ELECTRICITY IN THE HOME.

Radio Record, Volume III, Issue 20, 29 November 1929, Page 6

ELECTRICITY IN THE HOME.

GONGRATULATIONS may fitly be extended by radio interests to _ what may be regarded as a sister enterprise, the electrical trade, on the successful exhibition of electrical appliances recently made in the Wellington Town Hall. In some measure the lines of policy .adopted by the radio exhibition were followed in the electrical exhibition, in that a very meritorious programme was arranged for the afternoon and evening at the exhibition, and this was broadcast ' in large measure by 2YA. Radio owes its being to electricity. In that field electricity is performing probably its most wonderful function in the service of the human race. Its capacity for service, however. is not thereby exhausted. In numerous other fields it delights to render service. . In the domestic field, in particular, the exhibition caine as an astounding revelation as to the extent to which electricity . can be harnessed for domestic needs. The truly modern electricallyequipped home lightens the task of the housewife to a surprising degree. There seems to be nothing that electricity cannot be adapted to do. It will heat the water for the daily bath. It will activate and energise an invigorator following that bath. It will massage the ‘ scalp and dry the hair. It will do the weekly wash, and round out with the weekly ironing. It will cook the daily food. It will warm the largest room with the similitude of a glowing coal fire. It will’ cool the room with an efficient fan. © It will beat eggs and mix dough. It will light a cigar, as well as illuminate the room. In all of these ways, electricity stands supreme as a ready-to-hand servant of civilisation. IN view of the close alliance of interests between radio activities and electrical appliances in both the popular and trade fields, we as a journal serving radio interests are now prepared to expand ont activities and cover the electrical home field as well. Announcement is made elsewhere in this issue as to an important departure in that direction. WITH the first experiment in the broadcast of television by the B.B.C. now an accomplished fact, interest in the average listener is steadily awakening in this development. A warning, however, should be given that too much must not be expected as yet. Many

inquiries have been made, even locally, as to receivers coming on the market ‘in the near future being equipped for the reception of television waves. To set at rest inquiries in this direction communication : was made with important American manufacturers. The reply of one trader was: "Future of television still in laboratory. Static must first be overcome and controlled before commercial value is available.". Another inquiry resulted in this warning being given: "Present television highly unsatisfactory ordinary performances. Recommend extreme caution in purchasing." We, as well as all listeners, are intensely interested in the future development. of television, but it is not desirable that undue expectations should be aroused. The results secured by the Baird system on their first ‘experimental effort were satisfactory in a laboratory sense, but it is necessary that vast improvements be made both in the direction of satisfactory equipment for transmission, as well as receiving, before commercial satisfaction can be secured, .