PRESERVATION OF NIAGARA FALLS

Otago Witness, Issue 2719, 25 April 1906, Page 14

PRESERVATION OF NIAGARA FALLS

A despatch from Washington on March 2+ says: — If Niagara Falls aie to be preserved as one of the wonders of the world, immediate a-ct.ion by the I'nitod Staffs and Canada is required according to the finding of the International Waterway Commission, which fias for the past year been 3tiKlyiß-5 coadiUons at the 'I^aJlg aacl la the.

tributary great lakes. The report was today submitted to Congress by the Secretary of State (Mr Taft), with a letter calling attention to the urgency of "the case. After a brief description of the physical conditions, the report gives a detailed account of all the corporations now ongaged in the development of power, with the quantity of water they are now actually usi-ng. Improvements in the transm'ssion of e'ectric power and increased demnad will make a. market for all power T^hich can be developed at Niagara, and will cause the clo-.-<truction of the falls as a scenic spectacle if the development should he allowed io go on unchecked. The commercial value cf tho water power at Niagara Falls is very great, but if compared with the values . c ot a.= ide by wealthy communities elsewhere for' park purposes, this value is not too srreat to ba devoted to similar purposes. The place is annually visited by about 800,000 people. If the falls are to be preserved ife must be by mutual agreement between the two countries. As a step in that direction the report recommends that legislation should be enacted to check the diversion of water from tho falls.