G.— ENGINEERING. 17& 



facilities have been afforded in some of these districts by transmission 

 lines conveying the energy derivable from water-power and traversing the 

 rural districts on their way to the main outlet for the consumption of the 

 electricity generated at the distant source. In Denmark, nevertheless, 

 where there is no large water-power at all, a considerable service has been 

 afforded to rural districts, and small pole transformers with cheaply con- 

 structed overhead lines are made to serve districts within a two-mile 

 radius from each transformer. Surely we can devise similar means of 

 assisting our great agricultural industry in this country. 



This short review would be incomplete without a reference to electrical 

 research — a subject which must always be of interest to this Association. 



Excellent progress is being made by the British Electrical and Allied 

 Industries Research Association, now in its sixth year, under the direction 

 of Mr. E. B. Wedmore. This Association was instituted principally by 

 the British Electrical and Allied Manufacturers Association, under the 

 auspices and with the help of the Department of Scientific and Industrial 

 Research. Fundamental researches have been conducted and are being 

 continued on dielectrics in general; on conductors and on apparatus for 

 electric control, including severely practical experimental work on heavy 

 switches ; prevention of corrosion in condenser tubes ; steam-turbine 

 bladings, and in the properties of extra high-pressure steam up to 1,500 lb. 

 per square inch and at temperatures of 850^ F., conducted by Prof. 

 H. L. Callendar. A most important and patiently investigated research 

 into the behaviour of buried cables (that is, cables laid underground in 

 various ways, either direct in the soil or drawn into iron and earthen- 

 ware pipes) has resulted in obtaining the most useful information of a 

 practical and economic nature. 



Great possibilities of a beneficial kind lie ahead of the Association, 

 assisted as it is in many directions by the skilled investigators of the 

 National Physical Laboratory under the directorship of Sir Joseph Petavel. 

 The completion next year of the uiillion-volt testing laboratory at the 

 N.P.L. will make possible tests which will be of great practical value to 

 the industry. 



The investigations of the Fuel Research Board begun under the 

 chairmanship of the late Sir George Beilby, now succeeded by Sir Richard 

 Threlfall, and under the direction of Dr. C. H. Lander, will greatly assist 

 the designers of future power houses, as well as generally helping the great 

 gas industr)'^ and other fuel industries, including the development of low- 

 temperature carbonisation processes. These researches will have an influence 

 upon public health, will bring about the better utilisation of our fuel re- 

 sources, and help to educate the general public to a better and less prodigal 

 use of the natural wealth laid down in this old country in past geological 

 times. 



It has been a privilege and. an education to be associated directly or 

 indirectly with these bodies through the Advisory Council of the Depart- 

 ment of Scientific and Industrial Research, and of real assistance in dealing 

 with the problems involved in the consideration of systems for future 

 electrical development. 



The work done by these bodies and by the research departments 

 separately established by the great cable-making and manufacturing 



n2 



