Untitled

Hokitika Guardian, 28 April 1922, Page 2

IH»ii mum | The North American continent is the home of b'g schemes. Especially is Canada leading in colossal hydro-ele:- . trie power schemes, and the latest aci complished scheme, is one of the grea‘- | est undertaken. The Province of On- | tar in has for some years boasted the i greatest hydro-electric system known, and the recent opening of thfe new pow. Jer canal connecting Lake Erie with j gake Ontario marks another great 1 stride forward in the development of 1 the natural resources of Canada. S r ' Adam Beck, chairman of the Hydro-

Electric Commission of Ontario, has persistently advocated this scheme. Work on it began in 1917. Since the flow of water in the Niagara river was limited, the idea was to form a m w waterway between the two great lakes and utilise the difference in level (f 327 feet for the generation of power. This waterway was to follow the course of the Chippawa River for 4$ miles and from there a canal was built through practically solid rock the remaining 81 miles to Lake Ontario. Fourteen elec- , trie power shovels, each using 800 horsepower, were sot to work widening the river and digging the canal. Each of these machines could bite out ten tons of earth and blasted rock at a time. Some idea of the amount of earth, and rock excavated may be gained from the fact that if it were all loaded in the large railway trucks used it would form a train reaching from the city of London, Ontario, to AJexico City. The canal varies in width from 70ft to 150 and is from 80ft to 85ft deep. At the lower end of the canal is a large reservoir where the water collects, before taking the drop to the power-house 302 ft below. The generators, only one of which has been installed so far, will be capable of generating 50,000 horse-power each. Above the generator proper is a direct current dynamo which supplies the 500 horse-power necessary to excite each of the huge machines. The current will bo three-phase 25 cycles, and will have a voltage of 13.200. To step this up to the 110,000 volts at which it is transmitted, there will he fifteen transformers, or three to each power unit. The city of Detroit is already negotiating to secure !i large supply of the current.

It is quite the fashion for those in high pla.ees .during the period of the Great War and after, to write their experiences and recollections in hook form and supply the public, with news and views generally of a personal character; Mr Robert Lansing, who was Secretary of State in President Wilson’s Government and one of the United States delegates at Paris, in his new book, “The Big Four” gives a series of character sketches of leading personalities at the Peace Conference. Now and then his pen is touched with gall. Thus he says of AL G'lemeneeaii’s attitude: "He was at times so harsh and sarcastic in his language that his listeners felt incensed that- lie took an occasion when they were present to humiliate his subordinates.” This Is rather typical of the French people, and something akin to that national attitude is being manifested now in relation to tile Genoa Conference. Air Lansing is hardly as apropos of the public character (If Air Lloyd George, as most people are prepared to interpret it. Of Air Lloyd George lie says rather inaccurately: In some ways his attainments as a politician were not dissimilar to those of AL Clemeneeau, though the latter appeared to be more constant and—to use a vulgar term—less shifty than his British colleague. . . . But this unusual man possesed none of the arts of diplomacy. He was not by nature a negotiator.” Histoiy of recent record in regard to all phases of public politics from the Paris Conference (which Mr Lansing attended) down through the British turmoil, the Irish question, and European affairs, suggest Air Lloyd George is an archdiplomat, and a negotiator beyond all question. Botha, whose death the whole Empire still laments, and General Smuts are specially praised for a patriotism “deeper and more earnest and more useful than the frothy type,” and for their knowledge of realities and men. One point Air Lansing makes quite clear. It is that France and Al. Clemeneeau only accepted the League of Nations because they had been definitely promised the aid of Great Britain and the United States in the event of a fresh German attack. We know what has become of that promise, and its non-fulfilment is the cause of Fiance’s anxiety to-day. America did not go on with the bargain, while Britain through faise interpretation of lie fidelity is being discounted by the French on entirely wrong grounds.