mptly,
so that the lines that have entered into these engagements may not
be embarrassed. We have had, by reason of connections with the
transcontinental railway lines constructed through our own territory,
some advantages in the ocean trade of the Pacific that we did not
possess on the Atlantic. The construction of the Canadian Pacific
Railway and the establishment under large subventions from Canada and
England of fast steamship service from Vancouver with Japan and China
seriously threaten our shipping interests in the Pacific. This line
of English steamers receives, as is stated by the Commissioner of
Navigation, a direct subsidy of $400,000 annually, or $30,767 per trip
for thirteen voyages, in addition to some further aid from the Admiralty
in connection with contracts under which the vessels may be used for
naval purposes. The competing American Pacific mail line under the
act of March 3, 1891, receives only $6,389 per round trip.

Efforts have been making within the last year, as I am informed,
to establish under similar conditions a line between Vancouver and some
Australian port, with a view of seizing there a trade in which we have
had a large interest. The Commissioner of Navigation states that a
very large per cent of our imports from Asia are now brought to us by
English steamships and their connecting railways in Canada. With a
view of promoting this trade, especially in tea, Canada has imposed a
discriminating duty of 10 per cent upon tea and coffee brought into
the Dominion from the United States. If this unequal contest between
American lines without subsidy, or with diminished subsidies, and the
English Canadian line to which I have referred is to continue, I think
we should at least see that the facilities for customs entry and
transportation across our territory are not such as to make the Canadian
route a favored one, and that the discrimination as to duties to which
I have referred is met by a like discrimination as to the importation
of these articles from Canada.

No subject, I think, more nearly touches the pride, the power, and the
prosperity of our country than this of the development of our merchant
marine upon the sea. If we could enter into conference with other
competitors and all would agree to withhold government aid, we could
perhaps take our chances with the rest; but our great competitors have
established and maintained their lines by government subsidies until
they now have practi