Sir George Paish, editor of “The Statist”, after a tour of Canada before the war, said that we had furnished ourselves with plants capable of taking care of three times our then production from natural resources. Immigration was flowing too much to cities and towns. Free land was becoming comparatively scarce, and even in the prairie country sixty-five per cent. of the immigration was keeping off the farms. Early in 1912 the Government was warned in its Special Commissioner’s Report on Immigration that the basis of its immigration policy should be changed so as to deflect public money into scientific land settlement. In the fall of 1912 signs of an approaching constriction of C.N.R. earnings began to appear. The Superior and Mountain sections were under way. The London money market, partly through conditions caused by wars in the Balkans, was not as responsive as before. Dominion and Provincial Government guarantees did not now ensure the immediate sale of securities, at the most favourable prices. In the spring of 1914 application to Parliament for special assistance became imperative. We had been able to meet all fixed charges out of revenue every year since 1897. Connection of Toronto with Port Arthur around the north of Lake Superior had been made on the first of January. But, with a diminishing immigration and a slackening of employment in the cities, it would take time to win for this part of the system between older and younger Canada, a traffic commensurate with the proportion of the total trade between East and West which the Canadian Northern had created. Even to-day, the old Canadian Northern originates heavy East-and-West business for other railways. The British Columbia lines, which were being constructed at a speed and an economy that was possible only because of the long experience of engineers like M. H. MacLeod and T. H. White, were bound to cost more than the amounts of any Government guarantees. It had become necessary to finance some construction by short term notes, at a higher interest than guaranteed securities called for. Application was, therefore, made to the Government at Ottawa for guarantees amounting to forty-five million dollars, to enable the road to be finished between Quebec and Vancouver. Sir William Mackenzie, who always handled financial business at Ottawa, was turned down flat by the Government. But, as Sir Donald Mann says, a refusal never meant any more to him than a spur to persistence in advocating his cause. After much labour in placing the facts where they could be appreciated, the aid was promised. Against considerable opposition, in the late spring the legislation was passed and Sir William went to England to raise the money.