872 KEPORT— 1900. 



distribution and occurrence ; analyses of them were given, and the methods fol- 

 lowed by the Chinese in their reduction described. Sketches were given of the 

 furnace employed, the manner of loading' it was explained, and details were given 

 of the results obtained, and an estimate was furnished of the yearly output 

 gathered from reliable sources, and the cost of production. The description was 

 illustrated by photographs. The existing means of communication by land and 

 water was referred to, and information collected by the writer furnished in respect 

 to the vehicles and pack animals used for carriage on roads, and the cost of trans- 

 porting the products of the mines under present conditions. A description, 

 accompanied by photographs, was given of one of the great high roads of China, 

 the methods of its construction and alignment, and the difficulties which it presents 

 to vehicular traffic briefly alluded to. Some information was also furnished 

 regarding wages of skilled and unskilled labour, the general condition of the 

 people, their food and habits, the effects of the last great famine on them, their 

 demeanour towards foreigners as experienced by the writer and his staff, and as 

 gathered from statements received personally from missionaries who have long 

 resided in the country, and the desire evinced, not only by the workmen them- 

 selves, but also by officials, to see the natural industries developed whereby regular 

 employment and good wages would be obtained. The implements used by the 

 Chinese in mining and other industries, and their methods of agriculture were 

 alluded to. A general description of the country to be traversed by the proposed 

 railways, its physical aspects, population, and trade, was given, and also an account 

 of the rivers and waterways encountered, with special reference to the Yellow 

 lliver, and the measures to be adopted for bridging it. The gauge on which the 

 railways are to be built, and the nature of the permanent way and rolling stock 

 were referred to, and also other matters of interest in connection with construction. 

 The paper also contained some remarks on existing and projected railways in 

 China. It concluded with some general remarks on the cost of the lines of railway 

 referred to, and haulage rates. 



5. The Use of -Expanded Meted in Concrete. 

 By Arthur T. Walmisley, M.Inst.C.E. 



The author's paper began by stating that the subject of the judicious intro- 

 duction of iron and steel sections into concrete was a leading topic of discussion at 

 the present time among engineers, and he referred to the paper read at tbe Liverpool 

 meeting of the British Association descriptive of the manufacture of expanded 

 metal by Mr. J. F. Golding, the inventor of the machinery for its production, and 

 then dealt with its development, with special application to its introduction into 

 concrete for supplying that tensile element which concrete without metal lacks. 

 The present machinery is limited to sheets eight feet in length, but larger machines 

 are in contemplation for the Expanded Metal Company's works at West Hartle- 

 pool, to enable sheets of metal long and strong enough for spans of IK-foot 

 slabs to be supplied. The author assumed that the safe-working unit stress for 

 concrete in compression is ten times the safe-working unit stress for concrete in 

 tension, and pointed out that, under these circumstances, with a homogeneous 

 section of pure concrete having parallel sides the neutral axis must be above the 

 level of the centre of gravity of a slab laid horizontally or vertically ; and that, 

 assuming — as in the case of a slab supported at the edges — that it is laid flat, the 

 neutral axis of a section divided the depth into the proportions of "24 and "76 re- 

 spectively in order to create a result equal to a couple in which the compressive 

 and tensile elements unaided by metal would be in equilibrium. The author then 

 gave calculations showing the effect of introducing metal into the tensile portion 

 pf the section, whereby the neutral axis under the above conditions of equilibrium 

 18 lowered, the compressive portion is increased, and the neutral axis made to 

 approach nearer the centre of gravity of the section. Examples were given of a 

 section containing wires or rods, plates, and inverted tee sections, together with a 

 comparison of a section containing expanded metal ; and the author pointed out 

 that the latter provides a uniform distribution of tensile strength in all directions, 



