“In connection with the ocean service there might also be a line of fast light-draught steamers to run to and from Montreal to Sydney and the Gulf ports. In this way the people of the Maritime Provinces, including Newfoundland, would share in the benefits to be derived from the fast ocean service equally with those of Quebec and Ontario.” Sir Sandford’s idea is to have the fastest ocean ship on the shortest ocean passage, and by all means to avoid the Straits of Belle Isle, “the saving of a few hours being insufficient to counterpoise the tremendous risks to which fast passenger steamships, in navigating the Belle Isle route, would so seriously and frequently be exposed.” It is claimed that if this plan were adopted three ocean steamers would suffice instead of four. Reference to the accompanying sketch-map, showing the relative positions of Sydney, Newfoundland, and the Straits of Belle Isle, with the existing lines of railway, will help to make Sir Sandford’s proposal clear. Among other proposals, an English syndicate recently offered to furnish a 24-knot service between Milford-Haven, on the coast of Wales, and a port in Nova Scotia, representing to the British Government that they would be able to carry troops across the Atlantic in four days, and land them in Victoria in six days more. But the 24-knot steamship has not yet been launched. [Illustration: MAP OF THE GULF OF ST. LAWRENCE AND NORTH ATLANTIC PORTS. (Kindly furnished by Sir Sandford Fleming.)] Sir Sandford Fleming, K. C. M. G., LL. D., C. E., is one of Canada’s most eminent civil engineers. He was born at Kirkcaldy, Fifeshire, Scotland, January 7th, 1827, came to Canada at the age of eighteen, and has ever since been identified with the progress and development of the country. He was on the engineering staff of the Northern Railway from 1852 to 1863, and for the latter half of that time was chief engineer of the work. He was chief engineer of the Intercolonial Railway, and carried it through to a successful completion in 1876. In 1871 he was appointed engineer-in-chief of the Canadian Pacific Railway; he retired from that position in 1880 and was subsequently elected a director of the company. He received the freedom of the Royal Burgh of Kirkcaldy and the degree of LL. D. from the University of St. Andrews in 1884: was appointed to represent Canada at the International Prime Meridian Conference in Washington in 1884: at the Colonial Conference, London, in 1887, at the Colonial Conference in Ottawa, in 1894, and at the Imperial Cable Conference in London, in 1896. Sir Sandford has been Chancellor of Queen’s University at Kingston since 1880. He is the author of numerous scientific and other publications, is an active member of the Royal Colonial Institute of London, and on the occasion of Her Majesty’s Diamond Jubilee was accorded the honour of knighthood. * * * * *