Norwich bulletin., 1922-06-24

widely been noted in the Canadian press.
 According to the Surveyer estimates. the cost of deepening and canalizirN Zld of power development would be e least S500,000,000. These estimates he says. do not include amounts that mwust be paid in the provinces of Quebec and On tarie and the state of New York for areas flooded as a result of damning the St. Lawrence and for land that must be condemned In connection with power de- velopment MT. Surveyer would add $50,- 000,000 to meet such claims also large sums for harber and channel improve ments on the Great Lakes as well as a charge of $1o0.oe0,000 for interest dur ing the period of construction and an- other charge of about S100,000,000 for the canals along the St. Lawrence that would be scrapped If the undertaking went through. He fixes the total at ap- proximately $9o0, 900. Col Cooper and MT. Parsons both estimate that the
 total cost will exceed $1,401, ,00o 900. The estimate of the International oint Com mission Is approximately $59o,000,000 The price clement however, does not constitute the sole reason why many Can adians look with disfaver upon naviga- tion phases of the St. Lawrence plan. As between the St. Lowrence route from. the lakes to Montreal and the Georgian Bay
 route there are many who believe that the latter would be the more desirable, l from Canada s point of view.
 As far as the power end of the project i Is concerned. there is a different story I to tell The Montreal Herald in a rNent editorial gives clue to Prime Minister l Kings reluctance to enter into negotia- | tions at this time The Herald says
 Months after President Harding. with | out investigation or adequate iIlforrna- | ton on the subject, had pronounced in
 FoY | 5ect his administration has intinaated to l Canada that it wishes to open negotia- tions for the construction of the canal as soon as possible.
 Apart from the impossible character i of this waterway scheme it should be re- membered we have today much more wa 1 terpower than we can utilize. It has
 been calculated that between Montreal 1 and Lake St. Francis there is potential | ly 2,500,00s horse power but less than 1 100000 has been developed.
 The first three sections of the propos- l ed waterway lie wholly within the i Province of Quebec. The other two sec 1 tions comprising what is known as the 1 International section, dividing New York
 state and the Province of Ontario.
 Sixty per cent of the potential horse power on the St. Lawrence must be deI veloped between Montreal and Lake St. Francis-or in other words developed wholly within Canadian territory.
 Canada has just begun to develop wa ter power and is not thoroughly sati- fled with her experience up to date. The l advocates of the theory of privatede- velopment doctrine have been clashing Erather sharply Much power in Canada
 has been developed under government l auspices The records show that the
 cost to the consumer of power from the government plants exceeds the cost from the privately owned plants
 The Canadian government is, there
 fore, not prepared to cast the die in favor of the government development principle Prime Minister King and his
 colleagues are not certain that devel-
 opment under international auspices
 would be any more efficient than de veIopment under auspices purely na-
 tional Moreover many of the commer- ciaI interests in the Province of Quebec
 contend that Canada's first duty is tc develop power on the Canadian sectior , of the St Lawrence without in any way l joining hands with the United States.
 There is also an almost unlimited amount of water power that Canada candevelop on her own territory withou going to the trouble to negotiate
 theary The power is the determinin! factor as far as the Canadian goverT
 rnent is concerned. The St. Lawrene SeaWay mas served to lihpl ess lHo al
 land sections of the United States. bu Canada has not been stannpeded by tn propaganda launched in it's behalf t Canada would probably join in tn l construction of the seaway if by so do
 ing it could solve it's power difficulties l but it would realize all the time tha : the seaway was simply a glorifed nam : for a canal which would continue to b
 ! traversed by lake and canal craft be . cause they are the type of vessel bes n l suited to inland waters