In the main, promises of railways that were made to vanguard settlements in the old Canadian Northern days had been fulfilled. Sir William Mackenzie and Sir Donald Mann were so saturated with the pioneering spirit that it was more difficult to keep them from getting ahead of traffic than it was to fulfill the promises that were made. During the war, of course, all branch line construction was at a standstill. Work had been done on twenty-four Canadian Northern branch lines, which the National Board had to take up when the war was over. One Grand Trunk Pacific branch was under construction, so that we had twenty-five extensions to take care of. In this field of general policy our rule was not to ask Parliament for any sort of blanket authority to make changes from the estimates submitted at each session. We proposed a programme which we intended to live up to and not to exceed. We recognized the supremacy of Parliament as to capital expenditure, as we fought for the supremacy of the Board with regard to details of contracts. These twenty-five expansions were in the West. But there were branch line problems in the East. Indeed, there were portions of main lines, which, for local traffic purposes must be treated as if they were branches. In the farther East were several lines which were built and operated by small companies until, though low wages were paid, their economic impossibility as independent organizations threw them into Government control. Service had to be given, with wages raised to the level of main lines. On one branch line, in Ontario, where the engineer had been paid less than a hundred dollars a month, his earnings under the McAdoo awards were raised to the income of an Ontario Cabinet minister--six thousand dollars in a year. The Board, loaded with many lines which, as distinctive features of the system, could never be expected to pay operating expenses out of revenue, introduced an entirely new system of transportation in Canada--the self propelled single car, operated by one driver and one conductor, like an ordinary street car. We placed this sort of service, some of it run by gasoline, and some by electricity, on several branch lines, saving costs in power, in the weight of equipment used, and in wages, at the same time giving greater frequency and efficiency in service. The policy has, I believe, been extended under the substituted management, with considerable success. A light service for example is being given between Toronto and Parry Sound, on the old Canadian Northern. One is inclined to think that in this kind of service, rather than in the electrification of branch railways, which is far more costly than the general public supposes, the most economical and efficient adjustment of old steam lines to modern conditions will be achieved. The principle of the automobile on rails offers a flexibility which nothing else can; and the possibilities of the electric storage battery are not yet exhausted.