[keefer] presidential ADDRESS 13 



furnace. Aluminium is thus obtained from cryolite and bauxite. Phos- 

 phate is also separated from apatite and other mineral phosphates. Cal- 

 cium carbide, ol)tained in the same way, is becoming an important mdus- 

 try." 



'"■ Electrical energy can be generated on a coal field where coal, of 

 good calorific value, is raised at a cost of three shillings per ton, cheaper 

 than by a water fall, even at Niagara." 



Eastern and Western Canadian coal fields are separated by thousands 

 of miles, but water power is abundant throughout nearly all this coalless 

 region. 



Our western coal fields are vast and their market at present limited. 

 If coal can be raised cheaply enough and the raw material for the work 

 be discovered in the neighbourhood, they may give rise to electro- chem- 

 ical and electro- metallurgical industries without the intervention of 

 water power. 



The commercial production of calcic carbide (acetylene ga,s), by elec- 

 trolysis, is the discovery of ]\Ir. T. L. Wilson, (a grandson of the late 

 Hon. J. M. Wilson of Saltfleet, Ontario,) who has established works on 

 the water powers of the Welland Canal and has shipped this product all 

 round the world. 



The electric production, commercially, of caustic soda and chlorine 

 is under the patent of Mr. Ernest A. Letueur, son of the Secretary of 

 the General Post Office Department, Ottawa. This manufacture is now 

 being carried on by a Boston company at a New England water power. 



MINING. 



There is another field nearly as widespread as our water power in 

 which electricity is destined to play a most important role, and this is 

 mining, which is now spreading over the Dominion with the same rap- 

 idity as the utilization of our forests for pulp and paper purposes. Over 

 this area, from the Atlantic to the Pacific, minerals have been discovered 

 and in many cases tested and successfully worked, and from recent 

 results we appear to be on the threshold of remarkable developments in 

 this direction, especially as so small a portion of so great an area has 

 been prospected sufficiently for mining purposes. 



Eor power purposes alone, electricity is invaluable in mines, and its 

 multifarious uses (as enumerated by Mr. Preece) are '' for moving trams 

 and for working hoists: it lights up and ventilates the galleries, and, by 

 pumping, keeps them free from water. It operates the drills, picks, 

 stamps, crushers, compressors, and all kinds of machinery. The modern 

 type of induction motor, having neither brushes nor sliding contacts, is 



