CORRESPONDENCE.

Gisborne Times, Volume XXVII, Issue 2628, 9 October 1909, Page 7

CORRESPONDENCE.

[Correspondence on public matters is welcomed at ail times, but it must bo distinctly understood that this journal is in no way associated with the opinions of its correspondents. All letters must be legibly written and inscribed on one side *of the paper only, otherwise they will not be published. “An asterisk at the foot of a letter indicates that some portion has been excised.j

. GAS VERSUS ELECTRICITY. (To the Editor.l Sir, —Twenty-seven years ago Jabloeoff brought out his wonderful electric arc lamp and foolish people sold all their gas shares and the wise men bought them, and to-day all over the world gas has beaten its rival electric light on its merits hands down. Every mail brings its tale of this fact, and the city fathers all over Europe are at last acknowledging their mistake in rushing (without duly considering the cost to the ratepayers) into electric light schemes, and to-day many a city and town in the Old Land is deploring the constantly occurring deficits on the working of their electric light works. Things as a rule 100k 1 well on paper, especiallly if one wishes then to do so, hut, sir, facts are stubborn things, and. if you will allow me to mention a few it may cause a little thinking on the part of the ratepayers and the powers that be.

By the report presented to the Borough Council last evening, I find the price estimated to be charged for a unit of electric current for lighting is to be Bd. Now, sir, 1000 Watts is the measurement of a unit of electric energy or current, and the \ r ery latest incandescent electric lamps with the metallic filament, and called the “Tantallum,” use 2 Watts per candle-power per hour, and a 16 candle-power therefore uses 32 Watts per hour. From this it is easy to see how many hours a 16 candle-pow-er lamp would burn to consume a unit, namely. 31 hours, and this at 16 candlepower per hour would give a total illuminating power of 496 candles, say 500, therefore for 8d the consumers will get 500 candle-power. Kindly note that this is for the very best lamp that can be produced of his size._ Now, sir, in fairness a comparison should be allowed and figures quoted for gas, and although some cynical person might say, “nothing like leather,” I am prepared to sulTmit the following figures to any independent expert who is not interested in such glowing reports of the benefits of electric lighting, etc. These are the facts and figures of the latest burner upon the market, such as we have fixed at Messrs Pettie and Co.’s, called the Graetzin High Power Inverted. Each burner burning 4ft of gas per hour under normal pressure is guaranteed to give an illuminating power of 125 candles. The nett price of gas in Gisborne is 8)d per 106 ft, and a burner burns 25 hours to consume 100 ft. Now as these burners give 125 candle-power per hour, :it follows that 25 hours’ burning would give 3125 candle-power. Boiled down, it amounts to this, that for 8d per unit the ratepayer will get 500 candle-power by using electric light and 3000 candle-power by using the up-to-date Graetzin burner, or 6 times as much for the same money. Comment is needless. My advice to the ratepayers is to “ca canny.”—l am. et€ ‘’ HENRY HOARE, M.1.G.E., Manager and Engineer Gisborne Gas Company, Limited; late Engineer to the Rockhampton Gas and Electric Light Company ; also late Assistant Manager and Engineer Perth Gas and Electric Light Company, Limited.