Niagara Disappearing.

Taranaki Daily News, Volume XLVII, Issue 7840, 5 June 1905, Page 3

Niagara Disappearing.

■ is said, that if- the-measures now engaging Jegislative alien lion - arc adopted, about ontHtourth ' ! of tho quantity of water which ought. to flow over Niagara. Falls, will be taken .out of-thi; river bud uHil injuduCtOCt by'tunneU, "fof thfi purpose 61 turning. machinery. According l to the estimate of tfcof Npw York Sun; twen-ty-two. per cent, of the total flow of water at its mcaji level is already diverted by power ?houspa in process of construction; IjE v, ..a Mr Thomas Evershcd,. American'- clv;il engineer; who first iplaii ■ of diverting Niagara at" a considerable distance (from the falls w'th lho pro\iso that ; lio neural ibeauty should Il9' interfered .with, while an enormous quantity of power would be obtained with a very, sfight reduction;,in -the- volume of tho strpain.' at Iho Crest of the falls. Evidently, howcveßii "thia proviso' 'has bceH lost •sight - of in the subsejii'uent (doveloplue.its, and commercialism pro.nises to overwhelm all considerations ol the iof: destroying tho .strikibg natural "features which have made tha Niagara Falls, one of thc : wonders of the world. 'J'liis had Jed to at least one of the leading Sow York magazines entering a proies-t against the | roposed v;i>idc.!i*m, in the following words '' Unless another strenuous effort is made, Niagara Falls will become the relic o(V an age which was too stupid to understand their value. While "we are engaged in destroying Niagara, the Victorian Fa|Us in South- Eastern Africa are bping exploited as ono of the wondera of the world, and every effort is being jnade to attract travel in that direction. To put it, on its lowest possible pjane, the Nia- ; gara<Faills are of estimable value to'

the State'of New Ydrk, simply as an attractive feature, just as the Rhine and the Alps are of estirriaMe value to Germany and Switzerland. People in this country have yet to loarn, not 'only the aesthetic, but the commercial value of the- beauty . They have not grasped the idea, that beauty is a great commercial asset, a possession the value of which, increases every year. 'Hie Falls, to .which; travellers have come from tho earlcest settlement of the as one of the greatest spectacles of the world, are to be set to do drudgery work for street railways and electric Sight companies. Is the beau? ty whieji the Infinite Artist gave to America, in trust for humanity to. be sold for a farthing? "