the United States and Canada and authorized by the Treaty of May 5, 1910, the following interesting despatch from Washington appears in The Globe of this date: "The most important step in the promotion of cordial relations between the United States and Canada thus far accomplished was completed to-day when the Department of State delivered the commission to the three Members of the International Joint Commission which is hereafter to deal with all issues between the two countries. To this tribunal are delegated powers which it is believed will obviate all employment of the circuitous routes of all former negotiations which have been conducted by way of Downing Street and will make possible a directness of communication and conference which will, no doubt, forestall serious disagreements." May 19.-Canada declines to adhere to the new British Commercial Treaty with Japan but is willing to continue the existing one for a period of two years. July 13.-The Anglo-Japanese Treaty of alliance is changed so that if either Power concludes a Treaty of General Arbitration with a third Power the alliance shall not entail an obligation to go to war with that Power. Aug. 2.-The Chinese Famine Relief Fund reaches the total of $54,270 and is closed. Aug. 15.-After negotiation, conclusion and signature (Aug. 3) of an Arbitration Treaty between Great Britain and the United States; after great acclaim from a part of the Press in Great Britain and Canada and the Republic; following a series of earnest speeches by President Taft-notably on July 7th-and strongly expressed approval by Sir Edward Grey on Mch. 17th, by Mr. Balfour and Mr. Asquith in London on Apr. 28th, by' Sir W. Laurier at Ottawa on Mch. 22nd; the United States Senate rejects the arrangement on the ground that it would have to be followed by Treaties with other Powers and endanger the Monroe Doctrine. Dec. 14.-A meeting is held in London to arrange for co-operation in a celebration of 100 years of peace between Great Britain and the United States. Earl Grey is appointed President of the Association and Lord Shaw, of Dunfermleigh, Chairman of the Executive. Dec. 21. In a Message to Congress President Taft says of the Panama Canal Toll question: "I am very confident that the United States has the power to relieve from the payment of tolls any part of our shipping that Congress deems wise. We own the Canal. It was our money that built it. We have the right to charge tolls for its use. Those tolls must be the same to everyone, but when we are dealing with our own ships the practice of many Governments of subsidizing their own merchant vessels is so well established that a subsidy equal to the tolls, an equivalent remission of tolls, cannot be held to be a discrimination in the use of the Canal." Dec. 31.-In Ontario the Censors of Moving Picture films forbade during the year the constant use of the United States flag; in Winnipeg and Edmonton and other points in the West attention was drawn to the constantly pro-American and anti-British subjects in these films; from St. John and Montreal and Vancouver, B.C., complaints came. Dec. 31.-The Foreign appointments, etc., in Canada during the year were as follows: Consul-General for France. Arbitrator: United States and Mexico Consul-General for Argentine Re- Camille Jules Alexandre Chayet. Eugene Lafleur, K.C. Carlos A. Galarce. XII.-TRANSPORTATION AFFAIRS. The Canadian Pacific Railway. Jan. 9. Referring at Montreal to Sir T. G. Shaughnessy's ready-madefarm idea in the West, G. McLaren Brown, European Manager, describes it as "the greatest success of any Immigration plan yet employed by the C.P.R. or the Government. Already large English landlords, such as the Duke of Sutherland and the Duke of Norfolk, Lord Desborough and the Duke of Buccleuch are taking it up in the effort to establish their surplus tenantry on Canadian farms." Jan. 23.-Vice-President William Whyte's announced building programme for Western Canada includes the construction of 380 miles of new branch lines; the building of 100 miles of double track; the addition of 40 miles to sidings to make room for longer trains drawn by Mogul engines; the enlargement by one-third of the Winnipeg shops of the Company to provide facilities for the handling of locomotives and cars; the laying of 85-pound steel on the old M. & N. W., which is to be a portion of the new main line to Edmonton; the establishment of rockcrushing plants in British Columbia, and the rock ballasting there of hundreds of miles of roadbed to protect it against the effects of heavy rain; the establishment of new Railroad Yards at Medicine Hat, Moose Jaw and Regina. Feb. 3. Judgment is given in favour of the Company by the Privy Council in the testing and final case as to the Railway's right of exemption from taxation in the Western Provinces. It is held that unoccupied lands are not taxable until 20 years after the actual grant of letters patent to the settler and that C.P.R. lands sold on the instalment plan are not taxable until all the instalments are paid. Feb. 14. Mr. David McNicoll, Vice-President and General Manager, states to the Toronto press that local improvements and build. ings are under way involving a large expenditure of money. 