and enables them to supersede the company’s application by themselves applying for provisional orders. The Board of Trade generally give preference to the applications of local authorities.
In 1905 the Board of Trade issued a memorandum stating that, in view of the revocation of a large number of provisional orders which had been obtained by local authorities, or in regard to which local authorities had entered into agreements with companies for carrying the orders into effect (which agreements were in many cases ultra vires or at least of doubtful validity), it appeared undesirable that a local authority should apply for a provisional order without having a definite intention of exercising the powers, and that in future the Board of Trade would not grant an order to a local authority unless the board were satisfied that the powers would be exercised within a specified period.
Every undertaking authorized by provisional order is subject to the provision of the general act entitling the local authority to purchase compulsorily at the end of forty-two years (or shorter period), or after the expiration of every subsequent period of ten years (unless varied by agreement between the parties with the consent of the Board of Trade), so much of the undertaking as is within the jurisdiction of the purchasing authority upon the terms of paying the then value of all lands, buildings, works, materials and plant, suitable to and used for the purposes of the undertaking; provided that the value of such lands, &c., shall be deemed to be their fair market value at the time of purchase, due regard being had to the nature and then condition and state of repair thereof, and to the circumstance that they are in such positions as to be ready for immediate working, and to the suitability of the same to the purposes of the undertaking, and where a part only of the undertaking is purchased, to any loss occasioned by severance, but without any addition in respect of compulsory purchase or of goodwill, or of any profits which may or might have been or be made from the undertaking or any similar consideration. Subject to this right of purchase by the local authority, a provisional order (but not a licence) may be for such period as the Board of Trade may think proper, but so far no limit has been imposed, and unless purchased by a local authority the powers are held in perpetuity. No monopoly is granted to undertakers, and since 1889 the policy of the Board of Trade has been to sanction two undertakings in the same metropolitan area, preferably using different systems, but to discourage competing schemes within the same area in the provinces. Undertakers must within two years lay mains in certain specified streets. After the first eighteen months they may be required to lay mains in other streets upon conditions specified in the order, and any owner or occupier of premises within 50 yds. of a distributing main may require the undertakers to give a supply to his premises; but the consumer must pay the cost of the lines laid upon his property and of so much outside as exceeds 60 ft. from the main, and he must also contract for two and in some cases for three years’ supply. But undertakers are prohibited in making agreements for supply from showing any undue preference. The maximum price in London is 13s. 4d. per quarter for any quantity up to 20 units, and beyond that 8d. per unit, but 11s. 8d. per quarter up to 20 units and 7d. per unit beyond is the more general maximum. The “Bermondsey clause” requires the undertakers (local authority) so to fix their charges (not exceeding the specified maximum) that the revenue shall not be less than the expenditure.
There is no statutory obligation on municipalities to provide for depreciation of electricity supply undertakings, but after providing for all expenses, interest on loans, and sinking fund instalments, the local authority may create a reserve fund until it amounts, with interest, to one-tenth of the aggregate capital expenditure. Any deficiency when not met out of reserve is payable out of the local rates.
The principle on which the Local Government Board sanctions municipal loans for electric lighting undertakings is that the period of the loan shall not exceed the life of the works, and that future ratepayers shall not be unduly burdened. The periods of the loans vary from ten years for accumulators and arc lamps to sixty years for lands. Within the county of London the loans raised by the metropolitan borough councils for electrical purposes are sanctioned by the London County Council, and that body allows a minimum period of twenty years for repayment. Up to 1904–1905, 245 loans had been granted by the council amounting in the aggregate to £4,045,067.
In 1901 the Institution of Civil Engineers appointed a committee to consider the advisability of standardizing various kinds of iron and steel sections. Subsequently the original reference was enlarged, and in 1902 the Institution of Electrical Engineers was invited to Standardization.co-operate. The treasury, as well as railway companies, manufacturers and others, have made grants to defray the expenses. The committee on electrical plant has ten sub-committees. In August 1904 an interim report was issued by the sub-committee on generators, motors and transformers, dealing with pressures and frequencies, rating of generators and motors, direct-current generators, alternating-current generators, and motors.
In 1903 the specification for British standard tramway rails and fish-plates was issued, and in 1904 a standard specification for tubular tramway poles was issued. A sectional committee was formed in 1904 to correspond with foreign countries with regard to the formation of an electrical international commission to study the question of an international standardization of nomenclature and ratings of electrical apparatus and machinery.
The electrical manufacturing branch, which is closely related to the electricity supply and other operating departments of the electrical industry, only dates from about 1880. Since that time it has undergone many vicissitudes. It The electrical industry.began with the manufacture of small arc lighting equipments for railway stations, streets and public buildings. When the incandescent lamp became a commercial article, ship-lighting sets and installations for theatres and mansions constituted the major portion of the electrical work. The next step was the organization of house-to-house distribution of electricity from small “central stations,” ultimately leading to the comprehensive public supply in large towns, which involved the manufacture of generating and distributing plants of considerable magnitude and complexity. With the advent of electric traction about 1896, special machinery had to be produced, and at a later stage the manufacturer had to solve problems in connexion with bulk supply in large areas and for power purposes. Each of these main departments involved changes in ancillary manufactures, such as cables, switches, transformers, meters, &c., so that the electrical manufacturing industry has been in a constant state of transition. At the beginning of the period referred to Germany and America were following the lead of England in theoretical developments, and for some time Germany obtained electrical machinery from England. Now scarcely any electrical apparatus is exported to Germany, and considerable imports are received by England from that country and America. The explanation is to be found mainly in the fact that the adverse legislation of 1882 had the effect of restricting enterprise, and while British manufacturers were compulsorily inert during periods of impeded growth of the two most important branches of the industry—electric lighting and traction—manufacturers in America and on the continent of Europe, who were in many ways encouraged by their governments, devoted their resources to the establishment of factories and electrical undertakings, and to the development of efficient selling organizations at home and abroad. When after the amendment of the adverse legislation in 1888 a demand for electrical machinery arose in England, the foreign manufacturers were fully organized for trade on a large scale, and were further aided by fiscal conditions to undersell English manufacturers, not only in neutral markets, but even in their own country. Successful manufacture on a large scale is possible only by standardizing the methods of production. English manufacturers were not able to standardize because they had not the necessary output. There had been no repetitive demand, and there was no production on a large scale. Foreign manufacturers, however, were able to standardize by reason of the
