ONNES, HEIKE KAMERLINGH (1853- ), Dutch physicist, was born in 1853. He studied mathematics and physics in his native town, Groningen, where in 1879 he took his doctor's degree on presenting a dissertation entitled New Proofs of the Earth's Rotation. He became professor at Leiden in 1882, and devoted himself especially to the study of properties of matter at low temperatures. As director of the Cryogeen Laboratory, founded by him at Leiden, he succeeded, in 1908, in liquefying helium. In 1913 the Nobel prize for physics was conferred upon him. His published work includes Algemeene Theotie der Vloeisto/cn (General Theory of the Fluids, 1881).
See J. P. Kuenen, De Tnekenning van den Nobdprys aan II. Kamer- lingh Onnes (Chemisch Weekblad, 1913).
ONTARIO (see 20.113). The area of this Canadian province was increased in 1912 by the addition of the district of Patricia, 146,400 sq.m. in extent, bringing the total up to 407,262 sq. miles. Ontario can now reckon 600 m. of seaboard along Hudson and James bays and over 1,600 m. of continuous fresh-water shore-line along the Great Lakes, bays and rivers to the south.
Old Ontario, which is subdivided locally into W. and E. On- tario, is the portion of the province S. of the Ottawa river and Lake Nipissing, lying between lakes Ontario, Erie and Huron. Northern or New Ontario is mainly a vast region of forests, mineral lands, rivers and lakes. It contains nearly 200,000 sq.m. of forests, abounding in game, rich in timber, and possessing in- calculable resources of pulpwood, and it has already made On- tario an immense producer of minerals, although the resources of the country in this direction are still largely unexplored. New Ontario also possesses many millions of acres of fine farm- ing land. Considerable districts are already well farmed, and have proved that this great northern country is well adapted for the production of general farm crops, dairying and the raising of live stock. At Kapuskasing the Ontario Government has es- tablished a soldiers' settlement scheme, and many veterans of the World War are making a success of farming on grants of 100 ac. given them free by the Provincial Government. The Timis- kaming and Northern Ontario railway, 253 m. long, passes through the new country from North Bay to Cochrane.
The pop. was 2,523,274 (1,299,290 males and 1,223,984 fe- males) in 1911; and, according to estimate, 2,799,000 at the be- ginning of 1919. Nine-tenths of the pop. lives between the Great Lakes, the Ottawa and the St. Lawrence, and more than half is urban. The Indian pop. numbered 23,044 in 1911.
Government. The lieutenant-governor is assisted by an Exe- cutive Council whose members have seats in and are responsible to the local single-chamber Legislature, which is made up of 1 1 1 members elected by universal suffrage. Ontario sends 24 senators and 82 members of the House of Commons to the Parliament of Canada. The Conservative Government of 1905 and 1908 was again successful in the general elections of 1911 and 1914, being returned with a majority of 60. Upon the death of Sir J. P. Whitney in Sept. 1914, shortly after the war broke out, Mr. (afterwards Sir) William Howard Hearst succeeded as Premier. His Government was badly defeated in Aug. 1919. The defeat was attributable to two things: the decision of the farmers of Ontario to organize for political purposes under the name of the " United Farmers of Ontario," whereby Sir William Hearst lost practically the whole of his rural support, and the defection of many of his Conservative supporters on account of the passing of the Ontario Temperance Act. The " United Farmers of On- tario " grew to extraordinary proportions during the years 1919 and 1920, embracing practically the entire agricultural popula- tion, and became one of the most distinct phases of modern polit- ical tendency in recent years. The movement has extended to practically all the other provinces of the Dominion. In the elec- tions of 1919 the successful U.F.O. candidates, in alliance with Labour members, formed the dominant group in the Legislature so that the subsequent Government of Ontario was known as " the Farmers' Government." The municipal system, though based rather on the simple English model than on the more com- plicated municipal governments of the United States, has cer- tain features of its own, and is revised from time to time. The
principle of municipal ownership was not readily accepted in the larger cities, and for long the powers of certain large corporations tended to cause friction, but such matters as the provision of electric power and light and traction have been gradually taken in hand both by the municipalities and by the province. The Hydro-electric Commission of Ontario, which controls a system of electric railways and power and light for a large portion of western Ontario, is a striking example of the tendency towards municipal government and ownership and control of public util- ities. During the nine years before 1921, the operations of the Commission rapidly extended, and in 1919 about 143 Ontario municipalities derived electrical power from the Niagara Falls and other sources. The total cost of the plant erected was $20,- 077,491; the cost of operations for the year 1917 was $5,077,491; and the revenue was $6,070,065, leaving a surplus of $992,574, less a depreciation charge of $607,206, making the net surplus $385,368. The total number of consumers in 1917 was 170,916 and the total taken was 157,043 H.P. for 143 municipalities. Large additions were made to the scope of the Commission alter 1917, and in 1921 many extensions were in contemplation, the whole question being under investigation by a Royal Commission.