7.-Western trainmen from Port Arthur to Vancouver are given a ten per cent. advance in wages. Mch. Mch. 25.-The Privy Council dismisses the Company's Appeal in the Toronto Viaduct case. This means the end of a legal battle in Toronto which began in 1907 for a separation of the grades of the railways entering the City along the water-front. It was on Dec. 31, 1908, that the order of the Railway Commission was issued for the elevation of the tracks coming in from the east and the depression of the tracks westward. Mch. 31.-The Toronto News gives the following reasons for the current advance in C.P.R. stock: (1) The Company has advanced its dividend rate from 7 to 10 per cent.; (2) the Company's possessions in lands and other property are enormously valuable; (3) the Company is undisturbed by the pursuit of American Courts and Legislatures to which United States Railways are subjected; (4) these considerations have led to a gradual transfer of investors' money from United States rails to Canadian Pacific. June 30.-The 30th Annual Report of the Company shows the following balance sheet: $561,887,215 57 $561,887,215 57 June 30.-The Company's 4 per cent. yearly dividend on Preference Stock and its quarterly dividends on Ordinary Stock at 7 per cent., totalled $14,853,866, with 22 per cent. additional paid out of Special Income; the year's business was as follows: Gross Earnings Net Earnings Net Earnings of Steamships in excess of monthly Deduct fixed charges Total Profits $27,807,109 00 June 30.-The balance remaining from sales of the Company's lands and townsites is stated, officially, at $49,258,770; its acreage of land in the three Prairie Provinces totals 7,061,184 acres and in British Columbia 4,427,811 acres; the statement of Earnings show $28,165,556 from Passengers and $5,645,227 from Freight; the total equipment at date includes 1,637 locomotives, 52,602 freight and cattle cars, and 2,064 passenger, sleeping, and other cars, 16 steamships in the Atlantic service, 4 in the Pacific, 21 on the Pacific coast, 5 on the Upper Lakes and 21 in various British Columbia services. June 30.-The sales of agricultural C.P.R. land during the year are stated to aggregate 650,874 acres for $9,558,427, or $14.69 per June 30.-The total mileage included in the Traffic returns is 10,480, the mileage of other Lines worked is 291, the mileage under construction 983, the mileage of the Minneapolis and St. Paul and the Duluth and South Shore is 4,381. Aug. 29.-The retirement of Sir William Whyte, as Vice-President and an active official, and his appointment as a Director of the Company, is announced at a Dinner in Winnipeg. Sept. 2.-The London Statist, in a careful analysis of the Company's position, describes the growth of its earnings in 10 years as 237 per cent. and of the traffic per mile as 141 per cent.; dilates upon its conservative management and the debt owed by Canada to the men who built the Railway. The effect of Oct. the Company's policy of excluding land sales, bounties and subsidies, from its Capital Account is said to be a wise and generous one and to have enabled it not only to keep the capitalization down but to charge lower rates and fares than would have been otherwise possible. The Asset value of the undertaking is placed at $743,000,000, the liabilities at $443,000,000. 4. At the annual meeting of the Shareholders Sir T. G. Shaughnessy announces that the shops for Western maintenance and rolling stock construction would be erected at Calgary. In his address the President adds: "It will not only be desirable but necessary to continue to build year by year a good many branch lines to provide present and incoming settlers with transportation facilities. More miles, indeed, than you would have been called upon to provide had the Dominion and Provincial Governments, who pledged their credit almost beyond the limit of prudence to assist other railroads, insisted that these Companies should open up new territories instead of building their lines through settled sections of the country where ample transportation facilities already existed." Sir Thomas Shaughnessy is re-elected President with the Executive Committee as follows: R. B. Angus, David McNicoll, Sir E. B. Osler, Sir T. G. Shaughnessy, Lord Strathcona and Sir W. C. Van Horne. Oct. 18. The last rail on the Company's new grain route from Victoria Harbour to Bethany, near Peterborough, is laid. The completion of this line by the C.P.R. is of importance as taking an important future part in the transportation of the grain crops of the West to Montreal and the East. Nov. 26. It is stated in the press that when prospects of settlement in the Western Coal Strike were not bright the C.P.R. feared that there would be great suffering amongst settlers during the winter and purchased in Pennsylvania all the coal that could be handled through Fort William. It also provided for shipment by way of Duluth of 400,000 tons or a total of 700,000 tons, altogether, in excess of the Company's own requirements. The object was to have this coal available for sale at cost to settlers along its lines if a supply could not be secured through ordinary channels. Dec. 11.