OUR CANADIAN LETTER

Press, Volume L, Issue 14883, 24 January 1914, Page 2

OUR CANADIAN LETTER

. ' — ♦- (FROM OTTO OWN CORRESPONDENT.) .:■■', '~ TORONTO, December 19. A BIG RAILWAY PURCHASE; • There is a rumour, which seems well founded, that the ' Canadian Pacific Railway is contemplating a big purchase, and it is tinted that it is the Canadian Northern Railway that it has its. eye on. This is the explanation some men are finding 'for the issue of forty million dollars debentures on land sales to create a trust fund. That there is a purpose beyond the mere cutting of a melon'for stockholders is conceded, and; tho double, tracking contemplated could be paid for out of earnings. . .Tho Canadian Northern, on the other hand, is known to bo in need of further assistance, and is going, it is said, to come to Parliament for it in tho coming session. 'Mr Phipi>en, counsel for the Canadian Northern Railway,. put up a strong plea against tho, lowering of the Western freight rates by the Railway Commission a few days ago, and this is taken to hint at a prospect not quite rosy. A stockholder of the Canadian Pacific Railway has expressed the expectation of a big "buy" soon, and tho "Montreal Gazette," usually ahead in'forecasts of Canadian Pacific Railway policy, hints at the same thing. TWO RAILWAYS FINANCING. On the same day, the 11th inst., two Canadian railway presidents made statements as to their methods of financing. Sir , William Mackenzie, head of the Canadian Northern Railway, told of his success in floating the Canadian Northern Railway land mortgage bonds to the- amount of seven and a' half million dollars in London, despito the unfavourable money market. The bonds bear interest at 5 per cent., and 80 per cent, of them wero sold to tho public at 95. They probably netted the Canadian Northern Railway 92J, so that the interest charge on the issue is slightly less than oi per cent. a year. The Canadian Northern..has great potentialities, but at the moment is greatly handicapped in its financing by the fact that its main line between tuo Atlantic and the Pacific is not yet completed, and that "much money must be spent to bring it up to a good operating standard. Tho people along the Canadion Northern railway lines, therefore, on the assumption that the road is , carefully and economically managed, will nay 5J per cent, for the borrowed capital engaged in hauling their wheat to market and in bringing back manufactured goods from the East. This return to capital is not regarded as excessive, considering the general value of money throughout the world. The eettler on the plains, it is felt, can pay such a return for money engaged in transportation, and still hope to compete with the wheat-growers and cattle-raisers _ of Russia, tie Argentine, the Danubian States, and Australia. • Sir Thomas Shaughnessy, president of the most powerful and flourishing railway company in the world, the Canadian Pacific Railway, explained a recent financial transaction of his company. The , company, he said, was not short of funds by any means, but there were works of improvement now in "progress that would have to be paid for coon. The had power to issue four per cent, consolidated debentures or common stock, but they did not regard the present as a good time for such issues, and so they had decided to ask their own shareholders to lend them money on tho security of an issue of fifty-two million dollars in note certificates, with deferred land payments as a special security therefor. The holders of Canadian Pacific Railway stock are asked to take up_ these note certificates, therefore, bearing interest "at six per cent., at 80 cents on the dollar. It is guaranteed that they will all be redeemed in ten years at par. Some holders, if lucky, may have tho notes taken up at par in a year or two. The accumulation of deferred land payments is to be used to retire the notes from time to time, and as they are redeemed par mast be paid for them.

