I30 



NATURE 



[October i8, 1917 



was that the Board dealt with pauperism, and insured 

 persons and trade unionists were opposed to it, would 

 not have anything to do with it, and, in short, hated 

 it. As a matter of fact, this was probably all that the 

 deputation desired to say as to the Ministry of Health, 

 except to assure the Prime Minister that the bodies 

 concerned with national insurance were much more 

 capable and deserving of the honour of being charged 

 with the care of the nation's health. Ex:ept that he 

 may possibly have been hinting that it was the fault 

 of the Local Government Board that the laws as to 

 public health were not satisfactory, and that there had 

 been no drastic reform in connection with their ad- 

 ministration, the Prime Minister said very little in 

 praise or dispraise of this department. If he had 

 words of praise for the national insurance bodies as 

 public health administrators they did not appear in the 

 newspaper reports of the proceedings. From these it 

 would seem that perhaps the most important state- 

 ment made by Mr. Lloyd George, so far as the Ministry of 

 Health was concerned, was not one likely to bring much 

 cheer to persons desirous of seeing an early settlement 

 of the question. The Prime Minister made it clear 

 that he regarded the matter as important, and that he 

 saw the necessity for drastic alterations. Also he 

 made it plain that he did not think this was the time 

 to ask that changes should be made. It appears to be 

 his view also that even if there is postponement and 

 the country is asked to depend upon the existing ar- 

 rangements for even a year or two, probably nothing 

 very serious will happen. 



Under the Representation of the People Bill now 

 before the House of Commons, it is proposed to do 

 away with the Livery vote of the City of London. 

 i\ meeting was held at the Guildhall on October 15 to 

 protest against this proposal. The Lord Mayor pre- 

 sided, and Lord Halsbury moved the following resolu- 

 tion, which was seconded by Major Rigg and carried 

 by the meeting : — " That the Livery Companies of 

 the City of London, in common hall assembled, 

 earnestly protest against the attempt now disclosed, 

 under the provisions of the Representation of the 

 People BiJl, to deprive the Livery of one of its most 

 valued and long-established rights and privileges in 

 exercising the Parliamentary franchise in the City of 

 London; and against the injustice and wrong, at such 

 a moment in our history of having to defend these 

 rights ; and they further submit that the provisions in 

 the Bill for preserving and extending the university 

 franchise should include the retention of the ancient 

 Livery franchise on educational grounds alone, apart 

 from the other rights of the Livery to its retention. 

 The Corporation and the Livery Companies have from 

 time immemorial represented the founders and sup- 

 porters of all grades of education, including faculties 

 in science and literature in the universities to which 

 the Bill rightly proposes to preserve or give the Par- 

 liamentary vote, and have cherished and supported all 

 forms of manual, industrial, commercial, and scientific 

 training, based upon and combined with such educa- 

 tion. The City and Guilds Institute and the schools 

 and colleges founded and still maintained in the City 

 of London constitute in themselves an educational 

 claim to the Parliamentary franchise, based on tradi- 

 tional influence, contemporary activity, and prestige as 

 great as can be claimed for any kindred constituency, 

 and the Livery make their appeal to Parliament to 

 preserve to them rights they have well earned and 

 ever exercised in the public "interest." A strong case 

 can certainly be made out for the retention of the 

 Livery vote on the ground of the educational activities 

 of the Livery Companies of the City of London. To 

 the City and Guilds of London Ins'titute alone these 

 companies and the Corporation have contributed more 

 NO. 2503, VOL. 100] 



than one million pounds, and they led the way in the 

 provision of facilities for technical education in Lon- 

 don. Their historical claims to Parliamentary repre- 

 sentation are undoubted, and they are supported by 

 beneficial national influence. Whatever reasons can be 

 adduced for university representation can be applied 

 with increased force to the Livery franchise ; we hope, 

 therefore, that the ancient right will be preserved. 



One of the industries concerning which little is per- 

 haps generally known, but upon which the steel,. non- 

 ferrous metals, gas, glass, and other industries are 

 absolutely dependent, is that which is concerned with 

 the production of refractory materials. In the days 

 before the war we were content to draw from abroad 

 not only important supplies of raw materials, but also 

 finished products. The new spirit in manufacturing, 

 however, has led to a movement to make British indus- 

 tries particularly self-supporting in this direction. Mr. 

 W. J. Jones, of the Ministry of Munitions, who is the 

 president of the Ceramic Society, the autumn meeting 

 of which concluded at Glasgow on October 3, in an 

 address delivered to the Refractory Materials Section 

 of that society, referred to the useful work which has 

 been done by this section.. He pointed out how the 

 urgent needs of manufacturers for refractory materials 

 have been m.et by the home industry, which, notwith- 

 standing the depletion for national service of so many 

 of the best men, has increased the output of coke-oven 

 bricks by 100 per cent., of silica bricks by 60 per cent., 

 of calcined dolomite by 80 per cent., and of firebrick by 

 more than 20 per cent. In view of the fact that our 

 manufacturing output must remain at a high level, both 

 during the war period and after, Mr. Jones outlined 

 the steps that should be taken to bring about the neces- 

 sary increase in the supply of refractory materials of 

 the right quality in order that they might withstand 

 the high temperatures that would be certain to be 

 applied, and the more severe conditions of service 

 generally. What he asks is that there should be a 

 closer combination between manufacturer and con- 

 sumer, with the scientific investigator as a connecting 

 link, and he urged upon all interested the desirability 

 of at once giving consideration to a scheme of scientific 

 research in which other societies are likely to co- 

 operate. If the suggestions put forward by Mr. Jones 

 commend themselves to the makers, and the necessary 

 steps are taken to bring about their realisation, a great 

 step forward will have been made by an industry which, 

 although in a certain sense a subsidiary one, is inti- 

 mately bound up with the future prosperity of our 

 staple manufactures. 



We learn from the Daily Telegraph that President 

 Poincare has conferred the Legion of Honour upon 

 Dr, John Cadman, C.M.G., professor of mining. Uni- 

 versity of Birmingham, in recognition of valuable ser- 

 vices rendered by him in the cause of the Allies. 



The King has conferred the dignity of a peerage of 

 the United Kingdom upon the Right Hon. Sir Francis 

 Hopwood, vice-chairman of the Development Commis- 

 sion, and a member of the General Board and Execu- 

 tive Committee of the National Physical Laboratory. 



We regret to note that the Engineer for October 12 

 records the death of Mr. William Robert Sykes, the 

 inventor of the lock-and-block system of railway signal- 

 ling. Mr. Sykes died on October 2, at the age of 

 seventy-seven years ; he was responsible for the inven- 

 tion of many appliances relating to railway signalling. 



The death is announced in the Engineer for October 

 12 of Mr. Bernard Arkwright, chief of the engine works 

 department at Elswick. Mr. Arkwright was born in 

 1861, and educated at Harrow, and he became assistant 

 manager of the engine works belonging to Sir W. G. 