-It is announced that the Company will issue $18,000,000 of new stock at $150 per share, bringing the total up to $198,000,000 or within 2 million of its authorized Ordinary Stock. Dec. 22.-The New York Journal of Commerce states that there are 38,145 shareholders in the C.P.R. as against 35,791 a year ago. Dec. 27.-The Canadian Pacific Telegraph Co. announces that after Jan. 1st it will accept messages for transmission to Great Britain at one-half the regular rates. These messages at the lower rates will not be transmitted until the messages which pay the full rate have been forwarded but they will be transmitted within 24 hours. Dec. 31.-The following appointments were made during the year: Position. Vice-President and General Mana- Assistant Chief Engineer of East- J. M. R. Fairbairn.. Montreal. Assistant Freight Traffic Manager. W. M. Kirkpatrick.. Montreal. General Freight Agent. Division H. E. McDonell.. Superintendent, Eastern F. P. Gutelius.. General Superintendent of Trans- . Montreal. Montreal. Montreal. Charles Murphy ....Montreal. The Canadian Northern Railway. Mch. 1. Sir William Mackenzie is given a banquet at Halifax in recognition of his making that City the winter terminus of the Royal Line. Mayor Chisholm presided and after a reference to the guest's great Canadian railway work, added: "Another reason why he has claims on us is that in our Province he has developed extensive coal mines and opened up a portion of the Province by constructing a Railway. We trust that in his future work Nova Scotia will have a place." Mch. 17.-To the Toronto Press Sir William Mackenzie says: "Last year May the Company spent something like $13,000,000 on construction work in the West and the expenditure for this year will greatly exceed that sum." 9. Sir Donald Mann, in an Ottawa interview (Toronto Star) describes the Bond proposition made to the Government as follows: "If you will give us a guarantee of our bonds on this Ontario and Quebec Section we will guarantee you to use the Intercolonial as our extension to the Atlantic and thus assure that road a continuance of traffic. We will give you a third transcontinental which will not cost the country a dollar. We expect to have the whole line in operation by 1915 and will have our independent terminals in Toronto, Hamilton, and Montreal and, though no decision has yet been reached as to Ottawa, we are ready to enter into a partnership arrangement or, failing that, to create our own terminals here." May 11.-The Resolutions presented at Ottawa by Mr. Graham, Minister of Railways, which eventually became law, enable the Dominion Government to guarantee the bonds of the Company to the extent of $35,000 per mile for the whole distance from Port Arthur to Montreal, via Sudbury and the Ottawa Valley-1,050 miles. The interest on the guaranteed securities is placed at 3 per cent. per annum, payable half-yearly, with the principal payable 50 years after the first issue. May 19. It is announced that contracts have been awarded for the completion, within one year, of the Toronto-Ottawa Line of 250 miles. May 20. It is stated in the Toronto Star as the result of an interview with Sir Donald Mann that the C.N.R. North Toronto Station will be situated half-way between Yonge Street and Avenue Road and be apart from that of the C.P.R. The right of way through North Toronto was practically all acquired at a cost of $1,600,000. The initial expenditure for the Toronto Terminals would be between five and six million dollars and the work was to be completed in two years. In addition to the North Toronto Station the Canadian Northern would use the Union Station on the Esplanade so long as traffic conditions warranted. In Montreal there would be terminals and a bridge over the St. Lawrence costing about $30,000,000. June 29.-Announcement is made of a contract being let to the Northern Construction Co. for building the Canadian Northern 160 miles through the heart of the Rockies and through the valleys of the Fraser and the South Thompson Rivers. The Contractors are to begin their work at Hope and continue to Kamloops. June 30.-The result of the Company's operations for the fiscal year are as follows: $2,869,677 05 11,951,993 75 Gross Earnings-from Passenger Traffic. From Express, Mail, Telegraph, Dining and Sleeping 1,539,041 59 Total $16,360,712 39 |