NOTES 287 



deliberately wasted and expended to their own detriment. The final statement in 

 the paragraph, while suggesting a remedy, only serves to betray the unfairness of 

 the conclusion the committee has reached : 



" There will always be men whose best work can be done in laboratory teaching 

 and organisation, and it is desirable that the Universities should be in a position to 

 retain them by providing for senior men a small number of permanent posts of 

 substantial value ; at present this is seldom possible." The italics are ours. 



****** 



The Governing Body of Birkbeck College have appointed Dr. George Senter, 

 formerly Head of the Chemistry Department of the College, to the office of 

 Principal, recently vacated by Dr. George Armitage-Smith, who had filled the 

 position for more than twenty years. Birkbeck College has been recognised by 

 the Royal Commission as the future centre of Evening University work in London. 



The preliminary report of the Water-Power Committee of the Conjoint Board 

 of Scientific Societies, which has just been issued, states that, while the potential 

 water-power of the Empire amounts in the aggregate to at least 50,000,000- 

 70,000,000 horse-power, very little has been done, except in Canada and New 

 Zealand, to develop its usefulness. (To indicate the magnitude of this figure it 

 may be pointed out that the total power from all sources now being used in 

 the various countries of the world is estimated at 120,000,000 h.p.) In the 

 United Kingdom only 8*3 per cent, of the available water-power is being 

 utilised — a figure which compares badly with 43*4 per cent, in Germany and 

 25 per cent, in the United States. In this respect, indeed, Great Britain is the 

 most backward of all the countries considered with the exception of Russia (5 per 

 cent.). In Canada some 1,750,000 h.p. is actually being obtained by water-power; 

 an additional 6,000,000 h.p. is readily available within the range of present markets, 

 and will probably be employed in the course of the next two decades. In New 

 Zealand only about 42,000 h.p. is at present being used, but many promising 

 schemes have been worked out and some 3,800,000 b.h.p. is expected. The 

 Committee considers the position in that country to be most favourable, and 

 anticipates the commencement of an era of great electro-chemical and electro- 

 metallurgical activity there. It should be noted also that the potential water- 

 power of New Guinea is estimated at 15,000,000 h.p. Taken in conjunction with 

 its great fertility, its prospect of coal and mineral oil, and its already partially 

 developed metallic mineral resources, this augurs well for its future, and an 

 immediate survey of the more promising localities seems desirable. 



The Committee concludes that the prosperity of the Empire may be so 

 influenced by the wise development of its water-power that the matter should not 

 be left to chance, and recommends the formation of an Imperial Water-Power 

 Board, to include a representative from each of the Dominions and Dependencies, 

 which should act in an advisory capacity. It recommends further that, since it 

 is unlikely that private capital will be available for many years for hydraulic 

 development on any large scale, powers should be obtained to enable the State to 

 assist or to undertake such development as is thought to be advisable. 



