G.—ENGINEERING. 113 
nothing had been done, prior to 1915, by any part of the British 
Empire, to develop or even systematically to investigate the possibili- 
ties of developing its water powers. It is true that a number of large 
installations had been constructed in India and Tasmania, but their 
aggregate output was relatively inconsiderable. 
Since then, however, there has been a general tendency to initiate 
such investigations, and at the present time these are being carried out 
with varying degrees of thoroughness in India, Ceylon, Australia, South 
and Hast Africa, and British Guiana. While it is known that there 
is ample water power in Newfoundland, Nigeria, Rhodesia, Papua, and 
the Gold Coast, no very definite information is available, nor are any 
steps apparently being taken to obtain data in these countries. 
The Water Power Committee of the Conjoint Board of Scientific 
Societies, which has been studying the state of investigation and 
development throughout the Empire since 1917, has, however, come 
to the conclusion that its total available water-power resources are 
at least equivalent to between 50 and 70 million horse-power. 
Of the developed power in the Empire about 80 per cent. is in 
Canada. ‘Throughout the remainder of its territories only about 
700,000 horse-power is as yet developed, or only a little over 1 per 
cent. of the power available, a figure which compares with about 
24 per cent. for the whole of Europe, and 21 per cent. for North 
America, including Canada and the U.S.A. ‘These figures sufficiently 
indicate the relatively large scope for future development. 
Power Available in Great Britain.—With a view of ascertaining the 
resources of our own islands, a Board of Trade Water Power Resources 
Committee was appointed in 1918. This Committee, which has just 
presented its final report, has carried out preliminary surveys of as 
many of the more promising sites as its limited funds allowed, and has 
obtained data from the Board of Agriculture for Scotland, the 
Ordnance Survey Department, the Ministry of Munitions, and 
from civil engineers in private practice, regarding a large number of 
other sites. 
As might be anticipated, Scotland, with its comparatively high rain- 
fall, mountainous area, and natural lochs, possesses relatively greater 
possibilities than the remainder of the United Kingdom, and investi- 
gation has shown that it offers a number of comparatively large schemes. 
_ Nine of the more immediately promising of those examined by the 
Committee have an average output ranging from 7,000 to 40,000 con- 
tinuous 24-hour horse-power, and an aggregate capacity of 183,000 
horse-power, while in every case the estimated cost of construction is 
such that power could be developed at a cost appreciably less than from 
a coal-fired station built and operated under present-day conditions. 
The aggregate output of the Scottish schemes brought before the notice 
of the Committee, some of which, however, are not commercially 
_ feasible at the moment, is roughly 270,000 continuous horse-power. 
In addition to these there are a very large number of other small 
schemes which have not yet been investigated,® and it is probably well 
*In a paper read before the Royal Society of Arts on January 25, 1918, Mr. A. 
Newlands, M.I.C.E., gave a list of 122 potential Scottish schemes, the capacity of 
_ which he estimated, on a very conservative basis, at 375,000 horse-power. 
