342 



NATURE 



[September i6, 1909 



SECTION G. 



ENGINEERING. 



Opening Address by Sir W. H. White, K.C.B., Sc.D., 

 LL.D., F.R.S., President of the Section. 

 On the present occasion, when the meetings of the 

 British Association for the Advancement of Science are 

 held in the heart of this great Dominion, it is natural that 

 the proceedings of Section G (Engineering) should be 

 largely concerned with the consideration of great engineer- 

 ing enterprises by means of which the resources of Canada 

 have been and are being developed and the needs of its 

 rapidly increasing population met. It will not be in- 

 appropriate, therefore, if the Presidential Address is mainly 

 devoted to an illustration of the close connection which 

 exists between the work of civil engineers and the founda- 

 tion as well as the development of British Colonies and 

 Dominions beyond the seas. 



British colonies and possessions have started from the 

 sea-front and have gradually pushed inland. Apart from 

 maritime enterprise, therefore, and the possession of 

 shipping, the British Empire could never have been 

 created. An old English toast, once familiar, but which 

 has of late years unfortunately fallen into comparative 

 desuetude, wished success to " Ships, Colonies and Com- 

 merce." A great truth lies behind the phrase: these 

 three interests are interdependent, and their prosperity 

 means much for both the Mother Country and its off- 

 spring. As colonies have been multiplied, their resources 

 developed, and their populations increased, over-sea com- 

 nierce between them and the Mother Country has been 

 enlarged ; greater demands have been made upon shipping 

 for the over-sea transport of passengers, produce and 

 manufactures ; there has been a growing necessity for free 

 and uninterrupted communication between widely scattered 

 portions of the Empire, the maintenance of which has de- 

 pended primarily and still depends on the possession of a 

 supreme war-fleet, under the protection of which peaceful 

 operations of the mercantile marine can proceed in safety, 

 unchecked by foreign interference, but ever ready to meet 

 foreign competition. 



Now that our colonies have become the homes of new 

 nations it is as true as ever that the maintenance of 

 British supremacy at sea in both the mercantile marine 

 and the war-fleet is essential to the continued existence 

 and prosperity of the Empire. The trackless ocean sup- 

 plies the cheapest and most convenient means of transport 

 and intercommunication ; continuous improvements in ship- 

 building and marine engineering have abridged distances 

 and given to sea-passages a regularity and certainty 

 formerly unknown. It is a literal fact that in the British 

 Empire the " seas but join the nations they divide." 

 Every triumph of engineering draws closer the links which 

 bind together its several parts. Greater facilities for 

 frequent and rapid interchange of information of what is 

 happening in all sections of the Empire and of knowing 

 each other better should lead, and have led, to increased 

 sympathy and a fuller realisation of common interest in 

 all that affects the well-being of the Empire. Within the 

 last few years the events of the Boer War have given 

 remarkable proofs of the practical interest of the colonies 

 in Imperial concerns and their readiness to share its 

 burdens. The present year will always be remembered 

 as that in which generous offers of assistance from the 

 colonies in the task of strengthening the Royal Navy at 

 a critical period have led to a conference the labours of 

 which should produce important practical results and 

 make our future secure. Organised cooperation between 

 the Mother Country and the Dominions beyond the seas 

 in the maintenance of an Imperial Navy adequate for the 

 protection of vital interests is essential to that security ; 

 and, at last, there is a prospect that this end will be 

 attained. 



While claiming for the shipbuilder and marine engineer 

 an important place in the creation and maintenance of the 

 Empire, it is recognised that the work of other branches 

 of civil engineering has been equally important. The pro- 

 fession of the civil engineer was described in the Charter 

 granted to the parent institution in 1828 as " the art of 

 directing the Great Sources of Power in Nature for the 

 use and convenience of man : as the means of production 

 NO. 2081, VOL. 81] 



and of traffic in States both for internal and external 

 trade, as applied in the construction of roads, bridges, 

 aqueducts, canals, river navigation and docks, for internal 

 intercourse and exchange ; and in the construction of ports, 

 harbours, moles, breakwaters and lighthouses ; and in the 

 art of navigation by artificial power for the purposes of 

 commerce ; and in the construction and adaptation of 

 machinery and in the drainage of cities and towns." Since 

 this description was penned there have been great and 

 unforeseen developments in many directions, including 

 those relating to improvements in the use of steam, the 

 generation and practical applications of electrical power, 

 the manufacture and extended employment of steel. The 

 main ideas expressed eighty years ago, however, still re- 

 main applicable to the beneficent work of the civil engineer. 

 His skill and enterprise, backed by adequate financial pro- 

 vision, are continuously being applied to improve and 

 extend means of production, internal and external means 

 of communication, inland and over-sea navigation, the use 

 of mechanical power and appliances, the acceleration and 

 cheapening of transport, the development and utilisation of 

 natural resources, and the direction of the sources of power 

 in nature for the use and convenience of man. One of 

 the chief fields of engineering operations at the present 

 time is to be found in the Dominion of Canada, the 

 governing authorities of which have appreciated the fact 

 that bold enterprise and generous financial provision for 

 the execution of great engineering works are essential to 

 the progress and prosperity of the country. Its vast 

 extent, its magnificent lakes and rivers, its agricultural 

 and mineral riches, its forests, its unrivalled water-power, 

 and many other potential sources of future wealth and 

 progress, furnish exceptional incentives and opportunities 

 to the engineer. From an early period in the history of 

 Canada this fact has been realised, and attempts have 

 been made to utilise natural advantages ; while the same 

 policy has been energetically adopted since the Dominion 

 was established forty-two years ago. It is impossible in 

 this Address even to enumerate the great engineering 

 works which have been accomplished or are in process 

 of execution ; and it might be thought impertinent if the 

 attempt were made by one who has only an outside know- 

 ledge of the facts. On the other hand, it may be of 

 interest to illustrate by means of Canadian examples the 

 truth of the general statement that civil engineering has 

 exercised and must continue to exercise great influence 

 upon the well-being and development of the British Empire. 



By the kindness of the High Commissioner of Canada. 

 Lord Strathcona — who has himself done so much for the 

 development of the Dominion, including a great part in 

 the construction of the Canadian Pacific Railway — the 

 writer has been favoured with official reports and statistics 

 bearing on the subject. These have been freely used in 

 the statement which follows. 



The subject is so extensive and the time available for 

 this Address so short that it will be necessary to omit 

 detailed reference to important applications of engineering 

 which are necessarily made, under modern conditions, '"n 

 all great centres of population. Amongst these may be 

 mentioned building construction, sanitation, water supply, 

 heating, lighting, telegraphy, telephony, tramways, electrir 

 generating stations and their plant, and gas manufacture. 

 No attempt will be made to deal with the important assist- 

 ance given by engineers to the operations of agriculture, 

 mining and manufacture, or to the utilisation of the 

 splendid forests of the Dominion, although the demands 

 for machinery and mechanical power are in these respects 

 exceptionally great, owing to the sparseness of the popula- 

 tion and the magnitude of the work to be done. Notwith- 

 standing the lar,ge immigration and rapid increase of 

 population, these demands will certainly continue and will 

 probably become greater as the area under cultivation is 

 increased, as manufactures are developed, and the natural 

 resources of the country more largely utilised. The ex- 

 ample of the United States places this anticipation beyond 

 doubt, and demonstrates the great part which the engineer 

 must continue to play in the development of Canada. 



Even when the limitations described have been imposed 

 upon the scope of this Address, the field to be traversed is 

 a wide one ; and without further preface an endeavour 

 will be made to describe a few of the most important 



