THE MASTERTON GAS DEPARTMENT.

Dominion, Volume 3, Issue 740, 12 February 1910, Page 12

THE MASTERTON GAS DEPARTMENT.

•The Masterton Municipal Gas Department's line iiiew ; building is reproduced in tiiis' issue..business .is run . wuli all Gas ranges and. gas connections are ..installed tree of cost, .while gas. ranges, in all sorts. 6f 'sizes; may be easily purchased on ithe tinie-paymcnt plan. Lectures are delivered tree to Masterton .residents asto, the. cheap' imaimer__ui .'which the ranges may he handled. inu all round" enterprise on the part of,, the department; has contributed largely to >.the increase in gas consumption, _an _in. stance of which is supphed by .the 190. annual report, which Bhowcd that tn< consumption of. gas increased by 100 pel cent.-in. four, years. . The gross, profit, m the concern for the year, ended. 'Marc! . 31, 1909, was i .£2066 135.. 5d., to which i wai to be added profit mado on;.sales of. fit tinjrs, and!; also for labour - expenses whicli items totalled w£69 65.; 9d. ' At_thi present. time, the; department: is sollinj lighting gas net.at -7s. jld- .per thonsani feet; cooking and lighting gas combined ss j lOd.; gas for gas -engines, ss. 5d.. 1 . ifl.\understood : that- possibly .next Marc.

there will bo a: further, reduction.in -the price of at least sd-. per thousand feet. The department has,now some 250 cooker accounts, over' 400 customers who use boilinjj rinijs, grillers, or gas nrea. in addition, the - department . last year (March 31 period) sold: cookers and numerous grillers and boiling ruigs. - r Ihe present new .building 1 ! which, is erected alongside the' Wellington-Napier- railway lino near the Masterton -Railway= Station is just on the point of completion: • The structure cost •£3100.' Mowing are "its dimensions' in-feat:—Mainbuuding, 64 x 56ji machinery r00m,.-40 : x - 20; offices, 30 x 1G; men's room, 12 Xyls.- Then there are four' arches,, each- arch being-'fitted with seven 24 x 16 . Dee, retorts. A

smaller, building comprises a fitter's workshop, foreman's onice,' meter ball, and bulk-store. The whole of the work has been carried out to tho design of' Mr. J. WBlaclanan, manager of the Borough Gas Department, a member of the Institute of Gas Engineers. Mr. Blackmail designed the Levin Gasworks, and he is now designing & gasworks for Waipawa. This architects for the Masterton works' w«ra' Messrs. Narnhom and Rose, while the contractors were - Messrs. * Coradine and Whittaker. v.