From Rochester to Oswego the survey was made in 1865, by Mr. John McNair, C. E. The distance between the places is 69 48-100 miles, for about one half of which the line runs along the same "shelving beach" as before described, and presenting the same features in soil, grade, and evenness of surface. From this point to Oswego, Mr. McNair made his survey with great care, and states that the grade will now here on this line, exceed the maximum west of Rochester, of 26 feet to the mile. These surveys from Lewiston to Oswego, present a line in the highest degree inviting as a railroad route and it would certainly seem most, surprising that such a line, offering such unusual advantages in the way of local business, and cheapness of construction and connecting directly with roads running to Chicago and the far West, should have so long remained unoccupied-were it not for the want heretofore felt of proper outlets, eastward from Oswego to the seaboard. But with the entire removal of this difficulty by the completion of the three several connecting lines of railway to the East and South, before referred to, all of which must become outlets and feeders for the road in question, the undersigned do not hesitate to express their conviction that no line for a railroad of equal length can be found in this country having as many marked advantages, and promising so large a return upon the capital required for its construction, as the one from Oswego to the Niagara River. It will form part of a route from Detroit to New York city, for both freight and travel, at least equal to any other, and so far as all of Northern New York and New England are concerned, a route with which no other can successfully compete.

In estimating the future demands of trade upon the means of transportation, we may accept the fact as already demonstrated by the history of the internal commerce of the country during the last fifteen years that railroads are to do the great bulk of the carrying trade.

Among the great canals of this country constructed for the transportation of produce, the Erie canal is the only one which has not already prov ed a failure. Pennsylvania has sold her great canal to a railroad company. Ohio has tried without success to sell hers, and the Wabash canal of Indiana is wholly without value to the State, more than one-half of it being left without repair and utterly useless for commerce. The railroads have virtually superseded them all. Even our Erie canal has its lesson in the same direction, though strenuous efforts have been made to retain its trade by reducing tolls, and increasing its capacity for large size boats.

In 1830 the tolls on the Erie canal between Albany and Buffalo were, on up freights $10 22 per ton and on down freights $5 11. In 1858 they had been reduced to $1 46 per ton each way, and they have for many years been adjusted on many articles with a view to meeting railroad competition. In 1830 the capacity of the largest boats on the canal was 70 tons. Since the enlargement their capacity is increased to 224 tons. In 1853 Erie canal tolls were removed from our railroads, and until that time they were comparatively but little used in this State for freight. In that year the freight carried on the New York Central was 360,000 tons, and on the New York and Erie 631,039 tons, total 991,039 tons. Freight carried by the Erie canal the same year, 4,247,853 tons. In 1859 the freight carried on the Erie canal was 3,781,684 tons, while the two railroads above named carried 1,703,391 tons. In 1866 the deliveries of

The total freight car

freight by canal at tide water was 1,107,537 tons. ried on all the State canals in that year was 5,775,220 tons; while that carried on the railroads of the State was 9,210,476 tons. The revolution indicated by these statements, and which has been wrought in the last 13 years in the use of railroads for freight, speaks unmistakably for the future. The tendency of trade has been and is towards greater rapidity in its transit between the western and eastern markets. The telegraph in a few moments of time announces to the western merchant the state of the eastern markets both at home and in Europe. Short commercial papers required by banks and the commercial requirement for trade now is celerity of movement with the lowest attainable point in cost. In view of the facts and suggestions which we have presented, your committee are of the opinion that the proposed railroad from Oswego to the Niagara river should be built, and we recommend an early organization of a company for that purpose and vigorous prosecution of the work to a speedy completion.

NORTH CHINA TRADE.*

At present the northern ports are supplied with goods from Shanghae and Hongkong, where the native dealers go and purchase the greater part of the manufactures that are sold in these markets; and until the ports of Chefoo and Tientsin are brought into direct communication with the British manufacturer, and goods are sent out from England direct to them, these ports can hardly be said to be opened to British commerce, nor will British trade in these ports and the whole north of China be satisfactorily developed. The laying down price of goods at the northern ports, if received direct from England, would be necessarily less than what goods bought at Shanghae, with the addition of freight, insurance, etc., now cost at Chefoo and Tientsin before they can be offered to native dealers; and the difference in cost in favor of the direct shipments would materially increase the consumption of British manufactures if they took place.

