A certain amount of work was done each year, but was undertaken on a much larger scale in 1921. Pipe lines of considerable length have been constructed to obtain water from several streams. Numerous existing wells have been deepened or enlarged. But, in general, the policy has been followed of providing storage reservoirs by excavation, or by the damming of ravines, or by a combination of the two, in which to catch and hold the water resulting from melting snow in the Spring of the year, or from rainfall. This water is the best obtainable on the Prairies. The open storage arrangement has the advantage of showing at any time the total quantity of water available. TELEGRAPH AND TELEPHONE:--Lines east of Quebec, and west of Port Arthur, were moderately well equipped with wire facilities, but between Quebec, Montreal, Toronto and Port Arthur there were only two iron wires, both of which were used exclusively for local railway operation. The consolidation of the Canadian Northern and Canadian Government Railways into the Canadian National System, with headquarters at Toronto, greatly increased the volume of telegraph business with that city; and it immediately became necessary to provide some additional circuits. In 1919 two copper wires were strung between Toronto and Quebec, and between Toronto and Winnipeg, and, later, an additional copper from Quebec to Toronto, and two additional from Toronto to Winnipeg. Two of these wires are used as a metallic circuit for telephone train despatching and they are also used at the same time for simplex telegraph service. The remaining two are assigned to the Canadian National Telegraphs for commercial business. An iron wire was strung from Edmonton to Vancouver and an additional iron wire from Kamloops to Vancouver to meet pressing requirements, but increased facilities between the former points are still required. Telephone train dispatching circuits were also extended on the Intercolonial, and telegraph facilities in the Prairie Provinces were improved. Metallic circuit telephone service for train despatching is a very great improvement over the telegraph service previously employed, and has now been adopted by all of the larger railways. It is not only much more rapid, thus greatly reducing delay to trains and increasing the total number of trains that can be handled, but in many instances makes it possible to reduce the number of despatches. The train crews carry portable telephones, and when emergencies arise, hook onto the wires and immediately get in touch with the dispatcher. Formerly, to report a breakdown or derailment it was frequently necessary to walk many miles to a telegraph office.