ments. Those, and many other consi derations, necessitated the provision of spare or Etand-by plant and appliances, not necessarily throughout the whole sys tem, but certainly in respect of the mora severely distressed units, such as the steam boilers and the turbo-generatcrs. Those considerations furnished a cumula tive and irresistible argument in favour of co-operation on the largest scale; and of the amalgamation of power supply un 'dertakingg, for the express purpose of effecting the electrical ' linking _ up of power nouses: and also of a rigid stan dardization of voltage, phase and fre quency, so as to permit of free inter change of electrical energy between the several systems. In that way alone era they achieve the desideratum than an electric supply super-system, covering Jarge territories and serving a large population, might attain the highest prac tical economies of operation. So- ambi tious a project of co-operative effort was in most communities definitely beyond the financial resources of private enter prise. Few authorities, other than the State, conld -usually provide the_ finance or the legislative or administrative machi nery necessary for the control of such, a combination. The inference ?which he sug gested was, that in no field of applied science could the principle of State con trol of a public utility be so effectively supported -by technical and scientific con siderations as in the matter of ? power development. Sir John continued that the Imking-up of power houses had already proceeded, upon a considerable scale, in the United States, and a beginning had been made with the application of the same prin ciple in Great Britain.' In the State of Victoria, something had already been achieved on a modest scale in the same direction. Furthermore, during the last three years, a new and supremely impor tant conception had taken possession ot the minds of engineers in the United States, Stimulated by the success ei the commercial operation of Ionc-distance transmission lines, operating at the super ?pressnre of 220,000 volts, and exercised By' the difficulties likely soon to confront the world in view of a _ practical* ?tationary production of fuel in the face of a rapidly- expanding demand for power, they had conceived a super-svstem 01 generation and distribution, designed to fink into one vast network the entire energy producing and energy consuming loci of the whole of 'the United States. They could not but be impressed by the boldness and magnificence of such, a con ception, and by the faith of those engineers in their ability to deal with the incidental problems of the technique of transmission and with the perfection of the requisite regulating machinery. Basfe and Peak Stations. When » plurality of power houses could be operated collectively, under a single control, for the service of_an entire terri tory, an important question arose as to the rrjmective roles which each generating

station should be called upon to -play in the general scheme. It was possible oniy, to generalize, upon that interesting theme, because there were so many factors bear in? upon the best solution that each case had to be minutely examined npon its jnerits. Broadly speaking, they might divide a group of power houses into' basic stations- and peak stations, the basic portion of the daily load having, a. high load factor, whereas . the peak portions would have a low load factor'. In order to illustrate this matter. Sir John referred to the Victorian State Electricity Scheme, where' the principle enunciated was being applied. The great power- house /at Yallonrn, now approaching completion, and 'the group of hydro-electric power nouses in the Goulburn Valley, now under construction, would operate as basic stations, while the power house at New. port, which came 'into commercial opera tion about 12 months' ago, would hereafter operate .as a peak' station. The basic stations would operate throughout the whole 24 hours under almost uniform load, whereas the peak station would operate only, dm-ing- .about two hours 'each morning and csch afternoon,' in order to ?deal with the specially intensified -demands which the community makes for electric services round about 9 ajn. and 5 p.m. The coming 'decade would witness the application of those principles to an ever increasmg. extent. Advanced countries like the TJnited States and Great Britain were manifesting the gradual abolition o the isolated power house as such, and vast territories were .being, embraced in giant power supply schemes, composed of numerous' generating stations, strategically disposed according to the available sources of power, all connected together by long distance transmission systems, and ail pouring their energy into a common reser voir, from which the entire population would be able to draw and to share in the benefits and economies of highly centralized methods. ; Paradoxically, that very centralization of energy pro duction i was likely to lead, very directly,* to industrial decentralization. Present-day conditions in Australia, having regard particularly to the distribution of population, were not favourable toa very extensive* application of the principles which had . been discussed. The* most favoured region for early development in ttosc directions was undoubtedly the cen tral portion of the State of Victoria. If; with Melbourne as a centre, a circle, hay ing a riadus of, say, ISO miles, be drawn that circle -would enclose a territory hav ing practically throughout its whole, area, a population density sufficient to justify the establishment within it of a super scheme' of linked power houses of the nature described. - In several Australian States and in New Zealand a beginning had been made in the direction of emulat ing the American and Canadian examples o£ connecting the rural areas with con tralized generating plants of major, capa city. In connection with the extent to which capital expenditure upon a service of' that nature was permissible, Sir John said that at the present ruling rates of interest, and with, provision for deprecia tion and maintenance*, 10 per cent, in all, the deduction was that in round figures a capital expenditure, upon transmission ant distribution plant (including the incidental substation electrical equipment), amount ing to £10 per capita of the population to be served was permissible. The outstand ing problem was that of. improving the

technical methods * of - transmission, parti

cularly -in the direction of reducing the

capital investment; ' One complete change

of practice had resulted in the introduction

of the 'constant pressure' alternating cur

'rent system of transmission.. The thoughts

of physicists were now turning to the very

recently invented 'valves' and other de

vices, promising remarkable facilities for

the conversion of electric energy from the

alternating to the direct current form and

vice versa. He asked was another read

justment in the practice of electric trans

mission impending? Would the near future

witness a radical. reconsideration of the

design of our transmission systems, and

the elimination . of the influence of reac

tance and capacitance upon the economics

of .their .difficult and complex transmissibn

problems

At present the investment of Australia

in electrical transmission was relatively

negligible, and therefore a fruitful field for

research lay open for the realization of a

beneficent advance before they were

deeply committed by a more extended use

of present methods.

