From a recent inspection

[Doomed]

I'm afraid your distribution boards are rather dated sir
(yes, rubber cables as well)

 

[Andy78]

I have never found one like this but on three occasions have found houses in my area with MEM kantark minor boards still energised and supplying the lighting for the house. Always fused neutrals and always VIR singles in conduit drops with no effective cpc. the ones i have found are a block type porcelain fuse carrier, much more compact, like a BS3036 pattern.

I have always assumed original wiring and, like Lucien said, at the time of installation the only electrical power provided. Socket outlets came later in a separate board ina separate location usually.

 

[Lucien Nunes]

Ah yes, Kantark Minor, not Junior. GEC was Junior. I should be on top of this stuff.

DP fusing is usually now seen as some weird old dangerous practice, but when a lot of these pre-war DP boards were installed, the neutral was not guaranteed to be solidly earthed. An N-E fault could cause an overcurrent that would damage the N conductor unless it was also protected by a fuse. By the same token, a fitting could be live unless isolated in both poles, so there was little disadvantage to the DP fusing leaving a voltage to earth on a seemingly dead fitting if only the neutral fuse was open.

 

[Pete999]

Ah yes, Kantark Minor, not Junior. GEC was Junior. I should be on top of this stuff.

DP fusing is usually now seen as some weird old dangerous practice, but when a lot of these pre-war DP boards were installed, the neutral was not guaranteed to be solidly earthed. An N-E fault could cause an overcurrent that would damage the N conductor unless it was also protected by a fuse. By the same token, a fitting could be live unless isolated in both poles, so there was little disadvantage to the DP fusing leaving a voltage to earth on a seemingly dead fitting if only the neutral fuse was open.

The Bad old days Eh Lucien?, some of the Sov installs were DP fused, til I got my Mits on them

 

[Lucien Nunes]

I guess many of those were relics of the days of delta-derived single-phase, where both conductors were lines and both fuses equally necessary. Over here it was more a precaution against neutrals that were a bit far from earth for comfort. The worst offenders were probably supplies derived from railway and tram traction installations, which might have series return boosters pushing the neutral away from earth in one place, to keep it near earth in another.