ELECTRICITY IN THE HOME.

Poverty Bay Herald, Volume XXXVII, Issue 12650, 20 January 1910, Page 5

ELECTRICITY IN THE HOME.

THE NEW WAY OF LIFE

Domestic, commei'cial, and luxurious life m. America, apparently is being conpletely revolutionised by , the extraor dinary use which is being 'made of ' tne application ( of modern ideas. In v ali •'!. rections there are signs, of the times, sigris of progress in' regards to conveiaences and comforts, and indications . f what will be done m the future, wliep the powers and utilities of electricity are better understood. Dr. A. Patersoij,, who has returned to Ghristhurch from a six months' visit to America, during which he saw most of the great cities, :Says; that ' the whole atmosphere m, the United Sta,tes seems to be filled with electricity.' It is :n the hotels,, the- restaurants, the train*?', and the streets, .everywhere, \n fact, where two> or three men,, are gathered together. In most of 'the' large hotels, for instance, each table is equipped with long-distance, and fchort-distance : telephones m vy'hicjj give communication with the whole city and with othei 1 i cities many hundreds of miles away. On some of the railroads every seat m the trains has a telephone, which . rotiy be, -used while the train j is 1 . in< motion. Electric elevators, of course, have ceased to, attract any attention;:. ..They? \n Ve no w regarded as a part of th.ei'fiW;ing of an up-to-date building, ;Ivna Kftilqers would •sooner think of doing, avVjiiy with doors and ..wincjoivs than the essential elevators. Electricity has now taken a recognised, place m the. household,. It is used for cooking, ironing^ \yashing, and for discharging many other duties, which for centuries have' been discharged .by human hands. The .suctioii cleaner is the housewife's friend., It cleans the' oilcloths and the carpets' with despatchj and does ' its woi'k marvellously well," leaving behind not a speck of dust, and making the material it is parsed over, new again. Tailors are beginning to use it also. Oh a dusty day, a man may drop into a tailor's shop, and m about three, minutes the suction, cleaner is passed over his clothes and he comes out on to the street as spick and span as a, new-mado pin.

The London Times states : "Rapid progress is reported m the, installation of electrical apparatus for farming purposes m America. Manufacturers of agriculutral machinery have for some time past included m their catalogues gag engine generating sets., storage batteries, and all that is required for lighting farmhouses .and buildings and for driving machinery m the dairy and elsewhere, although' as yet electricity i has not come into much demand for actual field work. There is something highly attractive m tho conception of light and power service being placed at the disposal of farmers on the route of. the power companies' mains, especially if extemivo use is found for electricity as a means of intensive cultivation of field and orchard crops. But the' pioneer work will have to be done m this country, ns m America, by the makers of agricultural machinery. Here again the influence of the tungsten lamp is very important, for it affords a great en 4 couragement to the electric lighting' of isolated premises by small generatbrs, and once - a dynamo i.«i installed other uses for it will readily suggest themselves.' • . i -.