I think my hon. friend will have to have some faith and not cross examine us too closely. I will not say ' wait till you see us next year,' but wait till you see the supplemen-taries.

Mr. HACKETT.

There is another matter I desire to bring to the attention of the minister, and that is the building of a branch line of railway from O'Leary Station to the west shore of Prince Edward Island. There have been petitions sent asking for it, and many meetings held advocating it. The people are desirous of having this branch line constructed. While my hon. friend from West York (Mr. Campbell) appears to be very indignant because we insist upon having our rights in the expenditure of public money, he is quite willing to vote away a hundred million dollars of the public money, while he would not give us a hundred thousand dollars in the province of Prince Edward Island to complete out-railway system. I hope the minister will see his way clear to do something in connection with a branch from O'Leary to the west shore of Prince Edward Island.

I am sorry to hear that my hon. friend from West York is not willing to give Prince Edward Island a hundred thousand dollars, because I am asking my hon. friend from West York to vote $1,230,000 for Prince Edward Island in this one item alone.

Mr. SPROULE.

How many tenders did you receive for the substructure of this bridge, and who was the lowest tenderer V

12S40

This contract was let to Mr. Haney on the 25th of August, 1900. We expect the bridge will be finished at the end of the calendar year, and we hope the whole work will be finished by the 30th of June, 1904.

Mr. SPItOULE. Will the minister bring down the information regarding this contract, the parties tendering and the amount of each tender ?

Mr. REID (Grenville).

Is tills superstructure to cost $275,000 over and above the bridges that are taken off the Intercolonial Railway ?

No, a value will be put upon the bridges and credited to the Intercolonial account. The $275,000 will include the price which will be paid to the Intercolonial and also the cost of erection.

Mr. HACKETT.

The minister brushed aside the remarks I made very easily. But he must remember this first, that while we are voting this large amount for the construction of this bridge, the government and people of Prince Edward Island are bound to pay $9,750 in interest upon that sum. Now if you are voting a million dollars or so, you are obliging the people to contribute that much. I shall make no apology for bringing up the matter in this House.

With regard to the people of Prince Edward Island paying this sum of money, I do not wish the hon. gentleman to offer an apology, but unintentionally he has omitted an important fact. This bridge is being constructed for two purposes, partly for a railway bridge and partly for a highway bridge. The Dominion of Canada is paying every copper of the cost so far as it relates to the railway, and the local government are contributing a share towards the bridge in consideration of the fact that it provides a highway for them, and It is their business to provide a highway.

Mr. SPROULE.

What valuation do you put on these bridges that are taken from over the Miramichi river ?

The value placed on the bridges for the purpose of being credited in the Intercolonial Railway accounts is $64,000. The remaining portion of the value placed on the bridges represents the cost of transportation and erection.

Mr. HACKETT.

Will the bridges be sufficient to cover the distance between Southport and Charlottetown ?

Yes, the bridges will be quite sufficient for the purpose.

Mr. SPROULE.

Mr. HACKETT.

In addition to that you have to. provide the carriage way by the side of the bridge ?

That is included in the figures I gave.

Increased accommodation at Kensington, $500.

The MINISTER OF FINANCE, One-fifth of this has already been voted.

Mr. LEFURGEY.

This is for increased accommodation at Kensington. I have a letter from one of the chief business men in Kensington in regard to these improvements and for the benefit of the acting Minister of Railways and Canals I wish to read this in order to give him an idea of what is required there. He says :

A memorial asking for a new station building here was sent to Mr. Blair a few days ago from the committee appointed at a meeting of the patrons of the station here held on October last. And since then we see that $1,000 is in the estimates for repairs of the old one presumably by Mr. Sharpe's plan. Now, ow ng to increased business, both freight and passenger lately, and especially as it is here the summer tourists for Malpeque and New London take and leave the train, decent and if possible attractive accommodation should be had. At present it is the very reverse. The change proposed by Mr. Sharpe would be very little better, whilst it would stand in the way of getting a new building for some time. For instance, he proposed taking a portion of the old freight-shed (ceiling 8 feet 6 inches), under a flat roof and saturated with oil, petroleum and other things and converting it into a ladies' waiting room, and all his other changes according to that. We had some differences with Mr. Sharpe and now he is getting square with us. He could not say but the old building as you know, with only one waiting-room, where every class of persons have to wait for hours at night waiting for belated trains as is very common, yes, from, wealthy, refined Americans and other tourists down to Indians and drunken toughs, is not fit for use. But he wants to patch it up in any shape and punish the public for the criticism offered to him about the present state of affairs.

Now, this section is one of the principal shipping points between Charlottetown and Summerside, possibly the largest town between these two points, and it is a place of considerable commercial importance, as the writer slates here it is a point where a great many tourists coming to Prince Edward Island leave and take the trains to go to the watering places and they have had but tlie one station where Indians, ladies and all congregate to wait for trains which at this point are necessarily late leaving Summerside and arriving through from Charlottetown. When $1,000 is being spent to make repairs in this station it seems to me that at a point so central as this the government might very well spend a little more, a thousand or two, whatever is necessary and build a suitable station. I merely 1 want to call the attention of the minister to

this before any expenditure is made upon it in order that he may have an opportunity to investigate. I wish also to say that their freight accommodation and the plut-form arrangements for passengers are very deficient and require some attention. Before sitting down I would also wish to put in a word for the improvements at Charlottetown and to say that I am entirely in accord with what Mr. Haekett said that the station is an old and dilapidated affair and the people there certainly need a new station. They also need increased accommodation along their water-front for the different private wharfs. There is no way of- getting at the freight in these places unless you cart it straight across the town to Charlottetown station.

To improve the water service, $19,200.

At present they use wells on the Prince Edward Island Railway, and we propose to place upon the system a modern method of supplying the railway with water from tanks.

To provide additional accommodation at Kin-kora, $640.

Mr. LEFURGEY.

Is it intended to make this a booking station ? Unless it is made a booking station the residents of that section of the country extending from Emerald and Albany to Kinkora, will not be able to [DOT] get their goods without sending their money to Emerald. Trains pass this station late at night and early in the morning, and the booking station is an absolute necessity.

We propose to erect a building forty feet by twenty feet, in which there will be a waiting room and baggage room. The business at the station is not very great, and I think probably it will have to be a flag station for the present.