HYDRO=ELECTRIC POWER

Wairarapa Times-Age, 22 November 1939, Page 7

HYDRO=ELECTRIC POWER

CANADA'S RISE AS INDUSTRIAL NATION. SERVICES IN HOME & FACTORY. OTTAWA. Low cost hydro electric power is res ponsiblc to a marked degree for Canada's rise as an industrial nation, with practically three-quarters of her present day exports consisting of commodities which are cither fully or partly manufactured. The ores from Canadian mines are smelted at the minehead. the products of her forests art mainly exported in the form of saw,, lumber or newsprint, while even many of the products of the farm and fisheries relich world markets after having undergone some degree of processing in electrically-operated factories. A survey of industries shows that in 1937 the mining industries of Canada were 79.7 per cent electrified and manufacturing industries 79.2 per cent. In 1923 Canadian mines were electrified tc the extent of only 57.3 per cent and manufacturing industries 61 per cent. The survey conducted by the Dominion Bureau of Statistics shows the evolution of power machinery in manufacturing and mining industries in Canada toward electric drive and particularly toward electric motors driven by power generated in central stations. With no coal generated in the chief manufacturing provinces of central Canada and with a large supply of water power within economic transmission distance of manufacturing and mining centres in these and most other provinces, this trend has been more pronounced than in many countries. Indicative of the ever increasing electrification of Canadian industries, the consumption of electric power in th-.'-Dominion in the first eight months ■ f 1939 totalled 16.942 877.000 kilowatt hours as compared with 16.885.633.090 kilowatt hours in the corresponding period of 1937. Canada's immense sources of hydro-electric power arc 1

not only Genefitting Canadian industry and helping indirectly to build up the Dominion's world trade, but by providing home conveniences arc helping to raise the living standards of Canadian people. It has been estimated that approximately 62 per cent of Canada's population have electric services in their homes for cooking, refrigeration, water heating air conditioning, operating household appliances, and in providing forced draught for heating purposes.