WHITE ENERGY.

Press, Volume LXIII, Issue 18892, 6 January 1927, Page 12

WHITE ENERGY.

ELECTRICITY A BOON. USE IN CANADIAN HOMES. Electric power-is revolutionising the Canadian home. By utilising laboursaving devices .in every branch of domestic activity the servant problem is at last being satisfactorily solved, and harassed housewives are able to face single-handed the complications of every-day life without a feeling of despair.

The complete "electric home" is already an established fact. It has corae as the natural result of Canada's new and steadily growing network of transmitting lines fed by her great power plants. Power is the cornerstone of her new prosperity. Power means industrial development, increased population, higher wages., and a higher standard of living. Housewives in New Zealand who have yet to receive the benefits of this important development will read with envy the inventory of an "electric home" in Canada. You will lind this universal servant on every side and in every guise. In the drawing room: an electric fireplace, electric lamps, electric piano, electric gramophone; and a wireless set. In the dining-room: a "wired" table at which the mistress makes coffee, waffles, and toast, and boils eggs. Even the sideboard is wired so that dishes can be kept hot. In the bedrooms: "radiant" heaters, a hot-water heater which'fits in a drinking glass; hair dryers, curling tongs, and vibrators for massage. In the bathroom: electric shaving mugs, electric shower, and electric drying rack for towels.

Electricity in Command. But in the kitchen and scullery electricity '.simply takes charge of everything. There is a strange mechanical invention (known as "a, kitchenmaid without the 'm' ") which is capable of chopping ice, cutting vegetables, turning an ice-cream freezer, stirring batter for cakes, beating eggs, whipping cream, stuffing sausages, and performing innumerable other littlo jobs usually performed by tired hands —doing them silently and well. Another ally in this uncanny electrical union is an automatic, cooker which does everything but think out aloud. It has various compartments, and is controlled by a kind of automatic, watchman whoso brain is a clock.

The housewife prepares tho ingredionts for dinner; the meat in one compartment, vegetables and sweets in others. She sets the indicators so that the electric heat will be turned on in each compartment at the proper time and at the proper temperature. She can then go away, knowing that exactly at the varioua- times indicated., each unit of the family meal will begin' to cook, and that when each is "done" the heat will be turned off again. She comes back to find dinner ready. This is the completo electric home. They are, not yet universal,, even in the Province of Ontario, where power for domestic use has reached the highest stage of development. But they exist and they are increasing in number. Thousands of other homes are equipped with many of the appliances described, and are adding others asranidlv as the state of the family exchequer will permit. Canadian women realise the enormous advantage of making electricity do their housework, and husbands who think their domestic budget is already too large are further economising in their personal expenses to install still another new labour-saving device.

Ontario leads in this phase of power development, but Quebec is' also steadily making headway. Ontario has nine systems of power transmission. The Niagara system, wliich feeds the southwestern area, serves 283,000 consumers out of a total of 355,000. ■

Fully Wired for Power. The Hydro-Electric Power Commission of Ontario is actively concerned in putting electricity, into every, home in the province. Its success is-shown by the fact that the average monthly consumption of power for domestic use rose from 22 kilowatt hours per consumer in 1913 to 89 kilowatt hours this year while the cost dropped from 5.2 cents in 1913 to 1.8 cents. The monthly bills have risen from 1.20 dollars per consumer to 1.64 per consumer, owing, to the greater use of power for domestic purposes. Householders are now being intensively educated to the advantages of electricity in the home by an organisation known as the Electric Service League. This body is emphasising the necessity for adequate wiring in houses, and it has set up a "Bed Seal" standard of efficiency which has been widely adopted by contractors. A "Red Seal" house is fully wired for all appliances in accordance with certain high-grade specifications. The cost, as shown by an analysis of 50 of these contracts, with the installation of the principal labour-saving appliances, was as follows: Wiring of house, £3O. Electric range, £2O, Water-heater, £6. Cleaner, £7 10s. Washer, £25. Electric iron and toaster. 16s each. Electric grates, £G. * Table lamps, 25s each. Floor lamps, £3. Grill, 16s. Curler, 12s. Heater, £2. Coffee percolator, £3. Power-Worked Farms. Attention is paid to the electrical power development of farms and "rural areas. During 1925, 217 miles of primary line were built and absorbed, ineluding 7 miles underground. Some farms are operated almost entirely by electricity. The cost of maintaining an electric home ir. Ontario is not high. An analysis of 1000 bills for range, lighting, and appliance service (with rates of Id per kilowatt hour) made by the HydoElectric Power Commission gives the average monthly expenditure as follows: Lighting, 3s. Laundry (washing), ""Ud. La-mdry (ironing), sd. Cleaning furniture and draperies, 2d. Sewing machine, id.

Toasting bread for entire family- for breakfast, 4d.