82 



whereupon counsel appearing for and on behalf of the United States 

 applied for an immediate hearing on said application, representing, 

 as was also alleged by the applicant, that the said St. Lawrence River 

 Power Company is a subsidiary of the Aluminum Company of 

 America; that the applicant company had for many years developed 

 hydro-electric power in its power house at Massena, N.Y., using 

 water for that purpose taken from the South channel of the St. 

 Lawrence river immediately below Dodge shoal via its power canal 

 and Grasse river near Cornwall island ; that the hydro-electric power 

 thus produced is used mainly in the production of aluminium by the 

 said Aluminum Company of America; that the demand on this 

 company to supply aluminium is most urgent and insistent, and 

 practically their entire output is being taken by the United States 

 and Allied Governments for military purposes in the prosecution 

 of the present war; that, during the months of January, February, 

 March and part of April in each year, huge ice jams in the said South 

 channel cause practically a shutdown of the said plant and an annual 

 reduction in the output amounting to over six million pounds, and 

 that these serious ice difficulties can be remedied by the construction 

 of the said submerged weir, and counsel for the United States Gov- 

 ernment therefore applied to the Commission for an order for the 

 suspension of its Rules of Procedure so as to permit of the immediate 

 hearing of the said application and in support of said motion sub- 

 mitted letters from the Chairman of the War Industries Board of 

 the United States and the Acting Director of Aircraft Production 

 urgently praying for favourable consideration and approval of the 

 application herein, and 



Whereas, by its order dated at Atlantic City, August 13, 1918, the 

 Commission suspended rules 9, 10, 11, 12 and 13 of its Rules of 

 Procedure and ordered that a hearing on said application be fixed for 

 the 29th day of August, 1918, at 10 a.m. of that day in the city of 

 Montreal, Que., and 



Whereas, at the time and place agreed upon, the hearing having 

 taken place, the commission at the conclusion of the evidence of the 

 applicant, heard counsel on its behalf, as well as counsel on behalf of 

 the United States, the Dominion of Canada, the province of Ontario 

 and the state of New York, and also on behalf of several private and 

 corporate interests, no testimony having been presented by either 

 Government or by any interest in opposition to said application, and 



Whereas, at the said hearing at Montreal, counsel for the United 

 States presented to the Commission a letter from the Secretary of War 

 of the United States to the Commission, requesting in order to meet 

 the urgent necessity for the increased production of aluminium for 

 the prosecution of the present war, that the permit he had granted 

 to the applicant receive the approval of the Commission, and 



Whereas, the Dominion of Canada by its Statement in Response 

 and also at the said hearing denied the jurisdiction of the Commission 

 to entertain and grant the said application, alleging that, under Article 

 VII of the Webster-Ashburton Treaty of August 9, 1842, it is stipu- 

 lated that the channels in the river St. Lawrence on both sides of 

 Long Sault island and Barnhart island shall be equally free and open 



