November 1828, transmitting that Report to My Lords, in which it was stated that Correspondence the whole expense for the Canal Communication would be, exclusive of St. Ann's relative to the Canal CommuniRapids, £.734,640. as follows:cation in Canada." £. 558,000 Rideau Canal My Lords have not yet received any estimate of the probable expense that will be incurred at St. Ann's Rapids, and have therefore not yet sanctioned any expense being incurred on that part of the line of Canal Communication. It appears, by the accounts and papers before this Board, that there has already been applied on account of the above-stated expenditure, £.409,000.; viz. From the Army Extraordinaries in the commencement of the work - £. 40,000 369,000 £. 409,000 And that the whole sum required therefore to complete all the estimates already approved of is £.325,500. The whole of the grants of Parliament have already been issued to the Ordnance Department, to enable that Department to repay, to the credit of Army Extraordinaries, the advances made in the first instance out of that fund in Canada to Ordnance officers on account of this expenditure, and My Lords are not aware that the Board of Ordnance have been called upon to pay, or have paid, any portion of the first-mentioned sum of £.40,000. applied from the Extraordinaries when the work first commenced. My Lords have already communicated to the Master General and Board of Ordnance their intention to submit a vote to Parliament of £. 140,000. on account of this service during the present Session, and they think it will be expedient to add to that proposed vote the further sum of £. 23,000. instead of the £. 30,000. proposed by the Ordnance, so as to grant an equal amount in the present as in the last year for this expenditure. By making a grant of £. 163,000. during the Session of 1830, the amount which will be required in 1831 to complete all the works already approved of, viz. Rideau Canal, Grenville Canal, Chûte à Blondeau and Carillon Rapids, will be reduced to £. 162,640., and that amount My Lords will accordingly propose to Parliament to be granted in the Session of 1831; but their Lordships will not submit any vote whatever beyond these sums for these services, if any such should be called for without the most distinct and satisfactory explanations of the ground on which any such exceedings can be justified. They think it right to make this declaration thus early, in order that the Master General and Board of Ordnance may make the necessary communications upon the subject to all the parties employed, and issue to them the strictest injunctions for keeping this expenditure within the estimates. Transmit copy of this Minute to the Secretary of the Ordnance, and desire he will bring it under the special consideration of the Master General and Board, who will perceive from it that My Lords do not think it expedient to propose to Parliament, during the Session of 1830, a larger grant, on account of these works, than that for which the sanction of Parliament was given in 1829, and can therefore only increase the estimate already prepared for £. 140,000. by the addition of £. 23,000. instead of £. 30,000. as recommended by that Board, making the total proposed grant for 1830, £. 163,000. Correspondence relative to the Canal Communi cation in Canada. No. 96.-LETTER from R. Byham, Esq. to the Hon. J. Stewart, SIR, Office of Ordnance, 8th March 1830. HAVING laid before the Board your letter of the 10th ultimo, transmitting a copy of a Minute of the Lords Commissioners of His Majesty's Treasury, dated the 2d of that month, relative to the sums required for the Water Communications in progress in Canada; I have the honour to state, that on a perusal of the Minute, there appears to be a considerable difference between the sums calculated for those works, as compared with the calculations in this department, the Board therefore submit to their Lordships the following explanatory observations upon the subject; viz. In the statement, the expense of the Rideau, which has been conducted by the Ordnance from the commencement, and the Grenville and other Canals carrying on by the Staff Corps, and only very recently transferred to the Ordnance, appear in the Minute to be mixed up into one account; as this, however, may lead to inconvenience, the Board are of opinion that it is advisable to separate those expenses, in order that the subject may be understood. And with respect to the Rideau, the Board merely observe, that the amount stated in their Lordships' Minute for the work is £. 558,000, but that Lieut.-Colonel By's estimate is £. 576,757, making a difference of £.18,000; and on this the Lieut.-Colonel has been called upon to report, as requested by their Lordships in your letter of 18th September 1829, and upon receipt of his answer a notification will be made to their Lordships; under the admission, therefore, that this is to be further explained, there is no dif ference relative to the expense of the Rideau. In regard however to the Grenville, the Chûte à Blondeau, and the Carillon Rapids, for which a sum of £. 176,640. is put down in their Lordships' Minute, the Board presume that this sum has been obtained from the information afforded by Lieut.