Mr. GRAHAM.

Part of the yard north of the main line of the Pictou branch is done by ourselves. The water service is done by contract.

Mr. TAYLOR, Is the new station to be let by tender ?

Mr. GRAHAM.

It has not been tendered for yet, but it will certainly be let by tender.

Mr. STANFIELD.

Is it the intention of the minister to start the new station this year ?

Mr. GRAHAM.

The plans are being considered now. I do not know just what we shall be able to do this year, as the season is so late ; but it is not the intention to make a difference between places.

Mr. STANFIELD.

The reason I ask the hon. minister this question is that in 1904 I think it was. the government started to build a new engine house. The work was left until the eve of a general election. They did not know what site they were going to select. You did not know what site you were going to take and were forced to take a certain site which cost the country a considerable sum. In turning up the Auditor General's Report, I find that upwards of $220,000 was spent on that engine house. Of that amount over $80,000 was spent in excavating. What I would like to impress on the minister is that it would be far better to provide this new station before the general elections. He would get just as many votes out of it and so will I, If fortunate enough to run. While on my feet, I would like to impress on the minister the absolute necessity for better precautions on the crossings in Truro. I have a copy of a letter sent by a lawyer to the department claiming damages on account of an accident at a crossing there, in which two horses were killed but fortunately without any loss of human life. The cause of the accident was this. It was a dark and stormy night and there were no lights on the crossing. The town of Truro had written the denartment several times begging it to put two lights on this crossing, but the department neglected to do so. From what I understand, the lawyer for the department wrote the Truro people that the government will not pay this claim. I would 1 like the minister to look into the question.

There are no gates any way down there and it is a miracle that no lives have been lost.

Intercolonial Railway-increased accommodation at Springhill junction, $2,900.

Mr. GRAHAM.

This is for coal plant and hot water pumps.

Improvements at Amherst, $47,000.

Mr. GRAHAM.

This is for a station, $38,000, a concrete platform and an engine house. Estimated cost $59,500. The contract was given to Leblanc & Company, the lowest tenderers, after newspaper advertisements.

Mr. HAGGART.

Why build an engine house at Amherst? It is not a division point.

Mr. GRAHAM.

We have two engines there, used for shunting in the yard.

Mr. ANGUS MCLENNAN (Inverness).

Before you leave the Nova Scotia items, I desire to call attention to the fact that while I am pleased to see so many votes for increased accommodation along various sections of the Intercolonial Railway passing through that province, I regret that the good old county of Inverness, through which thirty-five miles of the road runs, is left out. My regret is that the minister, on his tour of inspection, did not have time to see that fine county in daylight, and most of all to see its requirements. There is a private company owned railway running along the county of Inverness, a distance of 61 miles. There are three thriving coal mining towns tributary to that road, together with about two-thirds of the area of the county of Inverness and its people. All the freight emanating from these mining towns and other parts of that county, together with the passenger traffic, passes, almost all of it, over the Intercolonial Railway. That other railway forms a junction with the Intercolonial Railway about a mile and a half or so from the Strait of Canso, or about a mile and a half from Point Tupper, one of the Intercolonial railway terminals. Every passenger-and this is what I desire to call attention to particularly-who leaves the county of Inverness by that road has to land in a swamp along the track of the Intercolonial Railway. The government, it would appear, took excellent care to make accommodation for the freight coming off the Inverness and Richmond Railway, but it left the passengers to shift for themselves, and they have to land, as I have said, about a mile and a half from the government station at Point Tupper. The attention of the late Minister of Railways (Mr. Blair) was brought to this matter by myself, and he claimed that it was the duty of the private company to provide a shelter there for its passengers. The company, on the other hand, contend that they have their station in the town

