WINDMILLS STILL PLAY PART

Press, Volume XCI, Issue 27563, 21 January 1955, Page 14

WINDMILLS STILL PLAY PART

800 Regularly Used In The Netherlands

COMPETITION WITH MODERN MACHINES

(From a Reuter Correspondent.) AMSTERDAM. Centuries-old Dutch windmills are still playing a useful part in twentieth century Netherlands economy, in spite of electricity, steam, and the onset of the atomic age. Given proper conditions, they are still the most economic means of pumping water or grinding corn, competing on equal terms with the power-driven modern machine. The number of windmills in the Netherlands today is about 1170, of which 800 are in regular use. This represents only a fraction of the total in the heyday of Dutch windmills. As late as 1900, there were still an estimated 6000 windmills standing. Thousanus. have been lost, including nearly 200 in the last war alone. But those that remain are a hard core. The annual wastage has been checked, largely through the work of a voluntary organisation, the Society for the Protection of Windmills. Increasing costs of coal and electricity are allies in the society's fight to save threatened windmills. Some mil.ers, who had started to use electricity have now removed their electric motors and returned to wind as the motive power for their grinding gear. Wind is free—and it is plentiful enough in the Netherlands.' particularly near the coast. It is relatively steady wind, too. thanks to the flat countryside. When it blows—and as every tourist knows it blows very often—it is not gusty, which is a great advantage. Experts say that a windmill cannot be used in a gale. The minimum wind speed should be about 10 miles and hour and the maximum is about 23 miles an hour. About half of Holland's working windmills are used for pumping—the so-called "polder mills.”. These normally have a windmill-keeper (a “Molenaar”) living in them with his family. Polder mills, found chiefly in the west and north, depend for theifl usefulness largely upon the size of the polder, the reclaimed area surrounded by dykes, which they serve. Polder mills are maintained by a “polder-tax” levied upon every landowner in the polder. This money supports the “Molenaar” and his family and pays for sails, oil and all normal running repair costs. Most other windmills are corn mills. These are found all over the country, and their efficiency depends, like the polder mills, upon the amount of work they have to do. A large miller will obviously find a modern machine more economical than a windmill. The sawmill is another traditional use to which windmills are put, but there are few of these in the Netherlands Considering the housing shortage and the Dutch love windmills, it is perhaps strange that more are not used as dwellings. A disused mill may fetch as little as £l5O on the open market, and the Society for the Protection of Windmills is willing to advise prospective buyers on conversion. But a spokesman of this society said that interest was small. A windmill complete with machinerv and in full working order may sell for about £5OOO.