372 THE ADDRESSES, LECTURES, ETC., OF 



the nuisance this manufacture occasions to the immediate neigh- 

 bourhood ; and, therefore, gas supply must range over a large area. 

 It would be possible, no doubt, to deal with electricity on a similar 

 basis, to establish electrical mains in the shape of copper rods of 

 great thickness, with branches diverging from them in all direc- 

 tions ; but the question to be considered is, whether such an 

 imitative course is desirable on account either of relative expense 

 or of facility of working. My own opinion, based upon consider- 

 able practical experience and thought devoted to the subject, is 

 decidedly adverse to such a plan. In my evidence before the 

 Parliamentary Committee, I limited the desirable area of an elec- 

 tric district in densely populated towns to a quarter of a square 

 mile, and estimated the cost of the necessary establishment of 

 engines, dynamo-machines, and conductors, at 100,000, while 

 other witnesses held that areas from one to four square miles could 

 be worked advantageously from one centre, and at a cost not 

 exceeding materially the figure I had given. These discrepancies 

 do not necessarily imply wide differences in the estimated cost of 

 each machine or electric light, inasmuch as such estimates are 

 necessarily based upon various assumptions regarding the number 

 of houses and of public buildings comprised in such a district, 

 and the amount of light to be apportioned to each, but I still 

 maintain my preference for small districts. 



By way of illustration, let us take the parish of St. James's, 

 near at hand, a .district not more densely populated than other 

 equal areas within the metropolis, although comprising, perhaps, a 

 greater number of public buildings. Its population, according to 

 the preliminary report of the census taken on the 4th April, 1881, 

 was 29,865, it contains 3,018 inhabited houses, and its area is 

 784,000 square yards, or slightly above a quarter of a square 

 mile. 



To light a comfortable house of moderate dimensions in all its 

 parts, to the exclusion of. gas, oil, or candles, would require about 

 100 incandescence lights (or, if I may suggest a more euphonious 

 expression, glow-lights) of from 15 to 18-candle power each, that 

 being, for instance, the number of Swan lights employed by Sir 

 William Thomson in lighting his house at Glasgow University. 

 Eleven-horse power would be required to excite this number of 

 incaudescence lights,and at this rate the parish of St. James's would 



