it would
involve, and the necessity of raising our tariff
from ten to twenty per cent. Now, if they
succeed in embarrassing the
finances of the
country, if they succeed in burthening our
resources with the enormous
debt the resolution on the table of the house will
entail, so as
to compel us to increase the taxation of the
people by doubling our tariff,
they, at the same
time do away with one of the principle objections to their pet scheme of confederation.Â
It
was hard to fathom the motives of these gentlemen, but it was clear they
were not governed by a prudent regard to the best interests of
the country. Perhaps, also, a desire to secure
the political favor of one or two western
counties has something to do
with the extension to Annapolis. These were the
only motives that suggested themselves to
his mind for the
reckless course the government were now pursuing on this question.
When this subject was discussed
last session
he had endeavored, feebly no doubt, but
to the
best of his ability, to urge his views against
the policy then
under consideration, because
he keenly felt its injustice to those he
represented.Â
All he could say then had no effect in
deterring hon. gentlemen from the headlong
course of extravagance they seemed determined to pursue, and he supposed anything
he
might say now would be equally useless and
unavailing. He did not intend to go into financial matters, which had been so ably
treated by the learned leader of the Opposition—
but he thought that any one who listened to
the arguments of that hon. member—with a
sincere desire to arrive at a correct conclusion
—could not fail to be convinced of the correctness of the views he enunciated, and
the wisdom of the course he advocated. That hon.
286 PARLIAMENTARY DEBATES.
gentleman,
with his usual ability had so clearly justified the attitude of opposition he had
assumed to this resolution, and shown it to be
the duty of every man who regarded the credit and welfare of the country to oppose
it, that
it was unnecessary to go over the same ground.
He could not, however, refrain from alluding
to the impropriety of the course pursued by
the government, in delaying the consideration
of this important question—the most important, financially, that had engaged the attention
of the house—until this late period of the
session, when some of the members had returned to their homes, and there was no probability
of its receiving that attention its importance demanded. Too much of the business
of the house was done in that way. On
the subject of railway extension, he would say
that if the province was justified at all in
entering upon any further expenditure, the
line to the borders of New Brunswick, to connect with the railway system of the United
States, should be the first to receive consideration, and he was not prepared to say
if that
had been proposed by itself, whether it would
have received his opposition, provided he
could be convinced the country could bear
the burthen of its construction
without injury to other important services.
But there certainly could be no doubt that the
finances of this province would not admit of
the construction of both lines at the same time
even if they were admitted to be
necessary to
the public convenience. With regard to the
Annapolis line he could only look up it as an
accomodation to one or two counties at the expense of the whole province. Party necessity
or political expediency might secure its construction, but those who helped to place
this
liability on their constituents would yet have
to meet a day of reckoning. The Finl.
Sec.
endeavoured to shew in supporting the Railway policy of the government that certain
services could be cut down, some of them of the
most vital consequence to the country. Thus
admitting that we must hereafter
either lose
our pubic grants or be more heavily taxed.
He thought that if there was no other reason
for opposition if the Finl. Secy. was obliged to
admit that he could not expect to meet this
expenditure, without depriving them of some
of the most essential services the province required, that of itself ought to be suffiicient
reason to deter gentlemen from voting for this
resolution and he begged them to be warned
in time. He had promised not to
make any
lengthy observations and he should not do so.
He had risen principally to make these
explanations in consequence of the
position he
had taken last year, and because the remarks he then made had not been reported.
He would ask gentlemen from all parts of
the
province, and particularly these representing
the more remote sections, whether they were
prepared to assume the enormous liability
this resolution proposed—a
liability which
would cramp our resources, and weigh upon
the industry and energies of our people for
the next twenty years. He for one was not prepared to do so; and in voting against
the resolution he considered he was
acting with a due
regard to the interests of the whole province,
and those especially who had elected him as
their representative. The adoption of
this
policy, it was
admitted, would lead either to
the increase of the tariff or
the reduction of
those grants which have been always considered essential to the interests of the country.
Their constituents might not complain until
they experienced that result; but when railway interest had absorbed all the revenue,
and nothing was left for roads, schools, navigation securities, or other services,
gentlemen
around these benches would then hear
their
reproaches. Instead of diminishing the grants
to these sources as intimated by the Financial
Secretary, he contended they should be increased from year to year with the increasing
wants of the country. In that view of the case,
then, he did not think it was wise or prudent,
but on the contrary the most reckless
folly, to
incur this heavy expenditure. He would
be
ashamed to show himself among the people of
Cape Breton, who are already so largely taxed
for railways in Nova Scotia proper, from which
they derive little benefit, if he voted for this
resolution. He could be guilty of no greater
injustice towards them than to add so largely
to the railway burdens they now
so unjustly
bear. In comparison with this question every
other of a financial nature before them this
winter was simply insignificant, and no small
considerations should influence the course of
gentlemen in regard to it. The hon. member
concluded by referring to the haste with which
this measure was pressed through the house.
