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7. Ship of the Month - cont'd. "In the evening, a banquet, worthy of the launching of such a magnificent vessel, was given by the Bertram Engine Works Company in honour of the Pre­ sident, directors and officers of the Richelieu & Ontario Navigation Co. No­ thing could have been more perfect than the taste displayed by the company in the arrangements for the dinner, and the speeches delivered at it by men of the highest standing in the community bore testimony to the pride of Ca­ nadians in the Bertram Company, and in the great national waterway which the Richelieu Company has placed in the very forefront of the scenic routes of the world. "The chair was occupied by Mr. John Bertram, President of the Bertram Engine Works Co., and among the guests were Messrs. Wainwright, Vice-President of the R & O .; E. B. Osler, M. P.; Senator Cox, Senator Jones, Justice Maclen- nan; Colonel Henshaw of Montreal; A. E. Ames, president of the Toronto Board of Trade; W. D. Matthews, Wm. Mackenzie (&) D. D. Mann (railway giants -Ed. ), Elias Rogers (Toronto fuel dealer), Geo. H. Watson, K. C., T. G. Blackstock, J. W. Langmuir, E. R. Wood, E. H. Keating, City Engineer Rust; J. F. Dolan, City Passenger Agent R & O Co., Montreal; W. M. German, M. P.; C. F. Gilder­ sleeve, General Manager of the R & O Co.; W. F. Maclean, M. P.; Capt. (Gil­ bert) Johnston, Mechanical Superintendent R & 0 Co.; Lieut. Col. Mason, Leighton McCarthy, M. P., A. A. Kemp, M. P., John Waldie, Arthur White, A. H. Notman of the C. P. R., Captain Crangle, Melville Bertram; J. J. Long, Col­ lingwood (later charged with fraud in connection with the trading of Nor­ thern Navigation Company stock -Ed. ); Ald(erman) Lamb, Mayor (Oliver A . ) Howland (of Toronto), T. B. Polson, J. P. Northey, Fred. Nicholls, Barlow Cumberland (of the Niagara Navigation Company), H. M. Molson (of brewing fame), D. L. White, A ld. Hubbard, S. D. Lauder, H. C. Osborne, N. Tait, A. B. Lee. " This was a most distinguished assemblage of transportation men, Members of Parliament, Senators, City of Toronto council members, and other persons of note. "The chairman, in proposing the toast of 'The King', expressed his great re­ gret at the absence of Senator (Louis-Joseph) Forget, President of the Ri­ chelieu & Ontario Navigation Company, the corporation in whose honour the banquet was given. He had received from Senator Forget the following tele­ gram: 'Have just learned with great pleasure of safe launch of boat. I deep­ ly regret that for cause of bad health I have not been able to be with you tonight. Accept my best wishes for the continued success of your firm. ' He had also to announce the unavoidable absence of the man who, perhaps, more than any other... took an interest in transportation questions, Hon. J. I. Tarte, who was stuck in a snow-drift at Tweed, and had telegraphed that he was compelled to return to Montreal. "In proposing the toast of the President, directors and officers of the Ri­ chelieu & Ontario Navigation Company, Mr. (John) Bertram spoke of the great beauty of the route traversed by the steamers of that company... Mr. Bertram traced the giving of contracts to his firm by the R & O to the influence of the late Sir Frank Smith and the late Mr. Geo. H. Bertram in having one of the vessels (CORONA) of the Niagara Line built at the Bertram yards. He wished to see the R & O successful, because they had led the way to develop­ ment, which he hoped to see followed by many other firms. Mr. Wainwright, Vice-President of the R & O Co., responded to the toast... " Mr. Wainwright noted that the company had gone to Chester, Pennsylvania, for the building of COLUMBIAN (later RAPIDS QUEEN), but found that it had been "a mistake", and that "then they came here to the Bertram yards, and under Mr. Angstrom, a scientific man who knew the business of shipbuilding from A to Z, they could get boats better and cheaper than at Chester... "Now they were building a boat, launched that day, on the lines of the Fall River boats, and if it was a success, they would have another on the stocks (it never happened -Ed. ), and they would have on the line between Montreal and Quebec two of the finest boats in the world... " Col. Henshaw added his