The trade of Tientsin is now so linked with that of Chefoo that the one cannot be considered separate from the other in this point of direct trade with England, and ships coming out might bring cargoes for both places, as they are only separated by a sea journey of twenty-four hours. Of the three treaty ports in the Gulf of Pacheli, the one best adapted for direct trade with England would certainly be Chefoo. It is the only one of the three ports which is not closed by ice during the winter. The navigation is easy; the anchorage is safe at all seasons of the year; and it is already a large central market for the Gulf trade, and even now is a distributing depot for the whole of the North of China.

It is very difficult to state what will be the probable future capability of Chefoo and the North of China in regard to British manufactures. The statistics of the last five years offer no criterion for a decisive judgment in this matter.

The lamented civil war in the United States of America, by reducing

* Extracts from a report on the North China Trade by one of the British Consols in that section.

the quantity of cotton available for England and the consequent advance in the price of goods, has kept the China trade in an abnormal state since 1862. Still there is sufficient in the records of the trade to warrant some deductions as to the future. In 1881, when cotton goods were less than two-thirds of their present cost, there were upwards of 1,000,000 pieces of English cotton goods purchased at the ports of Chefoo and Tientsin. In 1863, when cotton goods cost as much again as in 1861, the consumption was still over 1,000,000 pieces of goods at the two ports. In 1861 the peace of the north of China was endangered by rebels who ravaged all the province of Shangtung, and the consumption of that year can hardly be considered as an average; for in 1865, when the northern provinces were tranquil, the consumption was as large, although the goods cost 50 per cent more than before; and at Chefoo during that year (1865) the natives bought more than 250,000 pieces of cotton goods at these high rates, which shows that notwithstanding the shipments to other northern ports, Chefoo is gradually resuming its former importance. It should be bo.ne in mind also that previously to 1862 the importation of raw cotton to the port of Chefoo was 50,000 bales a year and about 80,000 bales at Tientsin; whereas in 1864 there were 60,000 bales exported from Chefoo alone. The north of China, besides the 1,000,000 pieces of cotton goods that it consumed in 1861, purchased about 17,000,000 pounds of cotton or a quantity sufficient to make 2,000,000 pieces of cotton goods; thus making in 1861, when the foreign trade had only begun and times were unfavorable, owing to rebels, a purchase by the north of China of cotton goods and cotton stuffs to the equivalent of 3,000,000 pieces of English cotton goods in one year. At the same time very large quantities of cotton cloths, woven at Shanghae and the Middle Provinces of the Empire, were imported to Chefoo and Tientsin to supply the wants of the natives, so that this must be added to the actual total consumption of cotton cloths in the north of China. Since then the northern Chinese have not only produced the cotton sufficient to clothe themselves, but for export in considerable quantities; but if the inducement of high prices ceases to excite the northern Chinese to produce cotton for export, they will again be purchasers of cotton and cotton goods to the extent already indicated. The vast capability of the north of China to purchase cotton goods may be gathered from the fact that the bulk of the natives are seldom seen wearing cloths made from English cottons. They appear to be clad in native woven materials, and as soon as British merchants can supply the north of China direct from England with goods at such a moderate cost as to be within reach of the masses of the people, the increase of consumption will probably be immense.

Even supposing that the bulk of the people should continue to prefer the native woven cloth, still when the prices are so low as not to excite its production, they will prefer importing it from Shanghae to at least the quantity used before the export began; and British trade could even then find a very great opening, hitherto untried, of offering to the northern Chinese weavers English spun cotton yarn to the extent of at least 15,000,000 pounds a year-that being the equivalent of the cotton yearly imported for spinning and weaving purposes. Indeed, could cotton yarn be again imported at former low prices from England direct to the north of China, the consumption of this article would form a larger trade than that of cotton goods.

During the last three years it has become impossible to draw the attention of natives to buying yarn, owing to its high price; but there is evidence to show that could it be offered to them at a moderate cost, they would prefer using it to their own unevenly spun webs. In the Province of Shangtung, which is specially dependent on Chefoo for its trade, there are more than 10,000,000 pounds of cotton goods woven by the natives each year, and consequently the opening for a trade in yarn at this port is prodigious.

