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TRANSPORTATION AND COMMUNICATIONS tric railway from Paris to Ayr. They said that a railway would in- crease the importance of Paris as a shipping and shopping centre. Nothing came of the proposal. But J. Stewart Clark was a man of vision and persistence: he believed that the electric railway would be to the twentieth century what the steam railway was to the nine- teenth, and he was determined to be one of the pioneers. Accord- ingly, in April I9goI, he secured a franchise for an electric line "from Keg Lane to Washington Street, with spur-lines to other parts of the town", and he asserted that the system would be completed within a year. But trolley-cars never clanged up and down our main streets. A year later, in April, 1902, the Grand Valley Railway Company, with headquarters in Brantford, began to survey a line through Paris to Galt. By the end of April, 1903, the rails had been laid and the wire strung as far as the Governor's Road, and on May i2, the first cars ran over this part of the line. Parisians were enthusiastic. Many prophesied that the town - the junction of three railways -would rapidly develop into a me- tropolis. Some proposed that a spur-line should be built from Willow Street to Grand River Street. Others, who saw Paris as a great spa graced by the presence of the high and mighty, suggested that bath houses should be built at Ealand's sulphur springs (Arlington Park) to accommodate the hundreds of health seekers who would arrive on the electric cars. Other Parisians merely went on frequent shopping trips to Brantford, much to the displeasure of local merchants. Even before the trolleys were running into town, Parisians were using them for Sunday excursions. A family would get off at a way- side station and have a picnic on the banks of the Grand; and lovers would select a romantic spot for a hand-in-hand stroll. The clergy organized a protest against the running of Sunday cars. They asserted that it was wrong for some people to use the electric railway to enjoy themselves in the country while others were attend- ing Sunday school and church. One clergyman accused the railway officials of a criminal conspiracy against morals: he asserted, among other things, that these officials were luring children onto the cars with rum-toffee, and were thereby setting the little feet on the road towards alcoholism. . From the Governor's Road, the line ran along Walnut Lane and down the south side of Brock Street. At the corner of Willow and Brock Streets, a small shelter was built as a waiting room. Then the line crossed to the west side of Willow Street and continued north between the raceway and the road until it reached William Street, where the main station was built. From there it continued to the northern limits of the town, and on northward along the west- ern edge of the East River Road, to a short distance beyond Braeside. From this point, it cut across the fields until it crossed the Grand Trunk tracks near the bridge over the Grand River. Towards the end of September, 1904, the cars were running as 229