1912-British Visitors
At 2:30 p.m., June 20, 1912, a special Grand Trunk Railway train from Niagara Falls pulled into Hamilton’s Stuart Street station where a deputation of Hamilton politicians awaited its arrival.
On the welcoming platform were Mayor George Lees, members of the Board of Control, the city’s Reception Committee, President H. L. Frost of the Hamilton Board of Trade, A. L. Hatch, chairman of the Hamilton Branch of the Canadian Manufacturers’ Association, Industrial Commissioner Marsh plus several other prominent Hamilton citizens.
As the train pulled to a stop and the doors of the special coach opened, Mayor Lees stepped forward to formally welcome a party of powerful businessmen from England.
Everyone of the visitors, the Spectator noted, was “either the head or representative of some of the largest industries in the world.” The purpose of their visit was, again as noted in the Spectator, to see first-hand “the splendid possibilities Hamilton afforded for the investment of old country capital.”
After a brief greeting, the party of sixty British manufacturers, plus the local gentlemen, was whisked away in a convoy of twenty-two automobiles to the industrial annex, where “the whirring of machinery emphasized the story of the city’s tremendous expansion.”
The first plant to be visited was the Oliver Chilled Plow Works, where a tour of the plant was conducted by Superintendent Dann. Of special interest to the visitors was the means by which the plows were painted and varnished, using a specially-quipped apparatus powered by electricity.
Another feature of the Oliver Chilled Plow Works was the underground tunnel which contained all the plant’s electrical, steam and water pipes. The tunnel, large enough to permit a man to stand up, had various smaller branches connecting it to the various departments in the plant. Because of the set up, repairs on the various pipelines were facilitated.
The inspection of the Oliver Chilled Works plant was so thorough that even “the excellent washrooms impressed the visitors … sanitary water fountains are situated all over the plant and sanitary soap bulbs are also supplied.”
The party also closely inspected the new Wagstaffe’s jam factory. They were told that the company employed five hundred and seventy-five people, five hundred of them were women. Jams and other foodstuffs were prepared under the most sanitary conditions possible at the day, every employee being supplied with a white coat, white overalls and white cap. Each visitor was presented with a complimentary jar of the company’s best product.
Besides the Oliver plant and Wagstaffe’s, the visitor made whirlwind tours of International Harvester, the Berlin Tool and Machine Company and Sawyer-Massey.
After the formal factory tours were completed, the party paid a short visit to the Hamilton Jockey Club, where the British visitors spent a considerable amount of time of the betting wickets.
After the Jockey Club visit, the party was motored to the Royal Hamilton Yacht Club house for a brief luncheon, after which the ‘around the bay’ trip was resumed, returning to Hamilton via Burlington and Aldershot.
The visitors were driven to the incline railway located at the head of James Street South. After riding to the crest of Hamilton’s “mountain,” the visitors enjoyed the panoramic view of the lower city, harbour and Lake Ontario. A drive through the grounds of the Hamilton Asylum for the Insane was followed by a spin along the edge of the escarpment to the East End Incline railway for the descent to the lower city.
The Spectator reporter who accompanied the British visitors and their hosts described the “around the bay’ trip in terms of auto racing : “Barney Oldfield would have had to exert himself to beat this bunch. Dust in large quantities was swallowed. The washrooms at the Hotel Royal and the R. H. Y. C. worked overtime and much water was utilized in an effort to wash down the dust.”
The finale of the visit was a lavish banquet held at the Royal Hotel. After the meal, the speech-making was started by Hamilton Mayor George Lees. The mayor told the visitors he had heard through the newspapers hat they had untold millions in their pockets which they did not know what to do with. He felt that Hamilton was deserving of their investments because of its cheap power, natural gas, water facilities, blast furnaces and excellent manufacturing sites.”
The next speaker, responding to Mayor Lees’ toast, was J. L. Burlingham, chairman of the British delegation. Although he said his delegation was delighted with Canada, he felt he must tell the mayor that they were not rolling in money. They were only here to “spy out” Canada’s advantages with the object of reporting back to their firms. He complimented Hamilton on its splendid appearance and extended his, and the delegation’s, thanks to the reception committee for their warm welcome.
The organizer of the tour was British journalist, W. L. Palmer, who was given the task of proposing the toast to Canada. Noting Canada’s loyalty to England, Palmer said “if today or tomorrow Canada needs our assistance, everyman in the British land would fly to your help, just the same as everyman in Canada would fly to us in times of trouble”
Palmer felt that Hamilton seemed to embrace every advantage, both natural and commercial, and said that the city had the mark of destiny upon it.” In particular, Palmer was delighted with the view from the mountain.
“I am certain I am richer for having come to Hamilton today,” Palmer said before being interrupted by an outburst of laughter.
“Whose horse was it?” a voice from the floor asked.
A somewhat embarrassed Palmer admitted that he “visited a race course for the first time in my life; I bet on only three races, and won everyone.”
Before sitting down, Mr. Palmer had to air a complaint about the distortion and inaccuracies of Canadian newspaper reporting : “I want to make a suggestion for the benefit of your Canadian press, and that is to develop accuracy in your reports. A very Liberal paper charged me of accusing the Liberals of being disloyal. I might as well accuse the King of disloyalty.”
Palmer denied telling members of the delegation not to talk to the press, but did tell them not to be too lavish in giving details to the Canadian reporters “because they would not get them right.” Palmer pointed out that he was quoted as giving certain trade figures at $2,000,000, whereas he had said $200,000,000 : I suppose, however, that was near enough.”
Palmer ended his toast with the observation that “they do not fully understand Canada in Great Britain; but we hope to give them a more accurate knowledge in the future.”
Hamilton’s venerable postmaster, Mr. Adam Brown, responded to Palmer’s toast by declaring that “Canada is now the brightest in the British Crown.” Commenting on Hamilton’s industrial advancement, Brown declared “there is nothing of what I did in my political life that I cherish more than the help I gave to the iron tariff that made Hamilton the Birmingham of Canada.”
Mr. Brown went on to boast that while trade was extremely busy in Hamilton, his post office rarely lost anything sent through the mails. M. Brown received a hearty round of applause when he mentioned Canada’s participation in the South African war :”Canadians covered themselves with glory there, and would do so again.” Brown concluded with an impassioned declaration that while Canadians are loyal to the British King, “let it be our proud boast that we owe allegiance to the King of Kings.”
After the applause for Mr. Brown’s toast died down, Mr. Palmer rose again to say : “It gives me double pleasure to hear Mr. Brown here tonight. He is a strong pillar in the imperial fortress, just like his son, George Brown, in England, who is a credit to Canada”
Mr. S. A. Hubston, of Eastwood, Nottinghamshire, gave the toast to Hamilton, in which he attributed the city’s success to “a contented democracy” and “splendid organizational powers.” He also felt that Hamilton had an advantage over England because of its “new labour” contrasted with Britain’s “old labour” which. He claimed, was more hesitant to adopt new ideas.
The banquet speeches were concluded by Controller Bailey, chairman of the reception committee, who told the delegation that it was his hope “that you will invest some of the little capital you made at the races today.”
Engraved with the crest of the City of Hamilton, the menu cards produced for the banquet served as fine mementos of visit June 20, 1912 visit of British capitalists to Hamilton. The delegation was also presented with literature and photographs promoting Hamilton.
At midnight, the special Grand Trunk Railway train provided for the British visitor pulled out of Hamilton’s G.T.R. yards and the 9 ½ hour whirlwind visit was over.