of Hawkesbury, about one-quarter of a mile from this junction, and that the moment they land their passengers on the Intercolonial track they are Intercolonial passengers, and consequently they back their train right to their station in the town of Hawkesbury. I have been time and again on board the Intercolonial and taken the Inverness train to my home, and in the spring and winter I have seen twenty-five to thirty passengers, of both sexes, having to walk the whole length of the train in snow and slush to their knees and get to the Intercolonial as best they could. This has been going on some six or seven years, so that it is a case, as far as the people of Inverness are concerned, of being between the de'il and the deep sea. What I contend is that the passenger earnings which the Intercolonial derives from this traffic amply warrant a station being built at that junction by the government for their accommodation. The passenger earnings on this 61 miles of the Inverness railroad this last calendar year were $20,000, and no doubt that would be at least duplicated on the Intercolonial, because the run on that road is longer. With its freight traffic and passenger traffic that 01 miles of railway cleared $75,000 last year, as is shown by the government returns. These earnings, I say again, have been more than duplicated in the case of the Intercolonial, because the greater amount of that freight and traffic would go over the Intercolonial sometimes twice or three times the distance that it goes over the Inverness road. I listened to a question asked and answered in this House the other day as to the amount paid by the Sydney and Louisburg Company to the government for the use of the government terminals at Sydney. It is evident from that question and its answer that the Sydney and Louisburg road is compelled to make use of the government terminals at iSydney, for which they pay a certain amount. What I claim is then that it is the duty of the government either to erect a modest station for the shelter of the passengers here or compel the running of the Inverness trains into the government terminals at Point Tupper. The people of Inverness would be perfectly satisfied with either.

Mr. HAGGART.

What is the distance to Point Tupper?

Mr. MCLENNAN.

About a mile and a half. I think that the request I make of the government is perfectly reasonable. To show the absurdity of the present arrangement let me state the position as it is. A freight train to-day leaves Inverness town, goes to the junction and then right ou into the government terminals at Point Tupper, where it transfers its freight comfortably. But a train loaded with passengers leaves soon after and is treated very differently.

The passengers are dumped in a swamp, the most hideous looking place along the Intercolonial Railway.

I was determined, before these votes went through, to call the attention of the Minister of Railways to this matter, in order that at least, he should give the matter attention when the Supplementary Estimates are being prepared, or arrange with the company, as I have indicated, that they might use the government terminals at Point Tup-per. I certainly refuse to hold a seat in this House quietly and silently while this abuse of the people X represent goes on.

Mr. HENDERSON.

What do you think of that, Mr. Minister?

Mr. GRAHAM.

As 1 understand the hon. member (Mr. McLennan) the Canadian Northern, or Inverness road, put the passengers off at a place other than the station, landing them on the Intercolonial tracks. That is a matter well worth looking into; and, if my hon. friend will drop me a line putting the matter in concrete shape, I will take it up with the railway. Perhaps the Railway Commission might induce them to do something, or wre might make some arrangement with them.

Mr. MCLENNAN.

There is an excellent way for the minister to arrange this matter perhaps better than in any other, and that is to make this excellent piece of railway a branch of the Intercolonial-to take it over and experiment with it as an excellent feeder of the road. I am introducing this subject to the attention of the minister with the hopeful assurance that the road cleared $75,000 in its working for the last calendar year.

Mr. STANFIELD.

I notice in the newspapers a statement that the Minister of Railways is expected to spend a month or two in inspecting the Intercolonial. While he is on that tour of inspection, I would like him to spend a few days in my county. The reaspn I ask is that we are sadly in need of branch railways. I will not weary the House or take up its time with a long discussion of these matters, but I would merely say that the branch railways particularly needed are from Brookfield to Lansdowne, Brule to Truro, and from Parrsboro' to Truro. The minister need not laugh at this. If he had [DOT]seen, as I saw last fall, the farmers and the merchants of that country having their stuff hauled over muddy roads-It was a muddy season-at a cost of $3 to $5 a ton, he Would have seen the need of these branch roads. And I believe it can be shown that the roads I have mentioned are a paying proposition. If the minister will spend a day or two *with me, we will look it over.

Improvements at Sackville, $27,000.

Mr. CROCKET.

What are these improvements?

Mr. Mclennan.

Mr. GRAHAM.

Station, freight sheds, grading of track, water service and so on- total, $06,000.

Mr. CROCKET.

Have the contracts been let? '

Mr. GRAHAM.

The contract has been let for the station. Calls are out for the freight sheds, but tenders have not yet been received.