NATixi". SLi'i;K.sTni().\ AM) (KiMi:. 263 



\\as sul)sc(iuciuly traced, and Mswcli and his acconipliccs were 

 l)nnight ti) justice, and received the death sentence. 



Crimes of a ca])ital nature only have l)een selected in illus- 

 tration of the subject under consideration. There has been no 

 wish to pile tragedy ui)on tragedy ; still less has there been any 

 desire to depict the native at his worst, and to ])resent him as 

 a blood-thirsty savage only. We know his many good i)oints, 

 his loyalty, his faithfulness, his willing service; we nnist under- 

 stand, too, something of the handicaj) under which he labours, 

 and will continue to laboitr, so long as his belief in witchcraft 

 continues. We can afford now to pity this ])elief. to smile at 

 it perhaps: but we must remember it wonld have evoked no 

 derision from our forbears of the 14th, 15th. iC)th and 17th 

 centuries when, by State authority, witchcraft wa> i)unishable 

 by death in Europe. The last trial in England was in 1712. and 

 on the continent, in (ierman Switzerland, in 1782; while in 

 Alexico. so late as 1877. five witches were burned under cover 

 of religion and with the consent of the po])ulace. 



The ethics of the ({uestion. as applied to our own natives, 

 cannot here be discussed. The cry of the innocent who meets 

 a critel death has to be considered wdien the plea is raised that 

 ignorant belief is an extenuating circumstance. Our chief re- 

 sponsibility lies in the removal of that belief. Is it too much to 

 hope that, with State recognition of the evil, the si)read of 

 civilisation, and the extension of Christian influence, supersti- 

 tion will in a few decades have no relation to crime? 



TRANSACTIONS OF SOCIETIES. 



Thursday. October igtli : Prof. W. Buclumaii. M.l.E.l^., President, in 

 the chair. — ■" Lars^c gciicralor ami tnuisfornicr failures on the Raitd Pozcer 

 Companies' Systems '' : A. E. Yal Davies. Several examples of break- 

 downs of generators and transformers were discussed, taken from the 

 experience of the Power Companies during the previous four years. In 

 every case the plant was of German design and manufacture. The gene- 

 rators were of the turbo-alternator type, of ratings varying from 3,.SOO 

 k.v.a. to 18.000 k v.a., and their speeds were either i.ooo or 1.500 r.p.m. ; 

 the aggregate rating of the .generating plant being 218.800 k.v.a. The 

 transformers were all of the water-cooled type, the ratings varying from 

 4,000 k.v.a. to 12,500 k.v.a., the total k.v.a. being 388,500. The failures 

 dealt with in the case of generators were (i) faulty design of stator 

 end connections; (2) failure of rotor l)inding wire; (3) heating of rotor 

 end winding i)inder ; (4) failure of insulation on end winding stays; (5) 

 fire in a dry air filter; (6) failure of insulation of a stalor bar. The 

 transformer breakdowns discussed were ( i ) puncture of water-cooling 

 coils in iron and lead pipes; (2) failure due to lightning; and (3) failure 

 of luagnetic circuit. — "Some pfiiblems connected tcitli electrical testing;": 

 A. C. Hall. 'I'he author presented a series of prol^lems met with in the 

 work of a Supply Company's testing department, under the following 

 heads; (i ) Accuracy of test fi.gures; (2) switch tripi)ing by primary bat- 

 teries; (3) accurate measurements of alternating E.M.F.'s; (4) unbal- 

 anced load on a power system: (5) three-pliase power factor of unbal- 

 anced load: (6) measurement of unlialanced tliree-phase power factor. 