Toronto, the capital of the province, is the chief manufactur- ing city of Canada. Ottawa is the capital city of the Dominion. Of the other principal towns of Ontario, Hamilton had a pop. of 108,143 an d London 59,100 in 1919.
Education. As in other provinces, education in Ontario is con- trolled by the Provincial Government and administered by a Min- ister of Education with a subordinate staff. The cost of public edu- cation in Ontario increased from $4,720,310 in 1901 to 514,111,835 in 1918. In 1917 there were 6,651 public schools providing free edu- cation, which between the ages of 6 and 16 is compulsory. There were 12,762 teachers with 527,664 pupils. The falling-pff in the rural population of Ontario caused a corresponding diminution in school attendance, but this has been Tnore than compensated for by the rapid growth of the cities. Although many Roman Catholic childre^i attend the public schools the number of separate schools is steadily increasing. Government inspectors visit these schools (of which the teachers must be certificated), and keep them up to legal standard, but are not concerned with religious teaching.
The university of Toronto, with its affiliated colleges, had in 1918 a staff of 525 and 3,356 students, and in the faculty of applied science and engineering alone had seven distinct departments. The number of students in all the universities greatly increased after the close of the war.
Finance. The indebtedness of the province has shown a tendency to increase. It began with the construction of a provincial railway to aid in the development of the northern districts ; and more recently costs incidental to the World War, the building of roads under a good-roads system aided by the Dominion Government, the exten- sion of the schools system, housing and other modern improvements have greatly increased the public liabilities. A large share of the burden of local administration is borne by municipalities. Revenue and expenditure were respectively $11,121,382 and $11,819,311 in the financial year 1913-4 and $19,870,123 and $17,460,404 in 1917-8.
Agriculture. Ontario is, above all, the province of Canada where agriculture has been most scientifically carried on, and the greatest results achieved. The total area under field crops in Ontario in 1918 was in round figures 10,000,000 acres. A much larger area of good land is actually owned and occupied, and in northern Ontario there were 20,000,000 ac. of virgin agricultural land as yet un- touched. The market value of the 1918 crop was $384,000,000; oats, wheat, barley, peas, beans and corn were the principal yield. Grain-growing, however, by no means represents the whole field of agriculture in Ontario. Mixed farming and dairying in all its branches are really the backbone of the industry. Ontario pro- duces practically half the butter and cheese made in Canada. The annual output of the cheese factories is approximately 120,000,000 Ib. valued at $25,300,000, while the creameries manufacture upwards of 28,000,000 Ib. of butter valued at $11,000,000. To this must be added the dairy butter, milk powder, condensed milk and milk used for city trade, the total annual value of which is approximately $50.000,000. There are 990 cheese factories with 42,066 customers and 172 creameries with 45,944 customers. The Provincial, Govern- ment's staff of dairy instructors maintains a uniform high standard of output from all factories and creameries. Immense quantities of butter and cheese are exported annually.
The live-stock industry of Ontario is very important, and some of the best horses, cattle and sheep on the continent are raised in the province. The official reports showed that there were in 1920 in Ontario 732,977 horses, 2,872,722 cattle, 972,341 sheep and lambs, 1.656,386 swine, and poultry to the number of 12,271,105. In the Niagara fruit belt, and along the shores of Lake Erie, Ontario possesses one of the most beautiful and fertile fruit-growing districts
