TRANSAITIOXS OF SECTION G. 



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ilie purest of ])otnlile wattM-.'^. and lliorchy rendering the sailor independent of fresh- 

 water storafrc. 



Witli respect to the application by the engineer of electrical science, it is within 

 the present generation that electricity has passed from the state of a somewhat 

 [edM'tcd scientilic alwtraction into practical nse: first, by the eatablishraent of the 

 Isnd telegraph, then by the develo])nicnt into the submarine cable, by means of 

 ivhicii any one of us visitors here in Canada may b<; in instant commnnication with 

 liisown country, and may be so without a selfish exclusive occupation of the cable, 

 for once more the application of science has solved tliat apparently irapossil)le pro- 

 blem of (smploying a single wire to bo at one and the same time the transmitter 

 of multiple electric m(>s.sages, and messages in opposite directions. Then, thaidfs to 

 the application of Faraday's great discovery of induced electricity, there has been, 

 duriiifr the last quarter of a century, the progressive development of the dynamo- 

 machine, whereby the energy of ordinary motors, sucii as st(>am engines, is converted 

 intn electrical energy, competent to deposit metals, to (as has already been said) fuse 

 them, to light not only isolated buildings, but extensive areas of towns and 

 cities, and to transmit power to a distance, whether for manufacturing purposes 

 or lor tlie railway or tramcar ; and thus the miracle is performed of converting a 

 waterfall into a source of light, as at Sir NN'illiam Armstrong's house, or into the 

 oriffin of power for a railway, as at the Giant's Causeway. To the application of 

 rlfCtrical science is due the self-exciting of the dynamos and t lie construction of 

 wmidary batteries, enabling a development of electricity to be continued for many 

 hours, in the United Kingdom, general electric-ligliting, tliat is to say, the liglit- 

 ini; of large sections of a town I'nmi a central station, has been stopped by the 

 most lunvise, because most unjust, conditions imposed ))y the Government General 

 Electric Lighting Act of KSSl*. A new and meritorious induistry, wliicli sliould 

 have been granted the .same jirivileges as art> accorded to otiier industrial under- 

 iikiiifrs needing Parliamentary jiowers, was subjected to this most unjust condition: 

 that at the end of twenty-one years the public autliority oi' the town or ]dac(! 

 hi'lited sliovdd have the option <;f buying the undertaking for the tlien value of tlie 

 mm' materials, and that if the autliority did iu)t clioose to purchase (for it was not 

 Ijoiiiid to buy), at every subsequent tive-year period tiiis option should re-arise ; 

 that is to say, that a new undertaking, which would require years for its general 

 acceptance (for the public is slow to take up a novelty), was, after tiie experimental 

 and ann-paying stage had been passed, to be practically forthwith tak-eii away for 

 a mere fraction of the capital that had been outlaid if the undertaking paid, but 

 \rasnot to be taken away if it did not pay. Such, in .spite of the teaching of 

 Section F, is the condition to which our Government has arrived in respect of 

 economic science. Tiie next electrical matter T have to touch upon, that of the 

 telephnne and microphone, witli which will for ever be a.ssociated the names of 

 Gralmm-Bell, Edison and Ilughes, has, as regards the public use of the telephone, 

 been nil but similarly treated in the United Kingdom. It lias been declared to be 

 within the telegraphic monopoly given by rarliameiit to tlie Post Office nine years 

 k fore the telephone was invented, and tlie power to use it depends entirely upon 

 the grnce and favour of the Post OIKce, a grace and favour not always accorded ; 

 and even when accorded, coupled with limitntions as to distance, and coupled with 

 a condition of payment of 10 per cent, of the gross ri'ceipts by the companit>s to 

 the Post Ofilce as a royalty ; and all this because (Jovernnient lias Income a trader in 

 electrical intelligence, and fears the com])etitif)n of the telephone with its telegraphs. 



Xo one in the ship-loving countries of Ivigland, Canada, and the United States 

 can refrain from feeling the warmest interest in all connected with navigation, and 

 veknow hi)W frequently, alas! the prosperous voyage across the wide and fathom- 

 less ocean ends in shipwreck and disaster when the wished- for shore is approached, 

 and when the sea is comparatively shallow. Ivxcept for the chance of collision, 

 there is in a staunch ship little danger in the open ocean, Ijut on nearing the shore, 

 not only is the liability to collision increased, but sliouls and sunken rocks render 

 navin^ation perilous, and it is on the excellence of tiie liglithouses and lightships 

 'hat (coui)led with sounding.s) the sailor relies. These structures and appliances 

 are coulided to the engineei", and to be eflicient they require him to bo able to 



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