114 SECTIONAL ADDRESSES. 
within the mark to say that there are water-power sites in the country 
capable of developing the equivalent of 400,000 continuous horse- 
power, or 1,500,000 horse-power over a normal working week, at least 
as cheaply as from a coal-fired installation. 
A number of attractive schemes are also available in North 
Wales, though these are in general more expensive than those 
in Scotland. 
Owing to the general flatness of the gradients, there are, except 
possibly around Dartmoor, no schemes of any large individual magnitude 
in England, but there are a large number of powers ranging from 100 
to 1,000 horse-power which might be developed from river flow uncon- 
trolled by storage. 
Investigations on a few typical watersheds throughout England and 
Wales appear to show that the possible output averages approximately 
eight continuous horse-power per square mile of catchment area, which 
would be equivalent to an aggregate of about 450,000 horse-power. 
Although much of this potential output is not commercially feasible, it 
would give the equivalent of 500,000 horse-power over a normal 
working week if only 30 per cent. of it were fully utilised. 
In the report recently issued by the Irish Sub-Committee of the 
Board of Trade Water Power Committee, it is estimated that approxi- 
mately 500,000 continuous 24-hour horse-power is commercially avail- 
able in Ireland, and that if utilised over a 48-hour working week, its 
capacity would be at least seven times as great as that of the engine 
power at present installed in the country for industrial purposes. 
It appears then that, although the water-power possibilities of the 
United Kingdom are small in comparison with those of some more 
favoured countries, they are by no means so negligible as is commonly 
supposed, even in comparison with the present industrial steam-power 
resources of the country. 
The capacity of the fuel-power plants installed for industrial and 
public-utility services in the United Kingdom in 1907 was approxi- 
mately 9.8 million horse-power. Allowing for an increase of 15 per 
cent. since then, and an average load factor of 35 per cent., this is 
equivalent to 32,000 million horse-power hours per annum, or to a 
continuous 24-hour output of only 3.7 million horse-power. 
According to Sir Dugald Clerk, the average consumption of coal 
per horse-power hour in this country is about 3.9 lb., which, on the 
above basis, would involve a total annual consumption of 55 million 
tons for industrial purposes, not including railways or steamships. 
This figure is in substantial agreement with the estimate of 60 million 
tons made for factory consumption in 1913 by the Coal Conservation 
Committee of the Ministry of Reconstruction, since this latter figure 
also includes coal used for heating and other manufacturing processes 
in factories. 
Adopting this figure of 32,000 million horse-power hours as the 
annual demand for power for industrial purposes, it appears that the 
inland water-power resources of the United Kingdom are capable of 
supplying about 27 per cent. of this, a proportion which, in such an 
industrial country as our own, is somewhat surprisingly large. 
Many of the small powers would be well adapted for linking up, as 
