ENGLAND TO CHINA IN SIXTEEN DAYS. — RAILWAY EXTENSION IN BRITISH AMERICA.

Nelson Examiner and New Zealand Chronicle, Volume XVII, Issue 76, 22 September 1858, Page 4

ENGLAND TO CHINA IN SIXTEEN DAYS. — RAILWAY EXTENSION IN BRITISH AMERICA.

[From the Liverpool Albion."]

A new and most unexpected solution of the great geographical, and the not less political problem of iuter-oceanic communication between the Atlantic and Pacific, is about to be furnished, and in a way that shall obviate a repetition of Clayton-Bulwer embroilments, while rendering impossible the objections that surround the various Central American transits, whether Panama, Atrato, Nicaragua, Honduras, Tehuantepec, or others, on the score of disturbances inseparable from the Spauish American republics. The proposed route is entirely British ; through exclusively British territory ; and would, consequently, be solely under British control, and in no way impinge upon the soil of foreigners, or evoke diplomatic complications such as are unavoidable in all other schemes for the attainment of the same end.

The decision of the Government with reference to the Hudson's Bay territory, and the certainty of the annexation of the jnost desirable portions to Canada at no distant date, have revived with redoubled interest the oftencontemplated project of a railway from the Atlantic to the Pacific. The Government of the United States long ago surveyed a projected line from Chicago to Puget Sound ; but the plan which now engages the attention of the Canadians is for a railway entirely through British territory in connection with the Grand Trunk and St. Andrew and Quebec lines. It has been maturely considered by Mr. Forsyth and others, who have prepared petitions on the subject, to be presented to the Canadian, New Brunswick, and Imperial Legislatures. As As only 300 miles of railway require to be made between Riviere dv Loup and Woodstock, it is proposed that the provinces of Canada and New Brunswick should undertake the completion of that link, without asking any aid from the Imperial Government or Legislature. It is calculated that the cost of construction will not exceed annually until completed, which should be raised on their several securities, at 6 per cent. An unbroken line having been made from the Atlantic to the southern extremity of Lake Huron, at the expense of the provinces, it is thought that the Imperial Government may then fairly be applied to for aid in carrying the line westward to the Pacific. The Grand Trunk Line terminates at Sarnia ; but in order to confine the projected line entirely to British territory, it will diverge therefrom at Belleville, and run north-westerly until Lake Superior is turned, when it will follow the boundary between the United States and the territories of the Hudson's Bay Company to the shores of the strait which separates Vancouver's Island from the mainland. The financial portion of the scheme involves a guarantee from the Imperial Government of a minimum of G per cent, on some twelve or fifteen millions, and the grant of the land required, as was done by the Government of the United States in the case of the Illinois railway. The calculations of the promoters of this great idea as to the profits to be realized arc founded upon the increase of traffic westward, and the anticipated diversion of that which now follows the Suez and Cape routes to India and China. The subsidies paid to the Cunard and the Peninsular and Oriental steam lines are over 36350,000 per annum, which sum almost represents the interest of the maximum amount estimated to be required for the construction of the whole line, a distance of about 1,500 miles as the crow flies, and about 2,000 by the railway route. The great importance and desirability of a means of communication which would bring India and China within sixteen days o£Jjngland are too obvious to require enlarging upo^j^ Passengers, treasure, and the lighter and more valuable merchandize would at once seek the snortest route, and the longsought desideratum 6L& north-west passage to the East Indies, which has occupied the minds of geographers and navigators for centuries, would at last be realized, though not in the manner anticipated by our ancestors. Of the feasibility of the project there can be no doubt ; it is much less startling than, five years ago, was the ifl^a of Canada constructing 1,000 miles of railway from her own resources. Contractors will -readily be found to undertake the work, if the Government will guarantee half-a-million annually during their progress and grant the land. The policy of such course cannot be doubted, when considered with reference to the importance of speedy communication with our possessions in the east, and the advantages which would accrue to our commerce from the opening of a route through British territory by which goods could be sent from the Atlantic to the Pacific, and vice versa, without break of gauge or bulk.

The facilities which the projected railway will afford for the colonization of the vast region it will traverse will not be among the least of its claims to4he support of the state. Skirting the rich mineral district north of Lake Superior, it will serve to convey the ore to Kingston and Montreal, and do more in a few years to develop the metalliferous wealth of that region than could be accomplished without it in a century. Westward of the Superior commences the valley watered by the chain of lakes which connects that inland sea with Lake Winnipeg, and which Mr. Hind's report of his recent exploration shows to offer many spots eligible for settlement. Such are the valley of Rainy River, estimated to contain 220,000 acres of good land, the islands of the Lake of the Woods, and several patches, varying in extent from 50 to 300 acres, in the valley of the Winnipeg. Of the valley of the Red River, Mr. Hind speaks in terms of the warmest admiration. The climate is well adapted for agricultural operations, the summer tempera- j ture being nearly four degrees milder than at Toronto, as ascertained by comparison of corresponding observations. All kinds of corn and vegetables succeed as well as in Canada, and also flax, hemp, and hops. Limestone and clay are abundant, and great facilities are thereby presented for building. Towards this extensive and fertile region a large colonizing movement is sure to take place as soon as the railway has rendered it accessible. Scarcely, if at all, inferior to this region in fertility is the valley of the Saskatchewan, where also the railway will pass over the broadest part of the

most extensive coal-field in all the British dominions. In approaching its western termination, opposite Vancouver's Island, it will traverse the most eligible portions of the Hudsou's Bay Company's territories westward of the Rocky Mountains, coal being found along the coast, and gold in Thompson's river, while the fertility of the whole district is at least equal to that of Vancouver's Island. The opening of such a vast area of cultivable land to settlement will of itself afford a branch of traffic which will augment every year; but the Atlantic and Pacific railway will not have to wait for the peopling of the wilderness to obtain passengers and freight, the advantages of the route as a means of communication with India and China being so obvious and great that a large proportion of the traffic cannot fail to be diverted from the Suez and Cape routes as soon as this great inter-oceanic highway is completed.