G.—ENGINEERING. i ii 
agricultural purposes. In California, for example, there is in effect one 
& system of electrical supply extending over a distance of 800 miles 
with 7,200 miles of high-tension transmission lines. This is fed from 
seventy-five hydro-electric stations, inter-connected with forty-seven 
steam plants, to give a total output of 785,000 horse-power. A 
further group of thirteen hydro-electric schemes now under construc- 
tion will add another 520,000 horse-power. A large proportion of this 
power is used in agriculture, and a census in 1915 showed that electric 
motors equivalent to over 190,000 horse-power were installed on 
Californian farms. The Californian rice industry is almost wholly 
dependent on irrigation made possible by electric pumping, while most 
of the mechanical processes involved in farming are being performed 
by electric power. 
There can be little doubt that the economic development of many 
of our tropical dependencies is bound up in the development of their 
water-power resources. Not only would this enable railroads to be 
operated, irrigation schemes to be developed, and mineral deposits to 
be mined and worked, but it would go far to solve the black labour 
_ problem, which promises to be one of some difficulty in the near future. 
While those outlets for electrical energy which are now in sight 
promise to absorb all the energy which can be cheaply developed for 
many years to come, there are many other probable directions in which 
cheap energy would find a new and profitable outlet. Among these may 
be mentioned the purification of municipal water supplies; the 
sterilisation of sewage; the dehydration of food products; and the 
preservation of timber. 
Scope for future Water-Power Development.—The figures already 
quoted indicate that the scope for inland water-power development 
throughout the world, and more particularly throughout the British 
Empire, is likely to be large for many years to come, and it is gratifying 
to know that British engineers are prepared to play a large part in such 
development work. 
The utilisation of this water power is likely to give rise to some 
economic problems of interest and importance. When industrial con- 
ditions have again become stabilised, the competitive ability of the 
“yarious nations will depend largely on economy in the application of 
energy to production and transportation, and the possession of cheap 
_ water power is likely largely to counterbalance the possession of such 
resources as coal and iron as a measure of the industrial capacity of a 
nation. 
While it is probably true in industrial communities that the most 
attractive water-power schemes have already received attention, many 
of those available in countries which have hitherto been non-industrial 
are capable of extremely cheap development and _ will certainly be 
utilised as soon as a market for their output can be assured. 
Tt is in such countries that the result of these developments is likely 
to be most marked, and will require most careful consideration. Thus 
: the hydro-electric survey of India now being carried out by the Indian 
_ Government indicates that very large water-power resources are avail- 
able in the country, and that, although a few large schemes have been 
or are being developed, the resources of the country are practically 
