GAS IN MELROSE.

Dominion, Volume 2, Issue 312, 26 September 1908, Page 7

GAS IN MELROSE.

THE COUNCIL AND THE COMPANY. TERMS OF THE 1899 AGREEMENT. An evidence of how careful a • local body should he in dispensing utility rights within its boundaries is provided in the case of the agreement made between tho old Melrose Borough Council and the Wellington Gas Company in 1899, when the latter company: considered the suburban borough promising enough to do business with'. ■ Advised by Mr. C. P. Skerrett, the council entered into an agreement whereby it would permit the Wellington Gas" Company to have tho sole rights for lighting tho borough on certain conditions, viz.—that tho. borough ; should have the right of resuming that portion, of the'GaS Company's property in the borough within ten years by paying'the capital'value.' of its installation, plus'.s' per. cent;-V'After; ten years tho borough; reserved ior.'itself/the; right to resume all'such'.works at the original capital cost only. This means, that if. tho' city desired to acquire the Gas Company's works within tho old Melroso, district 1 ; t<K day it would have to: pay s''.pcr. ceiifc... per. annum 'on , the capital' cost' of tho game.; After December, 1909, however, " the council would be' able to 'mako/the acquisition plus' nothing at all. -i - .. The; defunct Melrose was not-tho. thickly-populated district.;in-,-1899 • that ;iit. ■ is; tp-day, but since.'then' the/hand/of, Progress/ has scattered ■ house-seed the suburban, areas formerly . under ;' the ' jurisdiction; of tho absorbed borough. And it ;must- bo; remembered that <Moh'ose:; c : onsi6tecl. of an I area larger thaiv.WeUin'gtqn.;.City/itself: CWdP.; lington .3020 acres,; Melrose ,:3810. acres)',/m----that at tho present time the/,population;- ; of .the Melrose, borough: .forms ' no . iiicoh--siderablo. , proportion l ' ■'•: of; /('■ tho ' . total,I population of Wellington/./;:-City, . .and." further,-it is growing'every; day, .whereas the*' old city area has very little room It will lie readily perceived ifrom. this. what' a<! strong factor the agreement rose Borough and tho Gas Company (an' agree-': ment which passed oil .'to the city.'on. tho' absorption of Melrose on April I,' 1903)' will bo in tho negotiatioiiS;fpr the purchaso of tho;Gas Company's property; by tho city.': '. ,The.. roticulation could be acquired..' (after-: Decent ■ ber next year) for a sum of something'like; £30,000 .(according to hi_s ; W.piship y'the.' Mayor). With a gasworks "plant'established; at tho. fraterside oil tlie tion at the head of Evans liay (in order,that economy'could bo practised in the handling; of ■ coal)-tho suggestion- eppears'quite practicable. ' I■'. /// ,/:;■/; '.v.. 1 Tho other big questiorii—as to. whether' tho. Gas Company has the right to conduct its mains from Miramar through tho old Molroso district into Wellington—is a matter for the lawyers to settle. At present tho-company-holds reticulating rights in the old Melrose district under tho above agreement, but .whether tho question as to where the gas was to come from that is to All those pipes—the city or an outsido borough—alfects the issue tho Court must decide in lieu of a compromise being arrived at. Forced by the inadequacy of. its 'present working plant in the 'city to copo with the demands of the future the Gas Company has acquired lands at Miramar, and. is establishing a plant that will suffice the needs of Wellington and its suburbs for many years .to ■ come, and is pushing forward with tho work, without much apparent concern for tho. question of main rights through the Melrose belt —tho only means of entrance to the city from . Miramar. To erect theso works'the com- I panv has decided to.ih'creaso its capital by" £200,000. . ; ' ;.v/: ;,j Probably both sides will find means of coming to terms on an' equitable basis. In any , caso tho city preserves the' the; forethought of . the:; , old ' Council—to municipalise'the gas'se'rviid over* the larger and growing half of modern Wellington City... . .. '/ " i , ,