CANADA & U.S.A.

Wairarapa Times-Age, 2 June 1938, Page 7

CANADA & U.S.A.

PROPOSED GREAT LAKES TREATY POWER AND MINERAL RESOURCES TO BE TAPPED GREAT ADVANTAGES TO BOTH COUNTRIES By Telegraph—Press Association. Copyright. WASHINGTON, May 31. The Secretary of State Mr Cordell Hull, has submitted to the Canadian Government for its approval a tentative treaty for the development of the Great Lakes and the St Lawrence River Basin, envisaging the reciprocal production of cheap power, a waterway to the sea, and the tapping of vast mineral resources, giving both nations a powerful defence weapon in the event of war.

The treaty would give the United States one of the biggest hydro-electric power plants in the world, remote enough to be safe from enemy bombers but close enough to supply the vast eastern industrial area with emergency power should the existing facilities be blown up.

Mr Hull said the United States was prepared to hurdle the first major obstacle by financing the development of the international rapids of the St Lawrence River - to provide a channel for seaborne commerce and make possible power development from the rapids whenever desired by either country. It is proposed that a commission should prepare plans for the project, allocate the construction between the two Governments and also devise plans for the development of power at Niagara Falls while preserving the falls’ scenic beauty.