* * * * The reason is this. When electrical
power is first brought to a district, a high price is charged for the light, on the vague understanding that it shall be reduced later. Faced by this fact, the smaller owners of cottage property, and they are numerous, usually decide not to have their cottages wired ; and if they are not wired at first it is odds that they will not be wired later. In one rural district the price is 10d. a unit and scarcely a cottage reaps the benefit of the new light. Each remains in the old outer darkness. Now this is a social catastrophe. Public utility companies enjoying a virtual monopoly, with shares standing at a premium of two hundred per cent and more, miss a great opportunity of public service to rural districts and therefore to the nation. Country people feel bitter on the subject. A good part of their objection to the pylons and posts and wires breaking the scenery comes from the feeling that they are receiving no compensation for the loss of rural beauty. A good deal is likely to be heard on the subject.
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