Power to Corporation to make drains

into sewers at

the owner.

in default of payment the Corporation may recover the same from such owner or occupier in a summary manner or may by order declare the same to be private improvement expenses.

46. Whenever it is necessary to open any part of the road or pavement of any street for the purpose of making or branching any drain into any sewer vested in or authorised to be made by the Corporation the expense of the Corporation may in case they think fit so to do make so much and such part of such drain and also may construct so much and such part of the work necessary for branching the same into such sewer as shall be under or in the said street and may require the prepayment of the estimated expenses of such work or may recover the actual expenses incurred in respect thereof from the owner of the premises to which such drain belongs in a summary manner or may by order declare the same to be private improvement expenses.

Houses not 51. Every owner of a new building shall before the same shall be to be inhabited inhabited give to the Corporation a notice in writing that the said until certifi

cate of com

pletion given by Corpora

tion,

Penalty on occupiers refusing execu tion of Act.

building and its appurtenances and the drainage and the ventilation of such building are completed and that the drains thereof are sufficiently trapped according to the provisions of the enactments and byelaws for the time being in force and a demand that the same may be inspected within seven days from the service of such notice and no owner of a new building shall occupy or allow the same to be occupied if he shall have received from the Surveyor within seven days after the service of such notice a notice in writing that such new building is not complete or sufficiently ventilated and fit for habitation or that the drainage thereof is not completed and the drains not sufficiently trapped in accordance with any enactment or bye-law then in force in the Borough (the notice to state in what particulars the building or the ventilation or the drainage is defective) and any owner who shall occupy or allow such new building to be occupied and any person who shall wilfully occupy the same after such last-mentioned notice has been given shall be liable to a penalty not exceeding five pounds and a further penalty not exceeding forty shillings for every day during which such building shall be inhabited until the defects specified in such notice and found to be contrary to any enactment or bye-law then in force in the Borough have been remedied.

66. In case the occupier of any premises prevents the owner thereof from carrying into effect in respect thereof any notice given by the Corporation under this Act then after notice of this provision given by the owner to the occupier any Justice upon proof thereof may make an order in writing requiring the occupier to permit the owner to execute the works required by such notice to be done and if after the expiration of seven days from the service of such order the occupier continues to refuse to permit the owner to execute the said works such occupier shall for every day druing which he so continues to refuse be liable to a penalty not exceeding five pounds and during the continuance of such refusal the owner shall be discharged from any penalties to which he might otherwise have become liable by reason of his default in executing such works.

Right of

certain cases.

70. Any person deeming himself aggrieved by the order or decision of the Corporation or the Surveyor with respect to any matter men- Appeal in tioned in this Part of this Act other than matters with respect to which any other mode of appeal is prescribed may appeal to the Local Government Board under the provisions of Section 268 of the Public Health Act 1875 and for the purposes of such appeal any decision of the Surveyor shall be deemed to be an order or decision of the Corporation.

SECOND SCHEDULE.

Having reference to works described in Sections 45 and 46.

Charges to be paid to the Corporation for making Plans Sections and descriptions relative to drainage of premises into sewers of the Corporation.

In the case of houses or premises where the gross rental is under 157. a year:

for a set of 3

and 2s. 6d. additional for every 1 or 2 houses beyond 6.

THE SUPPLY OF ELECTRICITY BY LOCAL AUTHORITIES.

BY KILLINGWORTH HEDGES, Assoc. M. INST. C.E., MEMBER OF THE SOCIETY OF TELEGRAPH ENGINEERS, &c.

THE Electric Lighting Act, which dates from the 18th August, 1882, has had the effect of causing considerable stir among those interested in the development of the new light, and others who look with anxiety on any public improvement which is likely to affect the pockets of the ratepayers.

The provisions of the Electric Lighting Act are now well known, but it may be pointed out, that, with a view to prevent the establishment of a monopoly, the same rights are given to local authorities to lay down the necessary works and to supply their own electricity, as to a company who wish to act as

contractors.

