Tasmania, which were volcanic in a com- 

 paratively recent geological period, and 

 then became quiescent, are nowadays the 

 most immune from earthquake shocks. 



Recent pixagress in the commercial utili- 

 eation of waterfalls is very remarkable. 

 The rush to harness what 'is left of the 

 Falls of Niagara has been frenzied, and 

 the disappearance of the Falls is as well 

 in sight as any disappearance can be. 

 From this Tasmania may draw a useful 

 lesson. The utilisation of the power 

 available from the Great Lake is a 

 topic which has been often mooted. 1 

 am inclined to think the time has come 

 when it should receive greater atten- 

 don, and when efforts should be made to 

 attract capitalists to take it in hand. 

 The idea should be dis'pelled that any 

 big lake provides water-power as a mat- 

 ter of course; this is not so. There 

 are big lakes elsewhere, like Lake 

 Tchad and Lake Tanganyika, that are 

 glowing smaller instead of keeping rLwr 

 level What provides water-power is a 

 large catchment area at a suitable ele- 

 vation in a country with a reliable and 

 sufficient rainfall. These desiderata are 

 present in Tasmania. We have, more- 

 over, a climate in which a manufactur- 

 ing population can thrive and work to 

 the best advantage, and the facilities arr; 

 numerous where factories could be erect- 

 ed in close proximity to deep-water har- 

 bours. The tiansmission of electricity 

 from the centre of Tasmania to the 

 Coast does not present insurmountable 

 engineering difficulties, if suiScient money 

 is forthcoming. The commercial aspect 

 of the question is not, however, en- 

 couraging, if calculated on present de- 

 mands for electrical power; but it may 

 be noted that the same diffident view 

 was held with reference to the first Power 

 Supply Company established at Niagara. 

 The proverb, "that money makes money,'' 

 iinds its counterpart in the fact thai 

 power brings power, by attracting people 

 to itself, in order that it may be utilis- 

 ed. The local press has, within tiie 

 past year, published a most interesting 

 sua-gestion for working tbe Tasmanian 

 railwa:\TS by electricity, although it may 

 be regretted that the scheme lacked de- 

 tails as to the cost of converting lue 

 rolling-stock, and gave no prominence 

 to the fact that, while electricity is much 

 cheaper than steam traction for a fre- 

 quent (rain service, the use of steam is 

 cheaper where trains are few and far 

 between. The application of electric 



T^ower for unwatering mines, such as the 

 Tasmania mine at Beaconsfield, is not 

 impossible, and I trust that many other 

 mines on a nar with the Tasmania wi!' 

 he discovered, and that they will fur- 

 nish tf^mpting propo«itio"a for electric 

 power from the Great Lake. 



With regard to telegraphy, 1 desire to 

 notice a portable telephone instrument de- 



veloped by a Tasmanian, and shown at the 

 military camp at Koss on Easter Tues- 

 day. The apparatus has the great merit 

 of the thorough working out of detail 

 seldom seen at the first exhibition of a 

 new instrument. ±iy its means any 

 standing run of ordinarj' telegraph wires, 

 or fencing wires, can be used as a con- 

 aection for reliable communication for 

 a distance equal to the breadth of this 

 State. With regard to wireless tele- 

 graphy, I note with regret that Australia 

 appears to be backward and appai'ent- 

 ly reluctant to face this problem with 

 the characteristic enterprise which this 

 young community shows in other paths 

 of progress. Within the year under re- 

 view messages have been sent by wire- 

 less telegraphy from England to Fort 

 Said, and ships crossing the Atlantic 

 have been in constant communicatiou 

 with the shore, and able to issue a daily 

 paper on board. I firmly believe that, 

 with the use of wireless telegraphy, mes- 

 sages could be sent to England at c. 

 shilling a word, and that the cheapwi- 

 ing of telegraph rates would be an in- 

 estimable boon to Australia. The rate- 

 of transmission of wireless telegraphy 

 has been increased from fifteen to thirty 

 words a minute over moderate distances. 

 Type-setting by telegraphy has reachcMt 

 the stage of commercial developmr at, 

 but T hope the time is far distant when 

 our Tasmanian newspapers will h<^. set 

 lip in type to one same order by an 

 operator sitting in a bush capital. 

 In electric lighting, Japan, a country 

 very like Tasmania in its physical fea- 

 tures, has made such progress as to 

 light cheaply, not only its important 

 towns, but also its villages, by electricity. 

 In this liua of enterprise Launceston 

 has set an example to Aus- 

 tralia, which would do credit to- 

 any city in the world. It behoves 

 other centres of population in Tas- 

 Tiiania to follow this good example. 

 The nse of electricity in the manrifactnre 

 of steel ha.s been developed to the extent 

 that it is now commercially remunera- 

 tive where electrical energy is available- 

 at the price of ,£10 per horse-power. This 

 calls for attention, because in Tasmania 

 we have abundance of good iron ore, and 

 a reasonable hope that an electrical horse- 

 power could be obtained at a figure far 

 below £10. I may be allowed on this 

 occasion to repeat my congratulations on 

 the completion of the Denison Canal and 

 of the Stanley breakwater, which I also' 

 had the oleasnre to open within the last 

 year. These works draw attention 

 to the growth in the size and depth of 

 modern steamers. These are increas- 

 ing with marvellous rapidity, a rapidity 

 which is alarming to most harbour trusts,, 

 but enables us to rejoice in the fact that 

 Hobart offers, and will offer, apparently, 

 for endless ages, deep water berths un- 