It took years before the Pictou railway bill
was placed on the statute book; and here they
were asked with scarcely any discussion on
consideration, to pass a measure involving an
annual liability of something like $230,000,
in
addition to $360,000 which they would at least
have to pay on the completion of the Pictou
road. He trusted that gentlemen would
pause
before they committed themselves to this measure, and would, at all events, wait until
the
Pictou road was completed before they incurred
fresh liabilities—which he was convinced the
province was not at present in a position to
assume.
Mr. BLANCHARD
said that he did not agree
with the member for Richmond in his idea,
that the government in
introducing this measure were influenced by a desire to assist the
confederation scheme. In his judgment, the
government, by taking this step, had put
confederation out of the question for at least 20
years to come. When these proposed lines of
railway are completed, the debt of Nova Scotia
will amount to $11,085,000 ; and if he understood anything about the terms agreed
upon
at the Quebec Conference, the
Province
was
to be admitted into the Union with a debt of
$8,000,000—anything beyond that was to be
borne by the Province individually—and
would have to be raised by direct taxation.
Therefore he could not see that the government were serving the best interests of
confederation by the introduction of this
measure.
At this late period of the session, when
most
of the members had returned to theirhomes,
and those" who remained were not in the
humor to listen to long
speeches, he did not
intend to address the house at any very great
length, but he would refer, shortly, to some of
the remarks made by the honourable
Financial Secretary. That
honourable gentleman stated that he based his calculations
upon the assumption that the revenue for this year would be the same, if not larger,
than the
last. On a former occasion he (Mr. B.) had
made the assertion that at no time did our
PARLIAMENTARY DEBATES. 287
commercial prospects look more gloomy
than
at the present—and he had appealed to the
hon. members for Richmond and
Halifax to
say whether he was right. Neither of these
gentlemen had ventured to endorse the statement of the Financial Secretary, because
being
engaged in trade themselves they knew his
anticipations of an increased revenue were
without foundation. According
to the calculation of the member for Colchester (Mr. Archibald) an additional burden
of $400,000 a year
will be placed upon the revenues of the province by the resolution now under
discussion.
The member for Halifax (Mr.Tobin) makes
out that the whole debt will be $11,085,000, and
he calculates the interest at $500,000. How he
arrived at that conclusion he (Mr. B.) was at a
loss to imagine ; it certainly
was not at six per
cent. By his own calculations
he made out
the yearly liability to be $665,000
on the debt
as stated by Mr. Tobin, and this, deducting the
present debt, just agrees with Mr. Archibald's
estimate. He would ask the house whether
they were prepared to assume an
additional
liability of $400,000 per annum
for twenty
years to come? If the Financial
Secretary
can demonstrate that the financial condition
of the country will bear that enormous burden
he should be surprised indeed.
How, he would
ask, could the members for Cape Breton go
back to their constituents and justify
themselves for voting for this resolution which will
put ÂŁ20,000 additional every year upon them.
The great cry in that island always had been
that Nova Scotia swallowed up the whole
revenue, and did not return to Cape Breton a
fair share of what she contributed. He for one
could not go back to his constituents and tell
them that he had consented to put ÂŁ20,000
more upon them to build a
railroad to Moncton and Annapolis. The hon. member for
Victoria (Mr. O. J. Campbell) denounced
the
resolution introduced last year,
in the strongest manner, in pretty much the same terms as
he was then doing; but the
resolution of last
year sank into utter insignificance when compared with those now on the table. When
it
was considered that the Pictou railroad was
going to cost ÂŁ100,000 more than was anticipated when it was commenced, he
did not
envy the man who undertook to justify to the
people of this country the increased
expenditure which it was proposed to make. He
would be the last man to say, that.upon
every public question, a
representative
was to be bound and influenced
solely
by the views of his constituents. It was
his duty to regard the interests of the
whole
country, but still, in a question
of this kind, it
was proper that he should consider
whether
he was justified in imposing this additional
burden upon them. Any one who took the
trouble to look into the statistics
on the subject will find that Cape Breton.
paid into the
revenue, for loyalty on coal,
$29,000 being ten
thousand dollars more than Nova Scotia
proper, and yet this money is to be expended for
the construction of a railroad to the
western
part of the province. The Finl. Sec'y appeared to think that the large expenditure
which
is going on in Cape Breton will tend to increase the revenue. He (Mr. B.)
did not think
that there was much in that
argument. If any
reduction took place in the price of agricultural
productions, she would lose more than could
be made up in that respect. Cape Breton sent
to market, in
1863, a
million of pounds of butter; upon that article alone, if the
price remains as it is, which is about one half of what
it was a short time ago, she
will lose $125,000.