-Colonel Fanshawe, a member of the late Canada Commission, of which Sir James Kempt was President; as, agreeably to the desire of the Secretary of State for the Colonial Department, notified in Mr. Hay's letter of 22d October 1828, the Board called for an account of the probable expense of completing those works with locks on the scale of those ordered for the Rideau, and a communication of the same was made to Mr. Hay on 7th November 1828, from which it appears that the above sum was made out as follows: The Board however beg to observe, that this calculation was stated by Lieut.Colonel Fanshawe to be only grounded on the different estimates of the executive officers, who were not then under the orders of the Ordnance, nor the works conducting under their superintendence; and moreover, that the above sum was calculated for the completion of the works from that date, viz. the end of 1828; whereas, in the statement in their Lordships' Minute, the whole that was allowed for those works out of the Army Extraordinaries, or from the grants of 1826, 1827 and 1828, appear to be placed against this expense, when only the vote of 1829 (£. 32,313.) the Board submit to be the fair charge against the £. 176,640. given in by Lieut.-Colonel Fanshawe. The Board further direct me to state, that there were, in fact, no documents or detailed estimates in this office to shew the expense of completing these works, until the receipt of Sir James Kempt's despatch of 12th February 1829, addressed to the Secretary of State for the Colonial Department, but which is not adverted to in their Lordships' Minute. In the said despatch it is distinctly stated by Sir James Kempt (and the detailed estimates are furnished) that that the Grenville Canal, exclusive of what had been previously expended on it, Correspondence would require £. 21,000 That the Chûte à Blondeau would require 11,580 And the Carillon Rapids relative to the Canal Communication in Canada. And as, before this Report was received in England, a vote of £. 32,213. had been allowed, in the estimate for 1829, on account of the Grenville, there remained to be voted for these works the sum of £. 58,367. In stating the foregoing observations for their Lordships' consideration, the Board direct me to add, that the calculation was formed on the above-mentioned despatch when they submitted, in their letter of 29th January last, that £. 30,000. should be voted for those works in the present year, in order that they might be proceeded with so as to be completed as soon as the Rideau; and on reference to Sir James Kempt's Report, the expediency of a grant to that amount will be perceived. No. 97.-Copy of TREASURY MINUTE, dated 19th March 1830. READ Letter from the Secretary of the Ordnance, dated the 8th instant, further on the subject of the Water Communication in Canada. My Lords have again before them the former papers on this subject, and refer particularly to their Minute of 2d February 1830, in which their Lordships set forth the amount which from those papers it appeared to them to be necessary to provide for completing all those parts of this line of Canal Communication, for which estimates have received the sanction of this Board. My Lords perceive from the letter of the Board of Ordnance, that although that Board states the subject in a somewhat different manner, yet that they arrive at very nearly the same result. The Board of Ordnance assume from the reports which they have received, that £.58,367. was required, at the commencement of the year 1830, to complete the Grenville Canal, the Chûte à Blondeau and the Carillon Rapids; and as that had to the close of 1829 been granted for the Rideau Canal, £. 296,000. then remained as stated in My Lords' Minute of 4th August 1829, to be granted in 1830 and 1831, £.262,000. to complete the Rideau Canal. These two sums taken together, amount to £. 320,367, and as an estimate has already been laid upon the table of the House of Commons, for granting £. 163,000. for this service for the year 1830, there will remain still to be granted according to the Ordnance account in the year. 1831, £.157,367. to complete the whole amount required, by which means provision will be made for completing the whole of the Canals at the same time. It does not appear to My Lords under these circumstances to be necessary to increase the estimate for 1830. Transmit copy of this Minute to the Secretary of the Ordnance, for the information of The Master General and Board. Correspondence relative to the Canal Communication in Canada. 12 Feb. 1830. 1 April 1830. No. 98.-LETTER from R. W. Hay, Esq. to the Hon. J. K. Stewart, &c. &c. &c. SIR, Downing-street, 14th June 1830. I AM directed by Secretary Sir George Murray to transmit to you the enclosed despatches from Lieut.-General Sir James Kempt, with their enclosures, from Lieut.-Colonel By, relative to the progress of the Rideau Canal, and the increase upon the estimate for the Carillon Canal; and I am to request that you will lay the same before the Lords Commissioners of the Treasury for their Lordships' information. I am, &c. R. W. Hay. No. 99.-DESPATCH from Lieut.-General Sir James Kempt to the SIR, Castle of St. Lewis, Quebec, 12th Feb. 1830. THIS being the period of the year at which you may expect from me a report upon the state of the Rideau and Ottawa Canals, I beg to transmit for your formation a copy of a letter upon the former, addressed to me by Lieut.-Colonel in I shall not fail to forward you the condensed Report upon that Canal to which he alludes, together with the Annual Reports upon the progress and state of the Canals upon the Ottawa, the arrival of which I am in daily expectation. Dated 8 Jan. 1830. By, the engineer in command, which I consider satisfactory; and, when received, I am sorry, however, to observe, that the Canals at the Carillon and Chûte à, Blondeau have by no means advanced during the past season as I was led to expect; indeed, at the former, with the exception of clearing and surveying its course, no part of the work has been even yet undertaken. A few days ago an Estimate of the Carillon Canal was submitted to me, amounting to £.88,633. 