Canada's "Harnessing of Niagara."

Progress, Volume I, Issue 3, 2 January 1906, Page 61

Canada's "Harnessing of Niagara."

Tunnels, power houses, and gathering dam being all finished, the turbines and generators set in place, and every connection accurately completed, what is to be done with the 125,000 of horse-power which can be produced ? Here steps m another company — to wit, the Toronto and Niagara Power Company, composed of the same interests, but having a different mission, for its business will be to dispose of the power that has been created, to play the part of the middleman, m fact. In order to do this a step-up transformer house, 200 ft m length, will be erected on top of the Niagara embankment, to which the power will be conducted underground, and thence transmitted to Toronto, Hamilton, and other cities, for the use of the consumer, over wire cables carried upon steel towers nearly 50ft m height, placed 400 ft apart. Between Niagara and Toronto a right-of-way Soft m width has been acquired, upon which the steel towers are placed, and over this right-of-way, in the not distant future, an electric road will run connecting the two places In Toronto itself the street railway system, the electric lighting system, the radical railway system, and other large consumers of power have already been contracted with, while it is a matter of certainty that, once the power is ready in abundance, the manufacturers now using steam will hasten to avail themselves of the simpler, safer, cleaner, and more economical method of driving their machinery. Furthermore, and finally, with a faith in the future that shall surely not be disappointed, a town site, having a frontage of two miles upon the Welland River, three miles from Niagara, has been secured, and will be laid out in lots, to accommodate industries attracted thither by the advantages of the situation, The expectation is that many large American industries whose output finds a market in the British Empire will be induced to establish branches there by the fact that goods manufactured in Canada enjoy the benefit of a preferential duty 111 many parts of the Empire, and can consequently be disposed of at a higher profit. — J. Macdonald Oxley, in the " World To-day."

The Federal Government has ordered new machinery, at a cost of for printing the new Commonwealth postage-stamps. They are to bear the King's effigy, and for economical reasons are to be of small size. The present designs will be retained till the close of the bookkeeping period. Prices were obtained for the printing from all the States, and as the South Australian figure was the lowest, it is the present intention of the Post-master-General to have the stamps printed at Adelaide ; though his colleague, Sir William Lyne, demurred, alleging that if Adelaide printing was the cheapest, it was also the worst. The larger States notably New South Wales, are protesting against the change, as it will throw many skilled stamp-printers out of work and render costly machinery useless.

Weighing a letter on a platform scale, such as is commonly seen at warehouses, railway stations, etc is quite possible, even though these scales are not usually graduated to weigh to a smaller unit than -|-ft. Platform scales are usually designed so that lib. of weights hung on the tip of the beam will balance some definite amount, usually ioo ft., on the platform. This ratio is commonly indicated on the heights. Knowing this, it is only necessary to place the letter or package on the counterpoise, and then to place enough of any available material on the platform to balance the scale. Remove the l°tter weigh the load on the platform in the usual manner, and divide this amount by the ratio, m this case ioo. For example : suppose the weight of the material which just balances letter to be sf ft., then 5-75 divided by ioo = O i7K lb Reducing this to ounces, .0575 xl 6 — 02 oz which is the weight of the letter. On the other hand, if it is wished to weigh out exactly 1 oz of something, it is only necessary to remember that it will require 100 oz. (6J ft.) on the platform. If the ratio of the weights is not known, it may be found by weighing one of them. If the weight which is marked 100 ft. weighs 1 ft., the ratio is, of course, 1 to 100 ; or if the 100-ft. weight weighs ilb , the ratio is 1 to 200.