In consequence of this power, seventy-seven applications for provisional orders were made at the end of last year by various corporations, local boards, vestries, burghs, boroughs, Imperial Commissions, and urban sanitary authorities, each representing the local authority of the district to be lighted.

The question as to whether it would be more advantageous to the public to obtain electricity from the corporation of a town or from a competing company acting as the undertaker for the supply under the Act has doubtless been discussed in each district where an application has been made.

From the many notices of opposition which were lodged against the applications of the contractors, it would appear that either the local authorities do not consider electric lighting is yet sufficiently developed, or object to placing a portion of the district under their control in the hands of an electric company.

Against the plan of the authorities acting as contractors may be advanced, the supposition of future improvements which may take place in the means of generating electricity, and which, if perfected, would render useless the machinery which might have

been purchased at a considerable cost. On the other hand, it must be remembered that according to the Act the maximum charge must now be fixed, to do which, the company will be guided by existing arrangements, so that if the cost of production be cheapened, the price charged by the company need not be so until the expiration of the licence.

Considering the short period of a licence and terms on which it will be granted, it is only fair that the company should derive some profit and should have the benefit of cheapened production. But there are many objections to granting any company free control of the streets, some of which are very noticeable by the action of the existing gas and water companies.

For the purpose of this paper, the author proposes to assume that the local authorities have foreseen a demand for electricity, and wishing to forward the affair as much as possible, have placed the matter in the hands of their engineer to report, and he, anticipating difficulties without some practical tests, suggests a method which is a compromise between those previously mentioned. This is, for the local authorities to undertake the preliminary steps of a supply by laying down the necessary electric mains throughout the section of the town or district it was proposed to light, and by providing a site with adequate buildings for the generating station.

This would probably prevent the repetition of annoyances caused by contracting companies having access to the streets; as the mains would be led from the site deemed most suitable for the generating station and might be handed over to the contractors for the experimental or permanent lighting. Its gauge would be calculated to take sufficient current to supply the district at a determined electrical pressure, so as to give the required electromotive force without risk from fire or danger to life.

As the area of the conducting mains is determined to suit the current to be employed, it would not be possible to use the most economical size of cable, if experiments were to be made with several different systems. To provide for this contingency an extra main might be laid down and coupled to another so as to increase the area if required for an experiment. Assuming that the first steps towards initiating a supply of electricity are to be taken by the district authorities, the author proposes in rotation to deal in this paper with some of the subjects which would come most prominently before the engineer in charge.

THE GENERATING STATION.

The first point to decide on would be the position of the station where the dynamos or electric current generators and their motors would be fixed, and from which the electric mains would be distributed.

In the case of a town having sufficient water power available, dynamo machines to utilise this force would be erected with suitable motors as near as convenient to the source of power. The generating station, if water power was used, would hardly be in the centre of the district to be lighted, so that in all probability the length of some of the electric circuits would be more than others. This should be as much as possible avoided, and where a steamengine is employed as the motor, the situation of the generating station should be as central as possible. The area which can be lighted most advantageously from the source of power has yet to be determined. It has been stated by Sir William Siemens that a radius of a quarter of a mile in every direction from the station would probably be as much as could be economically worked. The power required depends on the number of lights in this area, and, taking Sir William Siemens' estimate for the entire parish of St. James's, London, over 33,000 horse-power would be necessary. This is probably a very high estimate, and is based on a lower efficiency per horse-power than is now practicable; besides, in any district it is not the least probable that all the householders will speedily adopt the electric light, and doubtless there will be a considerable number who will refuse it altogether. This would make it very difficult to establish a station to serve a special area, and, as there is no difficulty in leading electric mains for a considerable distance, it would be better in proportioning such mains to assume that they are to be laid in the most important part of the area to be lighted.

The Electric Lighting Act allows of this in the clause relating to the choice of area of supply. "A fair area is to be included under Schedule A, in which the undertakers may make an experiment, and if they find this experiment not sufficiently remunerative to induce them to extend operations, they may confine themselves to this." At the same time it is proposed that a further areaSchedule B-be granted, to which the undertakers, after feeling their way by the first experiment, may extend their operations by degrees, subject to the right of the local authority, or where the