Varley Stoneware Insulators Replaced in Australian with Oppenheimer's White Porcelain Insulators

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Speaking of improvements, it is a question whether our telegraph engineers at home might not with advantage "take a leaf from the book" of some of the colonies. We have been favoured with a few statistics, showing the state of insulation on some of the Australian lines. In no case does it fall under 190 megohms per mile, whilst in some it reaches the marvellous result of 1,690 megohms per mile. The tests were taken by Mr. Charles Hockin, during his recent stay in Sydney, so that implicit reliance may be placed on these figures. The insulator employed is the white porcelain in the form known as Oppenheimer's. Nothing but white porcelain is now being used, and the brown earthenware, previously in existence, is rapidly being replaced by it. Still, the brown earthenware has been, and is, most extensively employed in England; it would be interesting to know from some statistics of the state of insulation on our English lines, whether the colonial experience is borne out at home, and if not, what advantages the brown earthenware possesses in England which are denied to it in Australia.

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