Aluminium instead of Copper.

Cromwell Argus, Volume XLIII, Issue 2337, 27 January 1913, Page 6

Aluminium instead of Copper.

| The increasing uses to which aluj minium is put., especially :is a substij tutu for coppei' in electrical work, i mentioncil recently, have directed ati tcntiou to the white metal, ami some | lui ther particulars of its employment in electric lighting should prove of interest. Aluminium cable for electrical purposes is just at present on the boom, not only in England, but in Australia, Nearly every electrical town lighting plant of any size that is at present in course of construction will, it is stated, be aluminium cable tor their overcable. (Jue linn in (Sydney has three tenders for town lighting plants, cable lor these three plants is just over 100 tons. To

maim a comparison with copper, an order imm Victoria for one made of aluminium cable is taken as an illustration, Thiscible, it is pointed out, is equal in current capacity to one mile ol 37-10 copper cable. The. aluminium weighs ItNiOlb, and costs TOO. The copper cable weighs 241)01.1), and costs A I 10. By the advocates of aluminium it is asserted that •JO.llb of (bat metal has the came electrical conductivity as 100!b of electrolytic copper, so the latter metal must not cost above AlO per ton, to compete with aluminium at £BO. This comparison is for bare* conductors. When insulation is employed another phase of competition between tbs two metals is brought about. The aluminium is the thicker and uses more insulating, material, so that each case must be decided on its merits.

Victorian fruit exporters hare reason to look forward to the coming season with some degree of security, says a Melbourne journal. The last figures obtained by the State Fruit Export Department indicate that the estimated crops in Tasmania, South Australia, and New South Wales arc likely to be a long way below those of last year, and as a consequence the surplus for export will bo proportionately decreased. On the other hand, the Victorian crop of apples and pears is a particularly heavy one, and it is anticipated that close on 100,000 cases will be available for export. Last season 305,000 cases were shipped to England and the Continent. The shortage of 250,000 cases in the Tasmanian crop will not only enable Victorian growers to capture some of the trade, but it will also release a good deal of shipping space which had been secured by the Tasmanian agents. Last year Tasmania sent away 322,700 cases. The estimate this year is slightly above 500,000. South Australian growers forwarded 100,000 cases to the Home market last year, but this season it is estimated that only 75,000 cases will be available for export. The figures for New South Wales, which so far has not entered extensively into the export trade, show a falling oil of from 36,000 cases to 1(5,000.

“ Humanitarian ” mikes a suggestion to the Sydney ‘ Sun ’ as follows ; The ‘ Sun’s ’ article on * Tiie Brown Peril ’ set raa thinking. There can be no doubt about Japan’s intention to seize Australia at the first favorable opportunity. That will be when England and Germany will bo at death grips. Close students of international politics are agreed that the clash will come this year. What has Australia done, or what is she doing, to resist the inevitable Japanese invasion ? It is training a few boys to march and handle toy rifles—that is all. We are not fit to offer a single day’s resistance to a fourth-class Power, let alone a brave fighting force like the Japanese. We must do something to keep the Japs out. The easiest way is to let someone else in. Let us fill the Northern Territory with a clean, white race. Turkey is about to be driven out of Europe. Why not let her in here ? The Turks are infinitely preferable to the Jap?. As Mohammedans they are moral and clean-living. They certainly have more wives than one, but then there is the case of a member of an Australian Parliament who—but that is another matter. Here is a chance to secure dO.OOO.Qt'O people who will protect the country for all time against the dreaded Asiatic menace. Shall we embrace it ?”