Another scarcely less important through line north and south is the National Mexican Railway, which is 722 miles long and connects Laredo, on the Rio Grande, with the capital and the southern states. Another line has recently been opened from Torreon to Durango. The number of miles of road at present in operation in the Republic of Mexico is about 6,800, with a number of new lines rapidly nearing completion. The development of Mexico's resources has, during the past decade, kept pace with the rapid expansion of its railroad system. In the Dominion of Canada about fifteen miles of railroad line were built as early as 1837, but only forty-three miles was added during the next ten years. In 1852 there was still only 212 miles of railroad in all of the British possessions in North America. At that time the construction of the Grand Trunk system was commenced, the first section of the system, Portland-Montreal, being opened in 1853. After this railroads increased very rapidly in Canada, reaching an extent of 2,087 miles in 1860, 4,826 miles in 1875, 6,891 miles in 1880, and 10,150 miles in 1890. The majority of Canadian railroads are in the hands of private companies, some of which have been very materially aided by the government. One of the conditions upon which the union of the several British provinces, except Newfoundland and Prince Edward Island, was effected in 1867, was the construction of a railroad by the Dominion government connecting the provinces of Ontario, Quebec, Nova Scotia and New Brunswick. This road, the main line of which extends from Point Levis, opposite Quebec, to Halifax, was accordingly built, and is still operated by the Canadian government. Its cost was about 46,000,000. But the most important enterprise in which the government is interested is the Canadian Pacific Railway. Like the intercolonial railway, this line was a result of the political union of the colonies. Its construction was commenced by the government, but was subsequently assigned to a private corporation, the Canadian Pacific Railway Company, all that had been done by the government being turned over to the company as a gift. It is estimated that the direct gifts of money, the land grant and other privileges conferred by the Dominion government upon the Pacific Railway Company exceed $100,000,000 in value, and that, with the amount of bonds and stock guaranteed by the government, the par value of its various aids amounts to $215,000,000, or $48,000,000 more than the cost of the road, as will be shown by the following table, taken from the report of the Interstate Commerce Committee of the Senate of the Fifty-first Congress: