644 
wheel. Several preliminary experiments have already been 
carried out, but the main work of the Committee will be under- 
taken during the forthcoming year. It should be mentioned 
here that although another grant was given to the Committee 
by the Association, still its work will be terribly hampered, and 
in fact will be almost impossible, unless additional funds are 
forthcoming from other sources ; the Committee is doing work 
of such great importance to the country that it is to be hoped 
public bodies and all those who are interested in the question 
of the construction and upkeep of public streets and roads and 
the best means of road traction will respond liberally to the 
appeal which the Committee has issued for financial help. 
Two other important papers read on this day dealt respectively 
with the rainfall and water-power available in Ireland. Dr, 
Mill exhibited a map of Ireland coloured to show the distribu- 
tion of rainfall, as ascertained from the records of the ten years 
1890-1899, and pointed out that practically the whole country 
west of the Foyle and the Shannon, and west and south of a 
line drawn from Limerick to Clonmel, had a rainfall exceeding 
4o inches in the year. He also gave some interesting 
statistics as to the number of rainfall stations in Ireland and the 
increase since the Belfast meeting in 1874; he calculated that 
185 additional observers would be required to secure as many 
rain-gauge observations per 1000 of population as were now 
made in England. Perhaps as a result of this meeting we may 
again find an increase of interest taken in this important 
question. 
Mr. Dick, in his paper on the water-power available in 
Ireland, considered only the cases of the Shannon, the Erne and 
the Bann, perhaps the most important rivers, however, from a 
power point of view. The dry-weather minimum flow of these 
rivers is the vital factor in calculations of available power, and 
the problem is rendered exceptionally difficult owing to the 
conditions which have been laid down in reference to this 
minimum flow in Acts of Parliament which have been passed 
in connection with the fishing industry in these rivers. Mr. 
Dick stated that very careful measurements had been made of 
the amount of water available under the above conditions, and 
he calculated that as a result the continuous water-power avail- 
able on the lower Shannon would be nil, on the lower Erne 
400 and on the lower Bann 800. He then dealt with the pos- 
sibility of increasing this small horse-power by storage of flood 
waters, and came to the conclusion that this was out of the ques- 
tion when regard was paid to the enormous amount of money 
which had already been spent for the purpose of keeping these 
rivers at or near their summer level in connection with the re- 
quirements of arterial drainage and navigation. It will be seen 
that the author’s figures correct the serious misconceptions that 
have prevailed in regard to the amount of water-power likely to be 
available in Ireland ; no doubt these too favourable views have 
arisen from the erroneous figures given by Sir Robert Kane in 
his book on the ‘‘ Industrial Resources of Ireland,” since that 
author estimated that the available water-power on the Shannon 
alone between Killaloe and Limerick was 34,000. Several 
of those who took part in the discussion were of opinion that 
the author had taken a too pessimistic view of the situation, and 
that in several cases, at any rate if useless navigation rights 
were abandoned, considerable power would be rendered avail- 
able. 
The meeting on Monday, September 15, was, as usual, 
devoted to electrical papers, and the first paper dealt with was a 
suggestive one by Mr. J. E. Kingsbury on the future of the 
telephone in the United Kingdom. The author gave a short 
history of the various telephone companies which have been at 
work in this country from the date of the famous action brought 
against the Edison Telephone Company by the Post Office in 
1880, and then went on to show that competing services which 
had been started in one or two towns, as for example, Dundee, 
Sheffield and Manchester, had not benefited the community ; 
in fact, the people of those towns had actually derived an 
advantage from the amalgamation of the local competing com- 
panies with the National Telephone Company, a view, we may 
point out, quite opposed to the popular ideas upon that subject. 
Mr. Kingsbury was of opinion that competing services had 
ceased in the past because the absurdity of such a situation was 
obvious as soon as it was put into practice. Parliament, by the 
Act of 1899, determined to foster once more, by the help of the 
ratepayers, this system of competition, although when tried 
before under private enterprise it had proved unsatisfactory. 
NATURE 
[OcToBER 23, 1902 
telephone systems had been started, the author was of opinion 
that money had been uselessly spent simply to create a system 
of duplicate subscribers and duplicate subscriptions. In London, 
on the other hand, an admirable arrangement had been con- 
cluded by the Postmaster General by which every subscriber to 
the Post Office system was in connection with the existing 45,000 
subscribers to the old system. In conclusion, he stated that as 
corporations could borrow money easily and cheaply, it would 
be spent on competitive systems which were wasteful, and gave 
the maximum of inconvenience and the minimum of public 
benefit. Several of those who took part in the discussion were 
opposed to the position taken up by the author on the question 
of municipal telephone systems, but Sir William Preece appeared 
to uphold the idea that a general telephone system could be 
much better worked by the Post Office than by separate muni- 
cipalities. One of the speakers declared, as the result of careful 
inquiry, that the Glasgow telephone system, instead of being a 
failure as the author had stated, was a great success. 
Prof. E. Wilson then read a paper on the electrical conduc- 
tivity of certain aluminium alloys as affected by exposure to 
London atmosphere. A number of specimens of various light 
aluminium alloys had been placed on the roof of King’s College, 
London, in order to investigate the effect of exposure to the 
atmosphere. The specimens were wires about $ inch in 
diameter, carried on a wooden frame, and had been exposed for 
about thirteen months. A table was presented by the author 
giving the results of the experiments, and as chemical analyses 
had been made in every case, the author was able to show the effect 
upon the specific resistance of each alloy of the different elements 
in combination with the aluminium ; as a result of his work, he 
concluded that for exposed light aluminium alloys copper alone 
should not be used; on the other hand, the presence of equal 
amounts of nickel and copper, about I per cent. of each, though 
it slightly reduced conductivity, produced a marked improve- 
ment in power to resist corrosion. Dr. Glazebrook, in the 
discussion, mentioned how difficult it was in such experi- 
ments to determine accurately the specific resistance owing to 
the pittings and cracks which were produced on the surface by 
the action of the weather. 
Another paper of much interest was one by Mr. W. Taylor 
on the science of the workshop. He said that the subject 
would divide itself naturally into three parts—the materials 
used in the workshop, the processes for their treatment, and 
tools; and in the section on materials he pointed out truly 
enough that much of the work which had hitherto been carried 
on in technical schools and also by original investigators had 
been confined to the study of the physical properties of materials 
from the point of view of the designer, whose chief interest is 
that his machine styctures shall not be strained beyond the 
elastic limit, rather than from the point of view of the mechanic, 
whose business it is to shape the materials, generally by straining 
them beyond the elastic limit. He hoped for considerable 
advance in our knowledge from this latter point of view, from 
the photomicrographic study of the structure of materials and 
from such researches as those which have been carried out by 
the Alloys Research Committee of the Institution of Mechanical 
Engineers. 
The last paper on the programme for the day was one by Mr. 
J. R. Wigham on a new flashing lighthouse light without in- 
tervals of darkness. One of these lights was placed on the top 
of the tower of Queen’s College and was shown in operation 
each night during the meeting. The author stated that the cost 
of the new light, which was practically a continuous one, was 
not greater than that of any other of the first-class lights with 
revolving annular lenses, and that any common illuminant might 
be used. 
The afternoon of Monday was devoted to a joint discussion 
with Section L on the training of engineers. The discussion 
was opened by the president of the Section, Prof. Perry; it 
was, in fact, a discussion of his presidential address to 
Section G. One of the points mentioned by the president was 
the necessity that engineers and manufacturers should interest 
themselves in the question of the education of the young 
engineer, and that until they do so engineering teachers cannot 
hope to meet with success. We feel sure that this want of 
interest is at the bottom of much of the trouble the directors 
of engineering schools now experience in inducing parents 
and guardians to consider that the profession of an engineer 
is one which requires in the present day as lengthy and 
Both in Glaszow and in Tunbridge Wells, where municipal | complete a preparation as medicine or law. Several speakers 
NO. 1721, VOL. 66] 
