SfK WILLIAM SIEMENS, F.R.S. 371 



force, by so competent an authority as Sir Frederick Bramwell, 

 that the conditions of purchase laid down are not such as fairly to 

 iviMiuirrau- the contracting companies for their expenditure and 

 risk, and that the power of purchase would inevitably induce the 

 parochial bodies to become mere trading associations. But while 

 admitting the undesirability of such a consummation, I cannot 

 help thinking that it was necessary to put some term to contracts 

 entered into with speculative bodies at a tune when the true value 

 of electric energy, and the best conditions under which it should 

 be applied, are still very imperfectly understood. The supply of 

 electric energy, particularly in its application to transmission of 

 power, is a matter simply of commercial demand and supply, 

 which need not partake of the character of a large monopoly, 

 similar to gas and water supply, and may therefore be safely 

 left in the hands of individuals, or of local associations, subject 

 to a certain control for the protection of public interests. At 

 the termination of the period of the provisional order, the 

 contract may be renewed upon such terms and conditions as may 

 at that time appear just and reasonable to Parliament, under 

 whose authority the Board of Trade will be empowered to effect 

 such renewal. 



Complaints appear almost daily in the public papers, to the 

 effect that townships refuse their assent to applications by electric 

 light companies for provisional orders ; but it may be surmised 

 that many of these applications are of a more or less speculative 

 character, the object being to secure monopolies for eventual use 

 or sale, under which circumstances the authorities are clearly jus- 

 tified in withholding their assent ; and no licenses or provisional 

 orders should indeed be granted, I consider, unless the applicants 

 can give assurance of being able and willing to carry out the work 

 within a reasonable time. But there are technical questions in- 

 volved which are not yet sufficiently well understood to admit of 

 immediate operations upon a large scale. 



Attention has been very properly called to the great divergence 

 in the opinions expressed by scientific men regarding the area that 

 each lighting district should comprise, the capital required to light 

 such an area, and the amount of electric tension that should be 

 allowed in the conductors. In the case of gas supply, the works 

 are necessarily situated in the outskirts of the town, on account of 



B B :: 



