DESCRIPTION of how the engineering institutions in Great Britain were working in close ce-operation with the Home Government to conscript the country's engineering resources in time of an emergency was given by Mr. S. E. Flemons, when speaking at the annual dinner of the Institute of Electrial Engineers (China Centre) last night. Mr.
Flemons, who has just returned from a trip to Europe and America, dealt with many aspects of electrical engineering at Home and informed his interested listeners of the rapid strides made by the television industry and other branches of electrical science in In proposing the toast of "Our Institution," Mr. S. Flemons dealt with the beginnings of the Institution and its first President, Sir liam. Siemens. He traced its growth throughout the years until the present time when its membership was around 20,000. and he praised the work of the Secretary of the Institution, Mr. Rowall who was shortly leaving after 30 years service.
Dealing with some items in the sphere of electrical engineering with which he came into contact during a recent visit to Europe and America, Mr. Flemons stated that while televi was usually looked upon as a comparatively recent development, the transmission of still pictures which would be regarded as one of the steps towards television was complished some 58 years ago. It wa: however, not until 1923 that the transmission of pictures by radio became the object of serious research and although development progressed rapidly, television did not reach the practical stage until 1936, when the Television Broadcast Station, Alexandre Palace, London, was officially opened and a public service for two hours daily come into being.
While television broadcasts were being made in France and other countries, Great Britain was the only country having a regular commercial television service and British Broadcasting Corporation was now furni ing a four hour service. A regular programme was published daily which included broadcasts of current and important events such as the recent visit of the French President to London and the more recent departure of the King and Queen on their visit to Canada. The service was also being extended to cinemas so that patrone in "movie" theatres could see on the London and New York. criminated and recorded the 3-minute fee applicable to the distant city to which the call was made; it also recorded the period of conversation, made an addition of the time units, and finally recorded on the ticket a complete record of the call and the amount chargeable to the subscriber.
Also described by the speaker were an entirely new system of automatic telephony for use in large metropolitan areas, this providing a new means of meeting telephone switching demands, an improvement in the coaxial cable which had effected a considerable improvement in long distance telephony and had brought this service to a high state of efficiency.
Dealing with the importance of National Service Mr. Flemons stated that this had brought into relief the vast extent of the resources of electrical science and industries and of the technical knowledge and experience of the electrical engineer which could be called upon in time of emergency. "The potential power of these resources, if placed at the disposal of the Government and if used with wisdom and discrimination. would be a national asset of incalculable value, not only for home defences but also in placing Great Britain in such a position that its strength would form an important factor for the peace of the world," he stated.
"It is noi necessary to emphasise that we all desire peace and much has been said at some of our local engineering meetings regarding the utilization of engineering science for militant purposes but, in this connection, we must bear in mind the words of our Prime Minister, Mr. Chamberlain that "The desire of us all is to live at peace with our neighbours, but to ensure peace we must be radio and communication, in transport and other services vital to Military, Naval or Air Forces may be so large that the conscription of technical men for this purpose may become imperative. The special Advisory Coun: cil are undertaking to handle this phase and are organising the conscript tion of the Engineer, Supply undertakings, manufacturing eic. so that both Engineers and material would be placed in the position of greatest value to the country.
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.