The advantages derived from the
expenditure
of capital in Cape Breton will be more
than
counterbalanced by the loss she
will sustain
in the price of agricultural productions. The
Finl. Sec'y admits that we will incur a liability
of $323,000. Now he would ask
the house to
look these figures in the face.
He
would ask
the members for Cape Breton if they were
prepared to assume a liability of $323,000
in
addition to the sum already borne
by the revenue?
The Pro. Sec. says the tariff must be
increased in order to provide for the increased expenditure upon the public works.
What a commentary upon the course pursued by that hon.
gentleman a few years ago. The government
then to meet a temporary
emergency were
forced to increase the tariff. Did the Financial
Secretary agree to that? On the contrary he
denounced the government and appealed to
the country with the cry that this reckless and
extravagant government, instead of
retrenching their expenses, were going to increase the
burdens of the people by adding
to the duties
they would have to pay. He and those associated with him succeeded in frightening
the
people for the time, and he attained the object
he had in view. But what did he propose to
do now—instead of carrying out the retrenchment he then advocated, he proposes
to add
this additional burden of $323,000
a year to our
present liabilities and to increase the tariff as
well. He also said that there
were certain
public services which will not require the assistance they now receive; and first
of all
he
proposes to reduce the grant for navigation
securities from $49,000 to $5,000. If the people
of this province will agree to that reduction he
(Mr. B.) would be much astonished. Then
again he said the St. Peter's Canal would be
finished and that expenditure
would be saved.
He was at a loss to know how
that could be
the case. That work would certainly not be
completed before this liability would accrue.
It was rather singular that
the Financial Secretary, in his present retrenchment scheme,
should have hit upon the same
figures as the
hon. Provincial Secretary used a few years
ago; or, at all events, should have arrived at
the same result. He is going to save $80,000 a
year—just as the hon.Provincial Secretary intended to do before he got into office;
but the
tables are turned now—he has got into power
and not a word is heard about reducing the
salaries of public officers.
His plan now is to
reduce the grant to navigation securities and
other important services.
Hon. FINL. SEC.—The only reduction proposed is with respect to those grants which
will terminate in this present session.
Mr. BLANCHARD—Then the idea appears to
have been to get as much as possible
this session, so that none will be wanted next. year.
He agreed entirely with the
member for Halifax (Mr. Tobin), in
his
remarks as to the advantages of railway extension, but he did not
agree with him in some of the
calculations he
had made—when
he talked about the saving
that was effected by railroad travel, and
put it
down at a dollar a day—he forgot that many
of these passengers did not go further
than the
four mile
house, or to Bedford—and
it could not
288 PARLIAMENTARY DEBATES.
be said of them that they saved that
much. The
Hon Finl. Sec. undertook to prove that the
member for Colchester was wrong in his statement that a larger expenditure would be
required for the future, for the maintenance
of
the railroads, than had been necessary in
the
past. Upon referring to the returns he found
that the cost of maintenance had been steadily
increasing year by year. He would be the
last person to alarm people as to the state of
the railroads, but every body knew that every
year the roads necessarily became more worn
out, and required repair. In 1861, the cost of
maintenance amounted to $34,000;
in 1862,
$37,000. In '63, $47,000, and in the nine months
of 1864 $50,000. He did not
wish to detain the
House much longer, but he would give them a
few figures shewing what Cape Breton would
have to pay towards the railway system
of Nova Scotia. She would be required to
pay one-fifth of the whole debt—or $128,000.
The hon. member for Halifax talked about
mud roads as if they were of no consequence
at all. If he represented a country constituency he would find it a matter of a little
more
importance then he seemed to think it now.
He is only willing to give us $100,000
for what
he calls mud roads, but is perfectly ready to
vote $556,000 a year for iron
roads. Now he
(Mr. B.) would yield to no man, in his opinion
as to the importance of railroads to a country,
but if they were only to be obtained by sacrificing the common roads which were of
so much
importance to the great mass of the people he
would be inclined to pause,
before incurring
any greater liability. At all events he could
not see how any one could doubt the propriety
of adopting the course proposed by the member for Colchester, to wait for a twelve
month,
and see how affairs looked then, we would
then be able to ascertain how much the Pictou
road was actually going to cost. At present that
was uncertain. He had had a conversation
with contractors who had been employed on
the Truro road and they laughed at the idea of
its being built for two millions of dollars. Under these circumstances as a member
of the
house, and a representative from Cape Breton
he was not prepared to authorize the enormous
expenditure contemplated by the resolution
before the house and he should
vote against
them.
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