NA TURE 



457 



THURSDAY, DECEMBER 8, 1921. 



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Imperial Water Power. 



THE issue of the third and final report of the 

 Water-Power Committee of the Conjoint 

 Board of Scientific Societies is a timely reminder 

 of the importance of a matter which has strangely 

 failed to engage the attention of the community at 

 jfarge, notwithstanding its general perspicacity of 

 judgment in regard to industrial enterprise. It 

 "was pointed out in these columns in September, 

 1918, that the national stores of solid fuel were 

 far from inexhaustible, and that they were being 

 depleted with reckless prodigality, while, simul- 

 taneously, another source of energy, viz. water 

 power, ready to hand and only awaiting develop- 

 ment, was being allowed to run to waste. In- 

 evitably, sooner or later, the value of this natural 

 supply of energy would be bound to demonstrate 

 itself, but meanwhile no spendthrift could be more 

 indifferent to the squandering of his patrimony 

 than the average citizen to the loss of this form of 

 his country's wealth. Although by no means so 

 well endowed as some other countries, it is esti- 

 mated that Great Britain has a potentially utilis- 

 able amount of water power of more than a million 

 horse-power. Less than a tenth of it is actuallv 

 developed. This means that some nine hundred 

 thousand horse-power is being dissipated, minute 

 by minute — the equivalent of the consumption of 

 at least four to five million tons of coal per annum. 

 It is true that the report before us states that, 

 as regards the United Kingdom, "active investi-~ 

 gations are being made and definite steps taken 

 by the Committee appointed by the Board of 

 NO. 2719, VOL. 108] 



Trade." And we are, of course, aware that 

 hydrographical investigations require time, often 

 a very long time, extending over periods of years 

 which may well run to twenty or even more. 

 Therefore we have no wish to indulge in pre- 

 mature criticism, but we are bound to remark that 

 the only evidence which has so far been adduced 

 of definite projects in view has been the ill-timed 

 announcement of the Severn barrage scheme — a 

 scheme of such tremendous magnitude, founded 

 on data so inadequate, that the public refused point 

 blank to have anything to do with it. 



In the present notice we confine our observa- 

 tions to the subject-matter of the report, and its 

 fourteen pages demonstrate in the most pointed 

 way the disparity existing between the steps taken 

 in the United Kingdom and those in other coun- 

 tries for the development of natural sources of 

 water power. Let us extract the following table 

 comparing the summarised figures of the hydraulic 

 f)owers of the world : — 



Percentage of 

 Hydraulic horse-power available 



^ ■• power at 



A%'ailable. Developed. present 



developed. 



Europe (Germany, 

 Italy, Switzerland, 

 Spain, Sweden. 

 Austria- Hungary, 

 France, and Nor- 

 way) ... ... 47,300,000 8,450,000 i8-o 



t"nited States ... 32,000,000 6.500,000 20-3 



British Empire ... 60,000,000 3,000,000 5-0 



The comparison is unfavourable enough, but 

 the case of the British Empire becomes much 

 worse if we except Canada, where about 72 per 

 cent, of the British total is developed. Recon- 

 stituting the table, with the L'nited States and 

 Canada jointly included in North America, we 

 get : — 



Percentage of 

 Hydraulic horse-power available 



^^ ^ power at 



Available. Developed. present 



developed. 

 Europe ... ... 47,300,000 8,450,000 i8-o 



North America ... 50,800,000 8,805,000 17-3 



British Empire (ex- 

 cept Canada) ... 41,200,000 695,000 1-7 



It is scarcely a matter for wonder that the Com- 

 mittee's comment is that "the figures afford strik- 

 ing evidence of the relative scope for development 

 through the Empire." The Committee adds: — 



" Taking the Empire as a whole, no attempt is 

 being made to ascertain the total resources, to 

 secure any uniformity in methods of investigation 

 and recording of data, to encourage such investi- 

 gations as are being made, or to collect the in- 

 formation as it becomes available at a central 

 bureau. At present not even an approximately 

 complete inventory exists, much less the practical 



