SECTIONAL TRANSACTIONS.— G. 357 



are on independent foundations, and the rooms are asymmetric both in 

 plan and elevation. 



Mr. R. BoRLASE Matthews. — Rural electrification and the grid. 



As the greatest field for the use of electric power from the grid is in rural 

 areas, a rural area is defined and its prospects are analysed. Three hundred 

 and twenty authorised undertakers are concerned with supplying electricity 

 in rural areas. For various reasons, however, the farm load has been 

 comparatively neglected. As the institution of the grid ensures a low 

 price for current at the smaller centres, this should facilitate rural develop- 

 ment. The general principles associated with the supply of rural areas are 

 dealt with, the Mid-Lincolnshire and Rutlandshire Rural Electrification 

 Scheme (covering an area of over 1,600 square miles) being taken as an 

 example and some particulars thereof given. 



The possibilities of considerably reducing the cost of rural distribution 

 lines are briefly discussed, followed by a consideration of the possibilities of 

 the farm load, in which emphasis is laid on the fact that the future of British 

 farming will undoubtedly lie in intensive cultivation rather than in the 

 adoption of modern prairie methods. To-day farming is carried on too 

 much after the fashion of a weaver with a hand loom, i.e. with antiquated 

 methods and machinery, yet farmers in the aggregate already use more 

 power than that employed in all the other industries combined. Hence, 

 the suggestion is made that, in view of the existence of the grid, this power 

 should be electric. As the 300 ordinary uses of electricity on farms are 

 now generally well known, brief reference is made to the new and larger 

 farm apparatus such as the 30-h.p. rain cannon, 150-h.p. hay-drying and 

 disintegrating plants, 250-h.p. electric ploughs, and 80-h.p. combined 

 harvester-threshers. Reference is also made to electric soil heating, to 

 moving platforms for continuously milking cows, to the auxiliary industries 

 (e.g. those concerned with the manufacture of alcohol, beer, flour, starch, 

 sugar, etc.) and the like. 



In conclusion a brief reference is made to the necessary policy in 

 connection with propaganda activities and tariffs. 



Dr. C. C. Garrard. — The electric propulsion of ships. 



This paper does not set out to prove the economic advantage of electric 

 ship propulsion. The fact that (excluding war vessels) ships built, or 

 building, with turbo-electric propulsion have a total shaft horse-power 

 exceeding one million, and Diesel-electric vessels with a total of more than 

 100,000 horse-power, renders such proof unnecessary. Ninety per cent, 

 of all these vessels have been built in the United States. This is to be 

 attributed in part to the stimulus afforded by the adoption of electric 

 propulsion for the capital ships of the American Navy. The recent 

 reversion of the battleship New Mexico to geared turbines was not due to 

 any dissatisfaction with the electrical equipment, but to quite other reasons. 

 The decision to adopt electric propulsion for any vessel is not so much a 

 question for the electrical engineer as the naval architect, who must take 

 into account the whole of the ship as a means of transporting passengers 

 and merchandise. The effect upon the revenue-earning capacity is more 

 important than the reduction in fuel cost. In the case of liners, generally 

 speaking, electric propulsion results in greater efficiency, while for vessels 

 of the self-unloading type, which require large amounts of power in dock, 

 it is a necessity. In other cases, the ease of control and manoeuvre is 



