18 PRESIDENT S ADDRESS. 



favourable size, locality, and number of generating stations in each 

 area can only be arrived at by a close study of the local conditions, 

 but there is no doubt that, generally speaking, to secure cheap elec- 

 tricity a widespread network of mains is in most cases a very important, 

 if not an essential, factor. 



The electrification of tramways and suburban railways has been an 

 undoubted success where the volume of traffic has justified a frequent 

 service, and it has been remarkable that where suburban lines have 

 been worked by frequent and fast electrical trains there has resulted 

 a great growth of passenger traffic. The electrification of main line 

 railways would no doubt result in a saving of coal; at the same time, 

 the economical success would largely depend on the broader question 

 as to whether the volume of the traffic ^^'ould suffice to pay the working 

 expenses, and provide a satisfactory return on the capital. 



Municipal and company generating stations have been nearly 

 doubled in capacity during the war to meet the demand from munition 

 works, steel works, chemical works, and for many other purposes. The 

 provision of this increased supply was an enormous help in the produc- 

 tion of adequate munitions. At the commencement of the war there 

 were few steel electric furnaces in the country ; at the end of last year 

 117 were at work, producing 20,000 tons of steel per month, consisting 

 chiefly of high-grade ferro alloys used in munitions. 



The Future. 



The nations who have exerted the most influence in the war have 

 been those who have developed to the greatest extent their resources, 

 their manufactures, and their commerce. As in the war, so in the 

 civilisation of mankind. But, viewing the present trend of develop- 

 ments in harnessing water-power and using up the fuel resources of 

 the world for the use and convenience of man, one cannot but realise 

 that, failing new and unexpected discoveries in science, such as the 

 harnessing of the latent molecular and atomic energy in matter, as 

 foreshadowed by Clerk Maxwell, Kelvin, Eutherford, and others, the 

 great position of England cannot be maintained for an indefinite period. 

 At some time more or less remote — long before the exhaustion of our 

 coal — the population will gradually migrate to those countries v/here 

 the natural sources of energy are the most abundant. 



Water-'power and Coal. — The amount of available water-power in 

 the British Isles is very small as compared with the total in other 

 countries. According to the latest estimates, the total in the British 

 Isles is under li million horse-power, whereas Canada alone possesses 

 over 20 millions, of which over 2 millions have already been harnessed. 

 In the rest of the British Empire there are upwards of 30 millions 

 and in the remainder of the world at least 150 millions, so that England 



