THE CORPORATION GAS COM MITTEE'S REPORT.

Press, Volume XLV, Issue 7123, 20 July 1888, Page 6

THE CORPORATION GAS COM MITTEE'S REPORT.

j TO THE EDITOR OF THE PRESS, 3 ■ ! Sir, —in your issue of Tuesday iA t publish fully the report of the Sub-Cow ' miitec of the City Council appointed t£ « consider the advisability of erecting CoS 1 poration _,as works. Tl jj The Council wisely omitted to give anil J details of the works which they said couldK il be completed for £50,000, and thereforethiM ! i public is absolutely in tho dark as correctness of these calculations, but judg-s'l ing them by their exaggerated statement*«§s upon other points, I can only say that $2 their calculations will not bo found to be «j even approximately correct. ' fi With reference to the proposal to supply _f gas at Gs, it may be interesting to refer to 1 a recent discussion in the Dunedin Council 1 when a proposal was made to reduce this 1 price to 6s 3d per thousand. One of tha J Gas Committee stated that the actual cost 1 of gas to the Corporation was 6s 8d pet j thousand feet, sua that the proposed re* 1 ducciou would leave not ouly no profit on 1 the working, but that the ratepayers as a I body would have to be taxed to.tne extent »1 of some £3300 per annum to make up the ;| loss ou the working of the gas department. J It must also be borne in mind that In 4 Dunedin the coal has not to pay unythifig | for railway carriage, as is the case with 1 Christchurch, anoT that the Corporation j has the whole of the city consumption, \ which would not bo the case here. j Tlie value of estimates in erecting plant* ' of this kind is well illustrated by the expe* ! rience of the Dunedin City Council, A being stated at one of their meetings that when the Council decided to erect a sub .phate of ammonia plant connected with Ithe gas works, tbe estimate was £30 to f£so, the actual cost was £800. Another ■•Instance was, the new governor home, - ■estimated cost £350, actual coat £140 CV KApply these facts to the estimate of I for a gas plant for Christcharch,, j [and where would our Council find them- ' when the £50,000 was all expended* I <> From the published reports of the ■■.) 'Dunedin Council it can be seen that their fl works ten years ago wero bought tat j £50,000, or rather less, and that since that ■ time the Corporation has spent £70,000 ' \ on additions, aud yet their Enclneer la ', demanding a further £50,000 to pc epeafc \ ih v order to make the works 1 ' fch6roug_w » 'complete. ■ This, - it must be remembered Ms for Dunedin City only, the suburb* -i [being supplied by another Gas Company. < I To sum up the foregoing the actual ex- • Jjperienee of Dunedin is that their gas , fevorks have cost already and the i Igas 6s 8d per thousand to manufacture 1 , gwhile the estimate for' Christchurch te— , Ptv-orks £50,000, cost of manufacture 4a ptf '• Erthousand. ■ Ci i I leave ratepayers to judge between tot and the results, and remain, {yours, &c, I ' Cautioi*,