PRESIDENTIAL ADDRESS. oie 
Water-power. 
Canada has unrivalled resources in water-power, and its extent and pos- 
sible utilisation have been made the subject of investigation by engineers for 
many years past. One of the most important memoirs on the subject was 
presented to the Royal Society of Canada, in his Presidential Address of 1899, 
by Mr. Keefer, C.M.G. In recent times many other engineers have studied 
the subject and carried out important works. Exact knowledge of the total 
power represented by the water-falls and rapids of the Dominion is not 
available, nor can any close estimate be made of the power which may be em- 
ployed hereafter in factories, mills, or industrial processes, because profitable 
employment obviously depends upon commercial considerations, which must 
be governed largely by the localities in which water-power may be found, and 
the cost of works and of transmission of energy to places where it can be 
utilised. It has been estimated that on the line from Lake Superior through 
the chain of lakes and rivers leading to Niagara and thence through the St. 
Lawrence to the sea eleven millions horse-power may be developed.+ Mr. 
Langelier has estimated that in the Province of Quebec the water-power 
aggregates more than eighteen millions horse-power ; other provinces all 
possess large resources of the same kind as yet untouched. The most striking 
example of the utilisation of water-power is that on the Niagara River, which 
I had the good fortune to visit in 1904 during my Presidency of the 
Institution of Civil Engineers; the works on the Canadian side were then 
in full progress, and at a stage which enabled one to realise completely their 
great difficulty and immense scale. The three companies whose works are 
near the Falls on the Canadian side have provided for a total ultimate de- 
velopment of over 400,000 horse-power, and a fourth establishment lower 
down the river, intended chiefly for the use of Hamilton, is to develop 40,000 
horse-power. In the construction of the works, in the electric generating 
plant, the arrangements for transmitting power over long distances, and other 
features of importance remarkable engineering skill and daring have been 
displayed. American capital and enterprise have had much to do with these 
undertakings, as they have with many other important Canadian enterprises ; 
but it may be hoped that British capital will keep its lead and be freely 
employed in the development and utilisation of all the resources of the 
Dominion, including that magnificent asset its water-power. The applica- 
tions of water-power are already very numerous, including not merely the 
creation of electrical energy and its use for lighting and power in towns and 
factories situated at considerable distances from the Falls, but for manufac- 
tures and industrial processes carried on near the Falls. Amongst these 
manufactures, that of aluminium and carbide of calcium may be mentioned, 
while paper- and pulp-mills and saw-mills constitute important industries. 
Great advances have been made in the transmission of electrical power over 
long distances, and very high pressures are being used. Electric traction on 
railways and tramways also derives its power from the same sources, and is 
being rapidly developed. In 1901 there were 553 miles of electric railways, 
and in 1907 815 miles. 
Over-sea Trade and Transport. 
It was remarked at the outset that a great truth is embodied in the 
old toast of ‘Ships, Colonies, and Commerce,’ and the efficient and econo- 
mical transport of passengers, produce, and manufactured goods between the 
Dominions beyond the Seas and the Mother Country is essential both for the 
development of Colonial resources and for the continued prosperity of the 
United Kingdom. The British mercantile marine commands the larger 
* Ths Times Financial Supplement, April 2, 1906, contains a valuable article 
on this subject, from which many of the above figures are taken. 
