On Wednesday, Mr. Bennett read an interesting paper to the
British Association on an Electrical Parcel Exchange. His notion is that the blocking .of City thoroughfares is becoming a more and more serious matter, and that the only way to relieve the congestion is to establish a system by which "parcels and small packages may be freely interchanged between the various buildings of a town by means of minia- ture electric railways, laid preferably, but not necessarily, underground, in pipes or culverts. Such pipes may be laid along the principal thoroughfares, communicating to the right and left, by means of spurs or sidings, with the premises of the subscribers to the system." The critics of the scheme, in the discussion that followed, admitted its practicability, but many doubts were raised as to the cost. The difficulty of finding room for more tubes under our streets would also be very great. The ground of the chief thoroughfares is positively choked with pipes and wires.
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