News and Views

Abstract

THE Soviet Government has now completed the first part of an extensive electrification scheme which was begun almost immediately after the Revolution. A large 80,000 h.p. hydro-electric station has been built on the River Volkhov about 80 miles east of Leningrad. The power is supplied to Leningrad by overhead lines at 120 kilovolts. The Swedish General Electric Co. (Asea) supplied most of the equipment and assisted in the planning of the station. Metro-politan-Vickers Electrical Company of Manchester also supplied some of the equipment. In the communication between the generating and distributing station, the transmission lines are used as part of the circuit. The communication between the machine room and the control room is by ship's telegraphs. According to Reuter (Moscow), the Soviet Government has also started broadcasting, the control of which has been put in the hands of the Commissariat of Posts and Telegraphs. In addition to radio-technical and agricultural courses, a university has been opened the lectures in which are all given by radio. By means of telephone lines, broadcasting is being extended to isolated villages. A very rapid increase in the number of radio listeners is expected. According to the estimates of the Commissariat, the number of listeners will have increased by a million before the end of this year. Radio theatres have been opened in both Moscow and Leningrad and experiments are being made with radio-films. On Aug. 1 next, a new radio station with a power of 75 kilowatts will be opened in Moscow.