Although the trade in meta's has not yet assumed any great importance, moderate quantities of English iron and lead have found their way to Chefoo. The consumption of lead up to the present time is about 800 tons a year, and it is chiefly used in making minium or red lead, with which the natives color the paper employed in ceremonies, and for special correspondence and for placards. About 600 tons of English iron are now imported a year to Chefoo. The native iron competes with it in price for certain sorts, but eventually, when iron is sent out direct from England, so as to lay down here at cheaper rates than what it now costs to bring it from Hong Kong and Shanghae, after it has been shipped to those ports from England, there will doubtless be much larger consump tion of every description. There is a large trade for needles and it is on the increase. This branch of trade is supplied from Germany. The growing taste for all European articles of utility is extending itself to other articles of hardware which might be developed if a direct trade with England took place.

There is not much request for woolen cloths, though moderate sales of cotton and woolen mixtures are made here. The use of wadded clothing and sheep skins for woolen garments, which are thus cheaply obtained, will always be a bar to a large consumption of English woolen goods. Russian woolen cloths are in limited use, and the cheap German light woolen fabrics find some favor with the better classes as medium clothing in the spring and autumn.

English coals have been in good demand since the extension of steamer trade to the north of China, and during the year 1865 the consumption exceeded 2,000 tons. As Chefoo is the coaling station for nearly all the mercantile steamers going to Tientsin and Newchwang, and as the English and French navies have coal depots in this port for the use of vessels of war, this branch of trade would greatly increase if coals were sent out direct from England. At present the cost is high, owing to the great expense incurred in transhipping the coal from Shanghae, whence the principal supply comes. It would be an advantage to the British Governinent if the Royal Navy steamers could get coal here direct from home. There is good coal to be had in Shangtung, in which province Chefoo is situated. A sample of this coal was submitted to Admiral Hope in 1862, and the officers appointed to test it reported favorably on its serviceable quality for steamers. How far the coal mines are from Chefoo has not been ascertained. The mineral resources of Shangtung are reported to be large. There are sulphur and mineral springs about thirty miles distant from this port, renowned for their healing qualities, and if a proper geological survey were made of the country much might be discovered that

would add to the commerce of Chefoo.

Amongst the articles that can be exported from Chefoo there is brown

silk, produced from the wild silkworms that swarm in the mountain forests; and the quantity of this article that could be brought into the market if prices suited may be computed at not less than 12,000 bales a year. This silk is of different qualities, according to the process and care adopted in reeling it from the cocoons, and some of it is well adapted for manufactures. The natives weave plain silk goods from it, called pongees, and about 100,000 pieces of these stuffs could be bought annually. There is also a considerable quantity of fine yellow silk produced in the province. In 1861 and 1862 nearly 1,000 bales were exported, but since then very little has been offered for sale. The cause of this silk not making its appearance at Chefoo is partly owing to its being worked up by the native looms to supply the local demand for silk piece goods. Formerly the greatest portion of silk goods used in the north was brought from Foochow and other southern manufacturing towns; but since the rebels devastated those countries this has ceased to be the case, though at present Chefoo imports a moderate quantity of Chinese woven silks, as well as many other branches of commerce. The value of these

silk goods imported in the year 1865 was about £45,000 sterling. The silk trade of Chefoo will only be developed and rightly ascertained when by direct importations of English manufactures it will attract to itself all the produce that the natives have to exchange for European commodities.

The capability of Chefoo and the neighboring port of Tientsin for shipping cotton direct from England seems most strangely to have been overlooked or neglected. During the whole of the years 1863 and 1864 more than 20,000,000 pounds of cotton were shipped away from the two ports for Shanghae and Hong Kong, the greater part of which was thence transhipped to England. If the cotton had been shipped either at Chefoo or at Taku (the seaport of Tientsin), the extra cost of freight, the expense of transhipment, of fire and marine insurance, and other incidental charges, as well as a difference in price, in all amounting to at least 2d. a pound, would all have been saved and a great impulse to British trade in the north of China would have been the result. In case of cotton being again required from the far East for the Lancashire looms, Chefoo and Tientsin are likely to export large quantities direct to England.

Besides these matters, which directly interest British commerce, Chefoo has commercial relations with Japan, where there is a large market for the medicinal roots and herbs of the north of China, and whence the supplies of isinglass and earthenware are received in return.

A trade in seaweed and peas is also springing up with the Russian ports to the north of the Corea, and the former article is distributed all over the north of China, from Chefoo. There is every probability of a large increase in this business, and that Chefoo will become the centre of the northern trade with those countries and with the Corea, since the trade has already fallen into this channel.