LAYING OUT THE DESIGN OF WORKS. 31 



out-of-the-way locality, some distance from the nearest 

 engineering works. His time is occupied at frequent 

 intervals by matters of daily routine. Simplicity, and facility 

 for examination, cleaning and repair, with the least possible 

 interference with everyday operations, should be a leading 

 consideration. 



Regard should also be had to the capabilities of the man 

 in charge. There is a common impression that by exer- 

 cising liberality in the purchase of the best, which probably 

 means the most expensive, appliances, the workman has 

 less to do, and his responsibilities are reduced. But while 

 the actual mechanical labour may be less, the same cannot 

 be said as regards care, intelligence, judgment and skill. A 

 regenerator type of furnace will not take care of itself, nor 

 can a man whose experience has been confined to grate 

 furnaces be expected to master all its details without 

 proper instruction. The improved results that are and can 

 be secured from the latest types of apparatus require a 

 greater degree of skill, and not less. 



In some of the early treatises on the construction of gas- 

 works, a great deal of attention is given to the selection of 

 a site. Any remarks on this subject are largely discounted 

 by the fact that the engineer rarely has a free hand in the 

 matter. In country districts, and especially where no 

 factories exist, there is much opposition from landowners 

 (or, as it frequently happens, the landowner), who do not 

 want certain lines of landscape to be interfered with. In 

 one instance, an endeavour was made to conceal the gas- 

 works inside a high castellated wall. There is no accounting 

 for the taste that prefers an unnatural and artificial imitation 

 fortress, in a locality where there is nothing to defend, to a 

 plain wall or block fence. And there is no necessity for 

 adding to the expenses by superfluous structures of this 



