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ANNUAL ADDRESS. XVII. 
Telford Bridges over the Clyde in which the cylinder piers were 
being sunk on the pneumatic process with an air-lock. The | 
Blackwall Tunnel is a fine example of compressed air work which 
is now being employed in a similar work at New York, consisting 
of a tunnel under the Hudson River. 
EconomicaL GENERATION, TRANSMISSION, AND UTILIZATION OF 
Evectricitry FOR PowER PuRPosEs. 
I propose to describe to you, briefly, a few of the most 
important developments in this branch of Engineering. In 
America, more especially, I was much impressed with the 
extensive use made of electricity, for working street railways, 
‘for machinery in workshops usually driven by steam power, 
and also for working cranes, hoisting and pumping machinery. 
With some exceptions, a few of which I will consider presently, 
the energy for producing the electricity is derived from burning 
coal and generating steam by means of boilers and engines driving 
electrical generators. 
The chief use of electricity in connection with the development 
and transmission of power is at present best seen in the Elec- 
trical Railways of America, England and Europe, and these are 
nowhere better illustrated than in America, where almost every 
town is provided with an electric tramway running through its 
Principal streets, and extending for many miles to the suburbs. 
The economy and convenience of this system is most satisfactory, 
and the benefits conferred upon the community in providing a 
cheap and elegant means of transportation can hardly be realized 
by those unacquainted with the system. 
To give some idea of the extent of the Electric System in 
America, it was stated by the Street Railway Journal in October 
last, in connection with the Street Railway Convention at 
Montreal, at which I was present—* That 14,000 miles of Electric 
ilways were earning one third as much in net dividends as 
234,000 miles of Railway.” This remarkable statement means 
that the average net earnings per mile on the Electric — 
2—June 17, 1896. 
