consumers' premises. A number of men known as 'fuse cleaners,' each
accompanied by a youth possessed of some technical training, visit the
consumers' installations, and the man cleans the apparatus, renewing the
main fuses if necessary, and going over all contacts, including those of the
meter, to see that they are tight. Meanwhile the youth tests the insulation
resistance of the installation, counts and examines the lamps to see if any
alterations have been made since the last inspection, tries whether the meter
will start with a small load, examines the seals of fuses and meters to see
that they are intact, and sees generally that everything is in order. The

results of the examination and test are recorded on a card reproduced in
Form 26, which is forwarded to the Installation Inspector, who notes the
changes in the lamp connections in his daily reports and passes the card on
to the Clief Engineer's office, in which the particulars are duly entered up.
If transformers are used in consumers' premises, these also are cleaned and
examired by the fuse cleaners.

Th, Installation Inspector has further to investigate complaints as to
pressure and the supply generally. When a complaint is received from a
consumer, a slip is issued by the Chief Engineer to the Installation Inspector,
the form used being shown in Form 27. This gives the nature of the complaint,

.19......

...

and the inspector, after investigation, fills in the result on the lower half.
Particulars of the complaint, the report on it and the steps taken to remedy
it, if well founded, are entered up in a book shown in Form 28, p. 412, kept
in the Chief Engineer's office, and submitted at each meeting to the Board or
Committee.

Complaints arise from many causes and can often be traced at once to
bad lamps or defective fittings, but if any doubt exists a recording voltmeter
should be fixed for a sufficient time.

FORM 29.-Disputed Account Note.

(Initials of Works here.)

Date............

Name

Address.....

(Name of Works here.)

No..........

No..........

.190...

Name.......

..190...

Address.........

Quarter ending..................190... Amount of Alc. £......s....d........

Nature of dispute.....

ELECTRIC INSPECTOR'S REPORT.

Date.........

Disputed A/cs. folio............

Disputed A/cs. folio.............

[Size of form and counterfoil 44′′ by 8′′.]

If a consumer dispute his account, a similar slip, shown in Form 29, is issued, and the Installation Inspector calls to see the consumer, questions him as to his consumption, compares it with the registration of the meter, and examines it for any palpable error. If there is reason to doubt the meter, it is removed and returned to the Standardising Department for testing. Particulars of the dispute and of the result are entered in a book, shown in Form 30, p. 414, which is kept in the Chief Works Clerk's office.

.190...

CHAPTER XXXVI.

THE STANDARDISING DEPARTMENT.

THE Standardising Department is practically self-contained, its relations with other departments being chiefly confined to issuing instruments and receiving samples and objects for test.

The nature of the work of this department has already been described in Chapter XXVI., so that only the staff and organisation call for notice here.

The head of the department should have had a thorough training in the theory of physical and chemical science, and be competent to carry out original research; an engineering education is of secondary importance, though useful as inculcating a due sense of proportion. A suitable man should be obtained for from £250 to £300 per annum.

Under the chief man will be required an assistant at from £2, 10s. to £3 per week, to take charge of the instrument testing, with a number of youths to help in the taking of observations, unpacking and connecting up instruments, etc. A second assistant at about the same salary will be required if there is much chemical testing to be done, but if not, this work can be done by the chief man or by one of the junior assistants under his immediate supervision. The same staff that tests instruments will also conduct tests of transformers, if any be used, and carry out special tests from time to time.

The head of the department will take a direct part in every kind of testing, and lay down the lines on which each branch of the work is to be conducted, his staff merely carrying out the routine work. All records of tests and experiments will be examined, and all certificates and reports will be prepared and signed by him. In the event of original research work being undertaken, he will naturally give particular attention to this and conduct most of the experiments himself.

The question of the taking of pupils, already touched on in Chapter II., may be appropriately referred to again here. A youth who has had a thorough theoretical training at a suitable college is most useful in the Standardising Department, as he is already trained in habits of observation,