- Social Factors.

Density of population was a ^factor of

paramount influence in. determining, the

cost pehr capita of many public utilities,

the lecturer resumed. The people rn the

southern dominions esteemed highly the

social advantages of the relatively low den

sity of the population in the urban com

munities, but those advantages increased

the cost of evety kind, of com

munity service. Such . was the case,

particularly, with electric service,

le denser the population, therefore, the

lighter would be the burden 'of cost per

capita. . That was the chief reason why

the ultimate cost, of the service- to# the

residential consumer, in a relatively

sparsely occupied area,, such as the resi

dantial suburbs of the Australasian capi

tals was much greater than the cost of a

similar service in the more congested

industrial suburbs. It was. signifi

cant of the benefieient influence

of applied science that, in spite

of the . daftime upheaval of- the

world's economic conditions and the'. al-

most universil rise, in prices, the cost of

large-scale energy production had nowhere,

risen, but had on the contrary, exhibited

a. downward tendency. That had meant

much for industry. It was, however,

not only the favourable ' price, but also

the ? vastly greater convenience and. eco

nomy of operating machinery, by means

of electric motors; that . explained the

rapid and widespread introduction of elec

tricity into industrial life. .

The factory- owner had .now the. whole

resources of the electric, supply system to

enable him to meet any occasional simul

taneous demand by his machinery or pro

cesses.. Those considerations had exer

cised a profound' influence in the direc

tion of an entire reorganization of manu

facturing methods, to the great .benefit

particularly of ; the industrial classes.

The use' of electricity in industry had

probably. -done, and .was doing more to

lumanize the factory, than any other

agency* of modern application. It -was

bringing to the ?worker many advantages

of. health and ease, removing noise, the

smoke,' the dirt; and the. physical toil

which dogged him in. the past. The dig

nity of skilful-, and useful work, often

hitherto' obscured by the degradation .of

needless labour, was becoming better ap

preciated; the -need -in modern industry

or a greater range of akjU. and .training

and for ftss ' reliance 'on mere physical

effort, which followed ? in the train .of

electrically operated processes, was : cut

ting across 1 the lines which had separa

ted, class from class, and which had so

long made strangers: where friends should

be, among men who were 'in reality, part

ners in production.

' The application of electricity for pur

poses of .traction' greatly increased the

speed and frequency of the transportation

services. That consideration- alone, had

produced a much increased,- freedom of

selection by urban populations of. their

places' of residence and of the places -of

their daily activities. In the home, the, in

troduction of- electric lighting, warming,

water-heating, ? cooking; refrigerating,

sweeping,' washing, and ironing was re

ducing domestic labour, and increasing the

standard of comfort. Most of all, it wait

into rural territories that the amenities of

city life were steadily penetrating. 'Ap

plications of electricity to farm opera

tions and farm domestic -life were rapidly

spreading, . as in dairying, :in pumping',

in agriculture, and in the driving of farm

machinery in , general. In that way,

electricity might play an important 'role

in the problems 'of .decentralization, and

particularly so when industries not greatly

affected by transportation considerations,

of- which there -were many,, might have

for their establishment a wide range of

selection of provincial localities, provided

that they were furnished with electric

services. . '?

Value of Scientists.

In conclusion, Sir- John said he had -to

dose his recital of the magnificent achieve

ments of science in the field of power

development. The -results which he had

attempted to describe had been obtained

by rational research into the laws of

Nature*, and by the application of the

knowledge so gained to the practical

affairs of life. Mathematics, physical re

search' in : the realms of electricity and

magnestism, chemistry, and metallurgy all

had their place in the great achievements.

The work had gone far, but they had

arrived at no halting place. The future

power development presented, as he had

tried to' show, far vaster- problems than

any that . bad .been' . successfully solved.

It 'was to the laboratory of the investi

gator and in that direction alone that

they would have to look, for the inspira

tions which would guide .them on the

path of future progress. . The engineer

was -mere'y an exponent of applied

science, but he was the first to acknow

ledge his debt to pure science and to the

research worker. It was not always so.

In many quarters, pure science was looked

upon as merely' academic, and of no im

mediate practical or commercial value.

It might sometimes appear to be so; but

history furnished overwhelmingly numer

rous examples of pure research having led

straightway to practical results of the

greatest value to mankind. To quote

Huxley's aphorism, 'What people call

applied- science is nothing but. the appli

cation of pure science- to particular classes

of problems.' If, therefore, the privi

lege which had come to him of addressing

them, and the Australasian public bad

enabled' him to stimulate a just apprecia

tion of the value of. pure science,' and a

realization of the supreme importance of

'rendering the most generous support, both

sympathetically and financially, to^ scien

tific organizations throughout their land,

so as to utilize to the utmost the un

doubted aptitude of their men and women

for scientific labours, then he would feel

that he had not misused his opportunity.

(Applause.)

The lecture was followed by an interest

ing and instructive series of lantern

slides. :

