KAIAPOI LIGHTING SCHEME.

Press, Volume LXIII, Issue 12935, 15 October 1907, Page 9

KAIAPOI LIGHTING SCHEME.

TO THE KfItTUK OF ''THE PBESS." Sir,—Referring to letter appearing in your column* on tho 7th inst. on tho above, over tho signature of Mr Oongrciyc, wunpger of the Acetylene . Gas Company, I quit© expected that some representative of the company should reply, and it is certainly disappointing that tho manager of the rompnny, who ought to be in a position of being ablo to give a defluito reply to nil my questions, should not only evade but totally ignore them, its ne lias failed to jeply to a single one. First, ho asks if the price quoted for carbide, \\d, is correct? How it is that Picton can supply gas nt tho highest rate of any town in the world, via., £2 15s per 1000, which, according to him should be charged- nt the '; 'rnta'of i' 4 12* !)«1? this I cannot explain, unless it is that the Acetylene Gas Conipany for tho sako o(;adv«f- . tising their system, are prepared 1 to .'. leso about £2 per 1000 feet.in order to practically demonstrate to tho •pub '.! Uo how cheaply their syatem can be . run by a corporation. JEfowover, that ,;'.' is their, business, not mine. I merely quoted 4}d per lb for carbide as the ..i present market value (which quotation ■ TT Mr Congreivo does, not contradict) as „i a basis.of comparison. I did not say if thafi lib oi carbide contained four feet ft of gas, as that is absurd, as it is the chemical action of the water upon the carbido that produces the aa*. He fuitber »ays that I flppttMntTy am not invsre that coal giferu'tgti times the : - bulk of acetylene gas, and therefore should bo divided by ten»—for what lenon he floes not make clear; in fact, ; he scorns a bit mixed in his figures and , fevprowioit*. It is not bulk we want, 7 it, ia quality, not quantity. Again, in ■' mi falling to reply as to where acetylene wa* in uso in New Zealand for . heating, cooking, and gas engines, he .says ifl call at* his office he will bo pleased to show mc some. Quite so. 1 7.ww under tho impression that that '~' was the only place where they could .be seen, never having heanj of them in mo, unless in the company's show rooms. Ha also offers to give the names of manufacturers of gas engines who also make gas engines that could bo used with acetylene. I did not want tho names of gas engine manufacturers, but the name of ono single individual who had in use * gas engine- driven by acetylene gas. That be failed to give, because there does not seem to be o«q in uso in New . Zealand, even q{ a cat power, from :, Auckland to the Bluff, so that acety"»ne as a motive- power for Kaiapoi would be, as in heating and cook : ng, an experiment. I think, tbere[w, iajt the Council are hardly justi W in spending £3000 in temporarily , adopting a gas system that can only lII* lighting, and has not, in New ♦aland at least, proved by actual prectioa) demonstration, that it is ; auttablo lot heating, cooking, and Motive power, awl other household and ißtjiHtriat operations. One marked ' olwottoa, it seems to m*, to tho adoption ol acetylene, is that as the town . mn<m H must of necessity emerge. ™*»wal gu, aud in such case £2000 W««8Q0Q expended will be utterly uso- . ,ce »i M the pipes used for acetylene, oiring ,to their small carrying capacity, *»** waolntely useless, as well as tho f»W»< burners, and fittings. '■ m tnraher coca on to toll us that *«tyl«n.a |« boing largely adopted | n Amoiroa and Europe. Wo all know ' * "* » lwav « Braen hUls far »way. What I wanted was an in- * I°* °* P' aCK * or townships in New *«»»««, similar to Kaiapoi, that were tuvi* ' wt y len « g a * successfully as a *3£* ,n & nsating, cooking, and motive \ Jjjwer *g«nt, hs in g n « «- n----j»a«». when it w «a a »ucc«» a , regard safety, JfJ*paew, and economy, and until Wosa questions are answered satisfacfl.°'w. beside myself, would fc *7 *° J lu,fcifi<?<l '» voting for a loan mr the adoption of a aysten\ that as iw \v* have had little or no real solid •««» to go upon—Yours, etc., MORE LIGHT.