MEPCANfiîi Library. 



\iEW YORK. 



PEESIDENTJAL ADDRESS 

 By T. C. Keefee, C.M.G., CE. 



Canada with a small population and insufficient capital lias neverthe- 

 less held a foremost position in the products of the Forest and the Fish- 

 eries, as well as in the quality of those cereals and fruits which attain 

 their highest development in a northern latitude. In live stock she has 

 not suffered by comparison with any other portion of this continent, 

 while in dairy products she is pre-eminent. If she has not, until re- 

 cently, made much progress in mineral development, it has been more 

 from want of money than of mines. If she has been long in attaining 

 a position as a manufacturing country, it is accounted for by the fiscal 

 and financial conditions of a sparsely settled country, the smallness of a 

 home market, and the competition of greater capital and out-put, and 

 therefore cheaper production elsewhere. 



Amongst the many partially developed resources of Canada, perhaps 

 there is none more widespread or more far reaching in future results 

 than her unsurpassed "Water Power. The value of this has been enorm- 

 ously enhanced, first by the expansion of the wood pulp manufacture, 

 and the introduction of electro-chemical and metallurgical industries 

 for which this country possesses the raw material; and, more recently, 

 in the revolution which has been brought about by success in transmit- 

 ting the energy of water falls from remote and inconvenient positions to 

 those where the work is to be done. 



Electrical transmission brings the power to the work, and when the 

 prime mover is water, we have the cheapest power, and perhaps nearest 

 approach to perpetual motion which it is possible to obtain; — one which 

 is always " on tap," and, like gi-avity, maintained without cost and ap- 

 plied without delay. 



An examination of any good map of our broad Dominion reveals, as 

 its most striking feature, an extraordinary wealth and remarkably un- 

 interrupted succession of lakes and rivers, suggestive of ample rainfall, 

 the first great requisite in the occupation of any country. This feature 

 would be still more impressive if all the waters could be shown on the 

 map. Over large areas only the more important rivers have been ex- 

 plored and delineated; while in the surveyed districts many are neces- 

 sarily omitted to leave room for other information to be given. 



Proc, 1899. J. 



