The Grand Valley Railway; Education and

other New Brunswick Questions

66

This Railway project had been a subject of party controversy ever since the Hazen Government took office. It was an old proposal revived in a different form and the Toronto Globe (Jan. 5, 1912) had an interesting reference to it as a matter which once threatened to disrupt the Macdonald Government in the historic Battle of Routes incident. When the Intercolonial Railway was made one of the conditions of Confederation in 1867 there were three routes in competition for the line, the one at present in use along the Bay of Chaleur and the Gulf of the St. Lawrence to Moncton, the Central route now used for the Transcontinental, and the Western route now to be used for the new Railway. The Central route had in those days no chance as against the Eastern one advocated by the late Mr. Peter Mitchell and the Western one advocated by the late Sir Leonard Tilley." In detail, and between the Dominion and Provincial Governments, the issue at the beginning of 1911 lay in the former having offered through Mr. Pugsley, Minister of Public Works, to subsidize a railway from St. John to Grand Falls as part of the Intercolonial system connecting with the Grand Trunk Pacific; while the latter desired a Line from St. John to the Maine border and across Maine and Quebec to the City of Quebec by a separate route. There were also conditions in the Federal offer which the New Brunswick Government did not approve and they had obtained in 1910 permission from the Legislature to give Provincial aid to such a Railway whenever conditions permitted.

On Feb. 25 Thomas Malcolm, who had just completed the International Railway, wrote on behalf of the Quebec and New Brunswick Railway Co.-holding a Dominion Charter-and offered to construct the proposed line at once, subject to subsequent lease to the Canadian Government, operation as a part of the Intercolonial, a Provincial guarantee of bonds and certain modifications in detail. The Premier replied on Mch. 2nd stating that when the 1910 Act had been proclaimed and some Resolutions passed which were then before the Ottawa House he would go into the matter. Two weeks later the Malcolm letter was read in the Legislature by Mr. Tweeddale, an Opposition member. Some vigorous references followed and J. A. Murray (Mch. 16) stated that the letter was not a definite offer and had been marked private when sent to Mr. Hazen. The Administration would carry out its pledges and build the road despite the opposition of the Liberal members and press and of the Government at Ottawa. A Report was also submitted at this time by D. F. Maxwell, Chief Engineer in charge of the Valley surveys. He went into the subject at length, estimated the cost of the sections, and concluded as follows:

The importance of the St. John Valley as a route for a great highway cannot be over-estimated and the proposition to build a railway along it

is not merely local but national in both scope and character and the time is now within measurable distance when more than one Transcontinental railway entering this valley, either by the national road now building or by what may be a shorter route across the State of Maine, and seeking an ocean terminal at St. John, must of necessity traverse some portion of the line now under consideration as it is the existence of the peculiar physical features of this country that make possible a railway of this character, and that must, eventually, make of the Port of St. John one of the four great shipping ports of the world.

On Mch. 22nd the Provincial Act of 1910 was proclaimed in part, on the 20th the subject was debated at Ottawa, and a Resolution of the Minister of Railways passed which provided for the taking over and operating as part of the I. C. R. of a Valley Railway constructed by a private Company under Provincial guarantee of bonds. A Bill embodying these Resolutions was also passed in due course. On Apl. 27 Messrs. Flemming, McLeod, Maxwell and Morrissy of the Provincial Government discussed the matter at Ottawa with Mr. Pugsley, Minister of Public Works, and afterwards with Mr. R. L. Borden. A letter signed by the four Delegates and dated Apl. 28 was sent to Mr. Pugsley. In it the New Brunswick Aid Act of 1910 was quoted as providing two plans one for the guarantee of bonds for a railway from Grand Falls to St. John, or a point on the C.P.R. near Westfield, on condition that it be leased to the Intercolonial; the other for a line from Andover (near the Maine border) or some other point in Victoria County, by Centreville and Lakeville to Woodstock and the St. John Valley to the same objective point.

The Delegates asked that the Federal Subsidy Act be amended and the amount made payable under either of these plans. If the Province made a contract under the second plan it would be with reasonable assurances that the Railway would extend through Maine and Quebec and connect with the Grand Trunk at or near Quebec City. On May 4 Mr. Pugsley replied that he and the Minister of Railways had come to the conclusion that they should have more definite information as to route, location, character and mode of operation-electricity or steam. In reply Mr. Flemming wrote on May 16 enclosing a letter from A. R. Gould, President of the St. John & Quebec Railway Co. It was dated May 11, addressed to the Provincial Premier and referred to an arrangement as having been made with the Hazen Government on Mch. 25, 1911. Mr. Pugsley replied at length stating that the particulars asked for had not been given, deprecated the apparent abandonment of construction to Grand Falls and I.C.R. connection, stated that Mr. Gould had no charter right to go to Quebec and declared that he would not change the Subsidy Act so as to help a project running from Andover instead of Grand Falls.

On May 25th Mr. J. K. Flemming wrote Mr. Pugsley claiming that the St. John-Grand Falls plan was rendered abortive by

the Federal standard of construction and enclosed copy of a draft contract between the New Brunswick Government and the St. John and Quebec Railway which would be signed as soon as the Department of Railways gave assurances as to the Dominion Subsidy of $6,400 per mile being available. "You will observe that the draft of the contract provides for the construction of the road to the City of St. John, crossing the St. John River at the Mistake and entering the city upon the east side. This provision is contingent upon the necessary aid to construct the bridges across the St. John and Kennebecassis being provided by the Federal Government. I believe that this arrangement will meet with your approval. You will observe that the contract calls for the completion of the road from the International boundary to Woodstock by the 1st of July, 1912; to Fredericton, 1st of July, 1913, and to St. John or Welsford by the 1st of July, 1914.”

Mr. Pugsley in a long press statement of May 31, denounced the Provincial project as a whole, declared the securities and safeguards insufficient, and declined to depart from his policy of I.C.R. connection and operation. On June 5th, before any official reply was received, Mr. Flemming wrote offering to change the arrangement so as to construct from Grand Falls and place the Line under I.C.R. operation if the Dominion Government would waive its impracticable standard of construction. A conference was suggested and this the Minister at once accepted. A further long letter of suggestions and comments from Mr. Pugsley also followed. The conference took place at Ottawa on June 13 with Messrs. Flemming, Morrissy and Maxwell representing the Provincial Government and an amicable arrangement was apparently come to. On Sept. 8th Mr. Gould wrote to the Minister of Public Works at Ottawa saying that whenever the contract was signed by the Department of Railways, and the Subsidy made available, construction would begin; on the 14th Mr. Pugsley wrote that he had heard nothing from the Provincial Government since their June interviews, but, whenever they were ready to execute the contract, he would ask the Minister of Railways to sign it. Meanwhile the Federal Elections were going on and nothing more was done. Soon after they were over Mr. Flemming proceeded once more to Ottawa (Nov. 18) and it was understood made favourable arrangements with a Government which now included Mr. Hazen and whose Premier (Mr. Borden) had written on June 15th preceding to O. S. Crocket, M.P., declaring that the Subsidy should be granted at once by Order-in-Council. The contracts for construction were signed, sealed, and delivered at Fredericton on Dec. 12th and President A. R. Gould stated that 125 miles would be built in the next six months.

Educational conditions in New Brunswick during the year showed distinct improvement. Dr. W. S. Carter's annual Report as Chief Superintendent dealt with "the largest number of