5. 2. sterling, which exceeds the amount of that approved by His Majesty's Government (£. 58,068. 8. 6.) in the sum of £.30,564. 16. 8., an excess of more than half the total amount of the approved Estimate. Being greatly surprised by so extraordinary a discrepancy, for which I was altogether unprepared, I lost no time in directing a committee of competent officers, of which Colonel Durnford, Commanding Royal Engineer in Canada, is President, to be convened upon the spot to investigate the matter, and to prepare a correct Plan and Estimate for that Canal, which shall be forwarded to you with the least possible delay. In the meantime I have suspended the commencement of that work, with the exception of such small preparatory measures as may be found necessary until its estimate shall have met your approbation; and I trust I shall be honoured with your instructions to proceed with the work, so far at least as the sum appropriated thereto by the Imperial Parliament may permit, at a period of the season sufficiently early to prevent any delay in its prosecution, from the suspension, which, for the foregoing reasons, I have deemed incumbent upon me to direct. No. 100.-LETTER from Lieut.-Colonel By to Lieut.-General Sir James Kempt &c. &c. &c. By Town, 8th January 1830. MY DEAR SIR, I HAD yesterday the honour of receiving your Excellency's kind note of the 20th ultimo, and have the gratification of assuring your Excellency, that, as I have succeeded in raising the water at the Hog's Back to the required height, the surplus quantity of flood water has to pass over a solid rock, on the east flank; and the west flank being protected by the lock and the wing walls of the said lock, with a strong natural Canal Communi natural bank considerably above the required level, I trust there is no fear of being Correspondence beaten on either flank; and all that remains to be done is, to strengthen the centre, relative to the to stand the pressure without the least alteration; I am, therefore, cation in Canada. which appears inclined to call this great work finished, with the exception of dressing off the ground in the spring. As I am extremely anxious to make my Progress Report as explicit as possible, I am forming Plans and Sections of each work, on a scale of twenty feet to an inch, which I hope to be able to send to Colonel Durnford to lay before your Excellency, with the Plans of the ground required for the Rideau Canal, accompanied by my Progress Report, in about six weeks; at which time I shall be able to send your Excellency an abridged Report, showing the state of each work; and I beg to state that, finding it impossible to send off my Progress Report within that period, and conceiving it a matter of consequence that Government should, with the least possible delay, be made acquainted with the amount of my disbursements, I have sent, by the way of New York, my letter to General Mann, which was written to accompany my detailed Progress Report, a copy of which I have the honour of enclosing for the information of your Excellency, from which it appears that the work keeps pace with the expenditure, and that the estimate will nearly complete the Water Communication from the Ottawa to Kingston; but as I can hardly flatter myself that this is the fact, myself and officers are re-measuring the work still remaining to be executed, wishing to form a correct calculation before I send an abridged Report to your Excellency. I have, &c. John By. 31 Dec. 1829. SIR, No. 101.-LETTER from Lieut.-Colonel By to General Mann, &c. &c. &c. Royal Engineers' Office, Rideau Canal, 31 Dec. 1829. I HAVE the honour of transmitting, for the information of his Lordship the Master General, and Right Honourable and Honourable Board of Ordnance, the Progress Report of Works on the Rideau Canal, Upper Canada, from their commencement on the 21st September 1826 to the 31st December 1829, from which it appears that £.349,264. 13. 2. has been expended, to which sum should be added about £.10,000 for works not yet measured, conceiving it my duty to reserve some of the contractor's work as security. The sums authorized to be expended are, For the year 1826 1827 1828 £. S. d. 5,000 56,000 - 105,000 But the expenditure, as detailed in the Progress Report herewith annexed, amounts to £.349,264. 13. 2., which sum taken from the estimate of £.576,757. 12. 21. for the large locks, as given to the Committee, of which His Excellency Sir James Kempt was President in June 1828, leaves a balance unexpended of £. 227,492. 19. -. being about two-fifths of the sum then supposed to be required; and I have the satisfaction to state, that, on examining the various works, and comparing the measurements, as far as possible, of those performed with those still remaining to be executed, I find that rather more than three-fifths of the work are already executed; consequently I have every reason to suppose the Water Communication between the Ottawa and Kingston will be completed in August 1831, with very little excess on the said Estimate: but I most respectfully beg to explain, for the information of his Lordship the Master General, that although there is only a certain sum per annum granted to carry on these works, it is not in my power to limit the expenditure to that sum, the contracts being so worded, that payment must be made as the works progress; and the dreadful effects of the lake fever have so alarmed the different contractors, and so materially increased the expenses, that they are anxious to complete their works with the least possible delay. I therefore expect that nearly the whole of the works will be completed next year, and that, in consequence, |