THE "ALL RED ROUTE"

Dominion, Volume 1, Issue 96, 16 January 1908, Page 4

THE "ALL RED ROUTE"

! " WHAT THE PROJECT JIEANS. ' v The "All . Red RouteV.y was the 'subject, of an interesting 'diseiis'sion at a •dirinor '.of .'the , illiberal Coloriial ; Club 111 Priiic6V<ltcstd'urarit, ! liondpn,vofi December 3. last.,-, Mr. . Tennant,' 3J..P., .chairman Committee, of the Chilv presided, and Clifford Sifton, K.C:' (Canada); was thcyguo'st of the ■ evening.!;' .V: '; ■ '■. :;Yi , tho Hon. Clifford Sifton,. tho Chairman asked if they could, look for a more excellent: way of establishing; the .'mighty,fab/ ric of Imperial union' than was to bo'Jpiind , in the project upon . which Mr. ' was . to address them. ' : ' '/. •' / ' Mr. ! Sifton, ,at the outset, claimed for the , British Empire a place in tho .histpry , of Empires, inasmuch as'it was vmade'up',of : independent, self-governing nation's/ If tlic. ' late Colonial Conference 1 had dono nothing more than''establish tho permdrient orgarii- . sation, which was agroed , uopn, the Conference ] would havo been fully .'justified. (Hear,, hoar,) .-. -One of tho proposals, which m im- : portanco' /transconded all others','- dealt with' . at the I 'Conference'was'Sir Wilfrid Laurier's. resolution : .td.' provide for 'a system-jof,'trans-portation between Great Britain, 1 Canada,:and Australiay ', and :hd (Mr. Sift-on) . desired ,to c'all'attention to the .fast; that the' : resplution • provided, that tho ezponses; §hould, be borno in oquitable proportions by the Governments • committed to the project, and it might,bo a' matter of; interest to them to know—for it was riot recorded in tho records of the Conference—that a, suggestion-was, made by. Sir; • Wilfrid Laurier that Canada wpuld be'willing to contribute one-half of tho amount necos-; sary to secure an Atlantic service and a very substantial amount on-account-of thatHiicli , was.-necessary to secure />-. Pacific service; • (Cheers.) ' ;' : ;/;'/ What tho Schcmo Really Is., The project, generally-'speaking,.- contcm; plated a service of steamships across the Atlantic equal to tho best upon the ocean, and capable of maintaining , an , average ~ speed upon the voyage of 24 knots' an bpur ; 'across Canada from .ocean to ocean.a railway, journey,'• 'of tho; shortest possible'time that journey ; could.be|aCcomplisbed in—not .more thai' foifa) days—and from Vancouver' to' New: Zealand, ; and thence to, Australia, a servibe'by'first-' , class, modern, up-io-dato, ships, able, to steam on a-test!speed.something.like, 2o knots, and ; fully able'to maintain an average, speed :of • 15' knots. . Proceeding . to. deal .with tho merits and demerits' of the'scheme,, Mr. Sifton said.'it had como as, a surprise to many, of them to find that the jouriiev from Liver-, pool; to Quebec was.393',miles less than the.. , journey from Liverpool to' New. York. ' The , development- of the vturbino.. engine, -.had ' brought a,25-knot steamer-within .the range, of the practical., Itbad been r.uggested.that. the Canadian rouf.o was. a .".dangerous roiitcL owing t'ofofjs, ice,', and. tlio. dangers of the Gulf and; River St. Lawrence. ' The : most thorough, investigation. showed .that the fog on the Canadian route was 3. 5-12.per .cent., against''B. pei;, cent;, on.the;New,.York'route.. Ice prosented iio'serious difficulties to 'careful ' navigators,, while., the of./the,; St. . Lawrence wore rapidly , minimised. : Therefore .ho thought It was' perfectly'clear,; that tho. dangers' of .the,route ..had'been/ex- ■ aggorated, and. that thoy formed no',serious obstacle, to its being carried; out, ,Canadian Government had boon, spending a great sum'i in improving .that route by, providing, . lightships, .-dredging', tho river, instituting wireless, telegraphio .stations, and, indeed,' doing everything it possibly could. : In; time • of war, the Canadian.'route could be' of the greatest possiblo use,' arid 'the harbours',.of . Halifax and St. Lawrence" should-lie .equipped in such a, way as to ,accommodate the largest vessels of - w'ar and commerce; '/' '.' "'; Food Supply. -.'-'/"./'■'■■■ ; . v In this connection the ' question of food suppl.v : naturally arose,- Canada was rapidly becoming, tlio greatest grain producer, of,tho . Empire,.and the .United* States, hitherto our principal source; ■ of, supply, /was moving in j tho , others, f>teamship service-'had beeri-.-iri "operation .for'.,ten , years Canada, would -be able to meet' "tlio , of .Great-Britain in-connection, with ;foocl; supply. By, that.time.' the tlnited ; States, would have '. overtaken ,'heif ,"produc- ' tion,i and would .'have .ceased tq./become :a, j grain oxportjng.\, country; As /route:., to transport troops..to, -India',| in' -jbtip' case; of; a. sudden cmorgQncy, .no, safer .nor .surer'could' bo 'found than that which.'ho' was 'advocate j •jug. • While .tho f/All:Red-Roiifo" was not'a'j ,J commercial.. project',in Jthe'.ordjriary, sensed,of, j the word, .given, a] few . years , ,to establish,.,., itself it.,.would, become a thorough financial succeiss. ; Thp. British Government was.. investigating tho subject. Canada was isait- ' ing for her reply. Ho hoped, he-expected; that reply Would be an-early arid favour-: able reply. It was . an-, Imperial proposal based on .' high political'.grounds, and it „ claimed; imperatively' the support of every man who Saw in the future of the British ; Empire a usefulness- arid a' ; greatness which excelled anything the world had ever seen. t (Cheers.), Tho case for tlie "All Red Route" was so strong-arid so .unanswerable that in a very iihort time they would see 'the scheme - fully - consummated , -anil ■ .in ,• operation, (Cheers.) ' ' ■ , The' Hon. W. Pcmber Reeves said that if tho route did nothing at,all in the way J of trade, it might- still be justified oil'the - ground -. that' it would- givo. _ them • the '. healthiest, pleasantest, most .rapid route of ■ passenger communication' between tho dif- , fercnt'parts of the Eriipire and'the Mother ; . Country.' New Zealand was-prepared to'pay ;• towards; the scheme a contribution not onlycorresponding, to her population, but. one j which ho thought would be,admitted to be ~ amplo as her share. (Hear/hear.) '. Captain Muirhead Collins said that the j sympathv of Australia could always be relied on in any scheme contemplated for the ; consolidation of the Empire. ; Lord Brassey' said that tho scheme eoiild . only be carried, out by the assistance of tlio ; Governments ,of tho Empire,-audi that could only be given by tlie force of. public- opinion. , Nothing was nioro calculated ■to strengthen that opinion' than such advocacy of the Im- . i perial advantages of the scheme to which ,] tho.v had listened. (Hear, bear.) - ; Mr. Munro Ferguson said ithat, the difficulties of the circular.', route-.were' nothing' - j to those that the-forerunners of railway | enterprise, in Canada met .whon. they made .'| the Canadian Pacific Railway. •. (Hear, hear.) | Those of them who saw a difficulty in . s accepting colonial views with ,regard to Im- •( perial Preference all the more realised the ; s necessity for carrying out,this practical proposal to link together the various ■ parts of ; the Empire. (Hear, hear.) , r