CHEAPER LIGHTING.

Dominion, Volume 3, Issue 800, 25 April 1910, Page 8

CHEAPER LIGHTING.

I ' THE MAYOR'S NEW SCHEME. | WHAT THE FUTURE MAY . • BRING FORTH. 3 . , The Mayor (Dr. Newman), who is anxious to see the regulations of the fire insuranoe' companies' , amended to permit of an improved method" of installing electric light, which, he says can be carried out at half the present cost, produced some strong arguments at the conference of underwriters in favour of his proposal. These were supported by the council's expert officers, who submitted documentary and printed'evidence in lurtherance of the request. la the surface system- of wiring, whioh it is ' proposed should be adopted, the uncased wires are run along the walls and ceiling, to which they are attached by porcelain clcets In Switzerland ■ many of the woode.: .chalets and cow-sheds thatched with straw -.are lighted with electricity installed after.. this fashion. There the system still, followed in New, 2iealaii<l has been abandoned for the past.lS years as out-of-date and costly. It was stated by Mr. Webber, of the council"? engineering staff, that cottages in Switzerlaiid were lighted with one laniji at a - total cost of 16s. a year. Tin.New Zealand system is not used in Americaj and in England it is being rapidly superseded by the system whicn the Mayor advocates. The nev, method is permitted by the Loudon Board of Trade; it is approved by the electrical engineering societies' of Eng-' land and Germany; and it'.is." the method adopted iii' West Australia and sanctioned • by important fire insurance societies, some of which have branches in Wellington. The rules of "the Phoenix Fire Insurance Company,' London, specially permit this form : of installation, which it is claimed 1 is both cheapor and safer than the system in use here. Under the present Wellington system. tliere is great expense in taking up floors and removing boards from the walls of buildings, and as the wires, which are. generally encased in small strips of timber, are hidden out of sight, 110 one can get at them to inspect them, and they may Become damaged or worn, out before anyone is the wiser. With the* .improved system the wires call.; be readily, inspected at any time. _ The new method has been adopted in ; Switzerland, Germany, France, and Italy, almost, to the exclusion of the old. ._ The Mayor is.convinced that when, the insurance companies have .considered the evidence placed- before. them, and collected further evidence of their own, they. must, alter their rules to permit of . the new - method. He urges that it will be distinctly to. the advantage of the companies to do so, since the improved system is safer than the old. . the. rules aje amended and flexible wiring is permitted, Dr. Newman predicts that within the next three or four years 3000 houses will be fitted with lighting, in addition to the 4500 which have it now. If the department could light 12,000' houses with electricity it would be able to de-a-portion of its profits' to the reduction of-the rates. The Mayor points out that, the fire insurance rules were made many- years ago, - and he claims that the city engineers brought forward positive proofs to show. that recently the rules of many insurance companies in 1 England and other countries have ! been altered to allow of the introduction of the'improved method of installa- ■ tion. ' .

Several other matters, including the use of. hot-point electric , irons, were brought before the Insurance Conference by the City Council. The. council's engineers .were surprised to find that one of the insurance companies' experts objected strongly ,to their-using a particular. brand of wire, made by probably the leading firm of electrical engineers in England and the world, and sent out by them in enormous quantities. Tie firm and'all its products bear tjie very highest reputation, and 'the council's engineers were at a loss to understand why a local ezpert should condemn the wire. . . . '