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Printed for the use of the Cabinet and Colonial Office.
CONFIDENTIAL.
North America
No. 115.
I desire to bring before my colleagues the annexed letter from Sir Charles Tupper, the High Commissioner for Canada, enclosing a memo. by Mr. Stephen, the President of the C. P. R. Co. It seems to me that this proposal is not to be looked at from a financial point of view only; and therefore I submit it to the Cabinet. It is difficult to overrate the importance of being able in time of war or of emergency to send troops, munitions of war, &c., to the Pacific, China, and Straits Settlements, without passing through, or even by, other than British territory. It also affords an alternative route to India. The subsidy asked is large, but I have some reason to think that the Canadian Government would contribute to the amount of £20,000, or perhaps £25,000. I hope that the Cabinet will give this question their early consideration.
(Signed) FRED. STANLEY.
January 14th, 1886.
The High Commissioner for Canada to Colonial Office.
7th January, 1886.
Sir,
I am directed by the Canadian Government to transmit to the Secretary of State for the Colonies a copy of a letter which has been addressed to Sir John Macdonald by Mr. George Stephen, the President of the Canadian Pacific Railway Company.
It will be observed that the Company are prepared, under certain conditions, to establish direct communication between the Atlantic ports of Canada and Japan and China, by rail to Vancouver and thence by steamer. The consideration they require is a subsidy, which they think should be £100,000 (one hundred thousand pounds) per annum for ten years from the 1st June, 1886. For this sun they will organise a line of first-class steamers with a speed of from 14 to 15 knots per hour, capable of making the voyage to Yokohama under 12 days, leaving Vancouver for Japan and China, and vice verså at intervals of three weeks. It is anticipated that, in conjunction with the Mail Steamers, now passing between Liverpool and Canada, mails and passengers can be conveyed from Great Britain to Yokohama in 26 days and Hong Kong in 30 days. This will be considerably less than the time via the Suez Canal; and by employing on the Pacific vessels equal in speed to the best steamers now crossing the Atlantic, the service may be further accelerated.
In connection with this matter I may mention that the Canadian Govern- ment has already expended a sum of about £20,000,000 sterling, besides land subsidies, in providing this Railway and the Intercolonial Line from Queber to Halifax (the latter affording the winter route from the Atlantic); and that although its value to the Dominion in connecting the various provinces, and in other ways, will be great, it is of equal importance to the Empire at large. Not only does it provide an alternative route for the despatch of troops and munitions of war to India, Australasia, China, and Japan, entirely through British territory, but in many cases a much quicker means of transport. It also possesses other advantages which will doubtless commend themselves to the Post Office, War Office, and Admiralty authorities.
(25 1 | 86-H & S 1535)
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