DREADNOUGHT GAS.

Gisborne Times, Volume XXVII, Issue 2687, 17 December 1909, Page 7

DREADNOUGHT GAS.

[To The Editoii.] Sir 3 —l have read with great interest re “Dreadnought Gas 5 ’ in this mornin<T’s paper, and also the comments upon it elsewhere, and you will perhaps excuse me if I make it a peg to han't my argument upon. For many years past I have been acquainted with, and made, air-gas machines in England and the colonies, and know their advantages and disadvantages, but I should be a very foolish man to say that this system of Dreadndught gas making was of no value, for, in these days of research and discovery, some scientific savant may find sime means of producing light hitherto unknown, and the cables might, ere you print your paper, be flashing the news all over the world, and, who knows, but in this particular gas' (the particulars of which you give and which, upon the face, are all right,) great potentialities lie which will make it a successful competitor with all the existing forms of light and power, and the man who shuts his eyes to; the facts as stated in yours of the loth, and will not believe anything that upsets liis own idea of things, and lyill vote for the spending of money on a speculative scheme, such as electric lighting, without first making himself sure as to whether these things be so or not, well, I for one, should not 'care to follow his lead. Then, sir, we hear that there will be profits made from the electric lighting installation that will go towards the relief of the rates, and, if this is so, 1 should like to ask out of whose pockets will the estimated profits come, and there can only be one answer to this question, namely, out of the pockets of the consumers, and therefore, if any profit is made and given towards the relief of the rates, the non-conrrtimers will be getting an advantage over the consumer, who would be paying riiore for tlie commodity he uses, in the-shape of electric light, in order to provide relief in rates for his next-door neighbor, who chooses not to usd electric light. Therefore, I saw that with the competitive lights we have gas, acetylene, Petrol, Lux lights, Dreadnought gas and the possibilities of more, the Municipal Council have no right to enter into the speculative domain of lighting, or any other speculation, whereby the ratepayers’ money is not safe. The maintaining of the price of gas so that profits may be made to relieve the rates, has at last been recognised by the British Parliament, and the Salford Municipality, near Manchester, has just found, to its cost, when endeavoring to get a Bill through this -year for more capital, that the gas consumers are to be considered, and a price charged that will not enable the municipalities to bleed one section -pfiithe public for the benefit of the other, and when the Salford councillors saw the temper of the committee of the House of Commons, they very wisely withdrew their Bill, preferring to have the relief they get through bleeding the present consumers they have now, rather than lose all. The same principle applies to everything speculative that councils wish to take) up; and, bear in mind, the one idea of borrowing money for electric lighting is that a large profit will be made and applied for the purpose mentioned. In connection with this'subject I may briefly mention this very important fact, that the local Government Board of England are refusing to grant loans to municipalities for extending their street lighting by electric light, as’ all over England and the Continent incandescent gas lighting is superseding electric lighting because of its efficiency and economy. To quote just one case; A committee of the City of London Aldermen, this year, spent a fortnight visiting the principal cities of Europe, and thoroughly investigated the merits and demerits of both systems of lighting. and as result of their report, a unanimous decision was come to, that ineandescaiit gas lighting was the most efficient as far as illumination and economy was concerned, ana, thereiore, instructions were forthwitn given that the electric arcs and lamps must be taken down and g:is substituted in their place. This is no single instance of the success of gas over its rival, ’instances arriving every, mail bearing on the fact, that, notwithstanding the latest electric filament lamps, gas is being universally used for lighting streets in the Old Land .and colonies, and everi in such places as Liverpool, Manchester, Birmingham, .and LRasgow, who own electrio light works, light their streets with _ gas. Moreover, as automatic lighting and extinguishing of gas lamps by various means are fast coming info_ j.orce, au the lamps in towns: and cities ing lit up and extinguished .instantaneously, thus doing away with tho lamplighters, a big economy is achieved. To come nearer home, the town or Hawera, whose streets were .lit by elec-

trio lamps, has gone back to the old love, and entered a contract for a term of years, to light the streets with gas. These are facts' which the advocates of electric light would do well to consider before they plunge the ratepayers into needless expenditure. Therefore, for the ratepayers to vote for £16,000 for electric light works in addition to the other proposals with this knowledge before them, will be, well, to say the least, a step, backwards.'—l am, etc., “PROGRESS, BUT NOT RETROGRESSION.” .