From 1901 to 1905 Mr. Reford was a member of the Montreal Board of Harbour Commissioners and in 1903 was a delegate to the fifth congress of the Chambers of Commerce of the Empire, but no doubt his chief public service was rendered first as a member and then as chairman of the Royal Commission on Transportation, 1904-1905. The work involved in this important commission necessitated its members visiting every Canadian port, from the Atlantic to the Pacific, with a view to recommending all possible desirable improvements for the increase of and facilitating the transportation trade appertaining to the Dominion, both ocean and inland. The commission sent in an exhaustive report to the government in December, 1905, based on very thorough personal observations and study, together with the result of carefully gathered evidence of those residents in the different sections of Canada who were best fitted to judge. It strongly advocated the building of the Georgian Bay canal and the formation of national ports on the Atlantic and Pacific, the St. Lawrence and the Great Lakes. Further, it was urged that there should be a fast all-round-the-world British steamship service which would bind together more closely all portions of the empire, by taking advantage of the shorter ocean route which services between Canada and Europe, via Great Britain on the east, and Asia and the Orient on the west, could offer, if Halifax and Galway were used as the termini for the Atlantic coasts. Mr. Reford’s work on this commission was stupendous, but none of it was done in the light of the public eye. Few knew of the great personal sacrifices which it demanded and which were willingly made by this man of then seventy-four years. In fact all his life Mr. Reford avoided rather than sought any kind of prominence or recognition.
Many of Montreal’s educational and charitable institutions looked to him for guidance and help and whether the requests came to him for his advice, or for financial support, provided he was in sympathy with the object, to either his response was equally ready and generous. He was a governor of McGill University and was the first to respond to an appeal for aid by donating fifty thousand dollars towards a fund for the increase of salaries of the professional staff. In 1911 when the campaign for the general funds of the university was made, it found in him one of its leading spirits and most ardent supporters. Again he gave proof of his faith in the higher education of men’s minds as being an asset of immeasurable national value and set the inspiring example of a one hundred thousand dollars contribution.
Could we mention all the hospitals, homes for the aged poor and for little children, and in fact every kind of philanthropic institution which knew and enjoyed his generous help, the list would indeed be a long one and few such in Montreal omitted from it. Some of his largest donations were to the Montreal General Hospital of which he was a life governor and to which in recent years he gave thirty-five thousand dollars; to the Young Men’s Christian Association he gave ten thousand dollars, and a like sum to the Diocesan Theological College.
In manner the late Robert Reford was somewhat abrupt but this arose purely from that eagerness and energy which every move of the body seemed to betray, and not from any unkindly feeling. He was an exceptionally clear thinker, his mind worked with precision; his plans were made and carried out with unvarying promptitude and method which perhaps supply the key to his amazing capacity for the accomplishment of work. Self indulgence knew no place with him and to the end he adhered to his stern habits of life, granting himself but little respite and no holidays. From the age of twenty-two when he was made captain of No. 4 Company in the Queen’s Own Rifles his interest in civic affairs never waned. He fought untiringly for reforms, often with a lack of support which would have discouraged most men, but this North of Ireland man was not of such stuff. He was of the kind which the hand of Providence seems to have scattered far from their native shores, over the face of the British Empire to give it that salt, without which it could have no savor.
Mr. Reford was twice married; first to Miss Margaret McCord, daughter of A. T. McCord, chamberlain and treasurer of the city of Toronto, who died within a year after the marriage. In 1866 he married Miss Katherine S. Drummond, daughter of Andrew Drummond of Stirling, Scotland. Mrs. Reford survives him, as do five of his children, they being: Robert Wilson Reford, president of the Robert Reford Co., Ltd.; A. D. Reford; L. L. Reford, M. D.; Mrs. H. B. MacDougall; and Miss Kate Reford.
Mr. Reford was a member of St. George’s church and a stanch believer in the power of the church to be a light unto the lives of men. In all things he acted as he believed and so the community is bereft of a personality of strength, of courage and of truth.
MORRIS STANSFELD BLAIKLOCK.
Morris Stansfeld Blaiklock entered the service of the Grand Trunk Railway over thirty years ago and since 1907 has held the position of engineer of maintenance and survey in connection with this road. He is a son of the late Frederick William Blaiklock, who died in 1900, and Elizabeth (Whittaker) Blaiklock, who died in 1889. The father was public land surveyor and head of the Cadastral Bureau of Montreal. The family has long been prominent in engineering circles, the grandfather of our subject, Captain Blaiklock, having been one of the Royal Engineers. A brother of our subject was the late Major W. F. Blaiklock, of the Royal Scots. The family is of English origin.