USES OF ELECTRICITY.

Star (Christchurch), Volume XLIV, Issue 77, 31 March 1931, Page 4

USES OF ELECTRICITY.

MAKE THE HOME AS COSY AS POSSIBLE. In the present-day home, electricity has come to be looked upon as a kind of universal provider. No home is considered really modern unless a large proportion of those labours which go to make up that somewhat all embracing term “ domestic duties,” are performed electrically. And nowadays, when to cook, wash, clean, heat and freeze electrically is universal and familiar, it is interesting to recall that, as a matter of historic fact, electricity performed its first domestic service in the form of light. It is doubtful if the electrical engineers of thirty years ago realised that this was but a beginning, but whether thev did or not, it was to lighting that they first gave attention, and on that foundation a remarkable structure has been raised. Brighter Homes. It is not often realised that electricity has brightened our homes, other than by providing a better source of illumination. In Victorian times, dark wall papers were popular because they did not show the dirt. The dirt was mainly due to the upward draught of hot air from the various forms of flame lamps then used, which deposited soot and dust on the ceilings and walls. Thus by the use of sombre decorations, an appearance of cleanliness was obtained at the cost of gloomy homes. It was electric light that made possible light wall papers and therefore bright homes. Heating the Rooms. Just as in the case of electric light the first electric radiators quickly revealed the essential advantages of electric heating. Electricity has made fire and warmth a portable thing involving no flames, smell or dirt. Consider how many uses can be made of an electric heater, which would be quite out of the question with other means of heating. It can be switched on in the bedroom when one rises in the morning. The breakfast room can be made comfortable by switching on for a few minutes before the meal is ready, and if one goes into the drawing-room to write a letter Play the piano, or receive an unexpected visitor, the electric heater is ready for use at a mere pressure of the switch.