CANADA’S NEW WHEAT PORT

Hokitika Guardian, 27 December 1928, Page 5

CANADA’S NEW WHEAT PORT

BIGGER TRADE WITH BRITAIN.

WINNIPEG, Nov. G,

British trade with Western Canada and tho central and north-western areas of the United States will be revolutionised when in 1930 the Hudson Bay Railway has been finished and the provision of shipping facilities at the shore terminus (Fort Churchill), such as grain elevators, warehouses, docks, and lighthouses has been completed by the Canadian Government;; This statement was made by Mr A. M. Wiseman, one of the British trade Commissioners'Ll Canada, on his return to Winnipeg after a tour of some ot the centres affected.

“Winnipeg,” he said, “will be 1200 miles, Regina (Saskatchewan) 1,000 miles, and Minneapolis (United. States) 1,500 miles closer to Liverpool, via the Fort Churchill route than .via Montreal.’

FREGHT RATES BURDEN

In tlio provinces of Manitoba and Saskatchewan freight rates are at their, peak. “That means;” Mr Wiseman pointed out, “ that business with Britain has been curtailed. When business men can import through Port Churchill into Western' Canada it will mean extensive reductions in freight rates-, and therefore a greater volume of British business with the Canadians.”. The Manitoba Government are taking steps to build a railway direct from Winnipeg to Fort Churchill, bringing Winnipeg, the chief trade centre in thp west, within 800 miles of Fort Churchill.

The route of the Hudson Bay Railway from The Pas, Manitoba, to Fort Churchill runs nearly due north, a distance of about 500 miles.

Mi- C. A. Dunning, the Canadian Minister of Railways, stated during a; recent visit to London that the route will effect a saving of about 10 days in tho journey from the Western Provinces to the Coast.