The stockholders will get 7\ per cent, in interest, and at least 2 per cent, moro a year in the form of appreciation of principal, a total of 9J per cent. Jlost of the money thus earned from this loan will go to people in Britain, Holland, and Germany. Sir Thomas claims that this arrangement will afford the shareholders of the company li tho distinct advantages to which they are entitled." DEPUTATIONS ON TARIFF. Representatives of the organised farmere and grain men of Western Canada and of the Dominion Grange waited on Premier Borden and members of his Cabinet on the 16th inst., urging the Government to grant them wider markets and reduction of tariff. They asked for an increase of the British preference to one-half the general tariff, and further reductions till tnere is free trade with Great Britain in five years; that Parliament acceot the offer of the United States of free interchange of all agricultural and animal products between the two countries; that foodstuffs not provided for in that offer be transferred to the free list; that agricultural implements, lumber, and cement be put on the freo list; that Customs duties now imposed which are the cause of countervailing duties against food products of this country by any foreign country, bo removed; that tariff or trade concessions granted to any other country be irr.niecli.nteiy extended to Great Britain ; that a comprehensive Co-operation Act bo introduced next session to permit of the establishment of cooperative societies of nil kinds, whether for purposes of credit or trade; that a .general utility agent bo appointed by the Government empowereato adjust claims between shippers and railway, elevator and commission companies; that lake and ocean freight charges on grain and flour be investigated, for the rolicf of producers and millers; that the Grain Art be amended so as to transfer inspection and control of grain scales from the Inland Revenue to the Tmde and Commerce Department, under jurisdiction of the Railway Commission: and that the Railway .Act be amended to make companies liable for full value to owners of live stock killed or injured on tho railway's lands through operation of the railway, save in case of negligonce by the owner of the animal; also that it bo tho duty of tho company to protect the crops and prevent live stock from entering or escaping from enclosed lands through which the railway pnsses. . Another deputation., composed of fruitgrowpr.? and stock raisers, also siw the Premier and other Ministers tlte same day, and onposed the demands of the farmers, claiming that fanners in general did rot want tariff reduction, but that they, the fruit ard stock men, needed continued protection and a stable tariff. To both deputations the Premier promised careful corsid r> ration, ard he expressed his sympathy with the cooperative movement, also •"ovinp. he hnd been favourably impressed by tbo argument on amerdment.'* to the RAilway and Grain Acts. 0« the question of tariff either through inereasps of the British preference or through removal of Canadian duties, he said the whole question must be left for Parliimpntnry action, to be announced in due- time. WHAT FARMERS ARE ASKING FOR, Tho Dominion Grange,, the leading organisation of farmers in Canada, at its annual meeting yesterday adopted resolutions to ask the Government for immediate readjustment of the tariff to remove the burdens from agriculture; gradual increaso of tho British preference to ultimate free trade; aid to co-operative organisation and elimination of middlemen's profits; good roads programme; increased railway taxation and increased assessment on automo-. biles to pay for road improvement; exemption of improvements from taxation ; development of parcel post to facilitate exchange of products between couptry and town; direct referendum to; the naval question submitting , > the of money contributions. Canadian Navy*,, and remaining as at present; and the substitution of initiative and referendum in the matter of important legislation for tho present system of party government. MILITIA OFFICERS FROM. UNIVERSITIES. Tho Minister of Militia, Col. the Hon. Samuel Hughes, has a big scheme for tho turning out annually of three or four hundred university students throughout Canada as trained officers of the Canadian militia, with generous provision at each Canadian University for student residences, armouries, and parade grounds in connexion with the military training course. Voluntary donations from Lord Strathcona, of about 100,000 dol., and from Major R. "W. Leonard, chairman of the National Transcontinental Railway Commission, of about half a million, are to start the scheme at Queen's and MeGill Universities. Other wealthy Canadians are being communicated with, with a view to supporting the project at tho Universities of Toronto, New • Brunswick, British Columbia, Laval, T>alhousie/ and Mount Allison. Col. Hughes expects the donations to amount to moro than a million. Tho whole scheme is being put in charge of Lieutenant M. Peterson, son of Principal Peterson, of MeGill University, Montreal, and who is a graduate of Cambridge University. The scheme does not meet with much favour at the University of. Toronto, Principal Maurice Hutton, of University College, and others, thinking Canadians are too busy to dabble in militarism. . JOTTINGS. Up to the Ist of December, the huge aggregate of ninety million dollars in cash had been paid to farmers in "Western Canada for grain this season, the total amounting to 143,000,000 bushels. This smashes all records, and *s the greatest grain movement ever known in Canada. Tho value of the egg production in Canada oxcoeds that of barley, corn, or fruit, the figures for these four products for the year being placed respectively at 23,509,000 dollars worth of eggs, 14,606.000 dollars of barley, 14,510,000 dollars of corn, and 12,733,000 dollars of fruit. Nevertheless Canadians do not find the egg in- j dustry produces nearly enough eggs for themselves. In the United States, it is stated, corn stands at the top of the list, eggs coming second, and wheat third. Th© largest single insurance deal ever consummated in the world was effected in Montreal in the early days of this month, being put through by a Canadian concern. The policy is for upwards of a, hundred million dollars, tho property insured being worth between 112,000,0ia> dollars and 115,000,000 dollars. It belongs to the CanadSan Pacific Railway «Cbmpany. Five big insurance syndicates are in-, terested, including the largest company of the kind in the British Empire. A new record for deep tunnelling on the American continent has been established by the Canadian Northern Railway tunnel under Mount Royal, and with the exception of the Swiss tunnels, -where the headings are much smaller and the rock is softer, it is a world's record. In just fifteen months after the first heading in the tunnel was commenced, the two headings met at a point about 620 feet below the highest point of Mount Royal, (at Montreal). The variation was not more than a fraction of an inch either way, so accurate was the engineers' -work.