Hydro-Electric Survey of India : Preliminary Report. By the late
G. T. Barlow and J. W. Meares. (Calcutta : Superin- tendent Government Printing. 4a. 9d.)—The war gave a great stimulus to industry in India, and, as cheap power is essential to manufactures, attention was at once directed to the possi- bility of harnessing the Indian rivers to electric turbines. The late Mr. Barlow began last year a preliminary survey of India's resources in water-power. Mr. Meares, who assisted and succeeded him as chief engineer of the Government hydro- electric surveys, has compiled an interesting Reporton the subject. Mr. Meares in 1897 established the first hydro-electrio plant in India for lighting Darjeeling. A few large plants, especially that of the Tata Company in the Western Ghats, have since been installed, but India's water-power has for the most part been completely neglected. Mr. Meares points out very frankly that a hydro-electric installation is costly, and that the expendi- ture cannot be justified unless it is shown that a steam engine or dynamo dependent on coal or oil fuel would cost far more to run, in proportion to the power generated. This is a point which many ardent advocates of water-power are inclined to forget. Mr. Meares recommends British engineers to acquaint themselves with the new hydro-electric schemes that are being formulated in India. The plant must be imported, and ought to be made in this country.
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