THE GAS QUESTION.

Evening Post, Volume LXXVIII, Issue 18, 21 July 1909, Page 8

THE GAS QUESTION.

MATTER STILL UNSETTLED. It is understood that negotiations be tween the City Council's Gas Committee and the representatives^ the Wellington Gas Company have been re-open-ed, but there is nothing to report as yet. A petition is in circulation in the city, for signature, asking the Mayor to call a public meeting ol citizens to protest against the proposed issue by Government of an Ordei-in-Couneil authorising the company to run a gas main through Melrose borough. The Hon. T. W. Hislop had something more to say to-day on the subject ot the gasworks. Regarding the construction put on his statement yesterday, ho said that The Post's question to him, and his reply, had reference solely to the purchase of the whole concern by the corporation at some future day, and his argument was that the council would be foolish not to safeguard itself in the same wa-y that the company would do were the positions 1 reversed. Also, he said that it would ! be iniquitous on the part of the Govern- ', nient to give away a right which would increase the selling value of a business '■ they no doubt would ibuy some day. He ! had no knowledge of any "loss of opportunity ,by the council to 'handle' the. Melrose rights" in the way they could be dealt with ; nor did he know of an expiring contract being used to bolster up something else. The only expiring contract there was was one for the public lighting of Melrose, and the council's resolve to light that district \rith electricity was sufficient answer to those assertions. As a matter of fact, the right to purchase the Melrose rights without premium had only very lately occurred, or was yet to occur. To say \ he had made an admission, and to call on the Government to notice it, was nonsense ; he made no admibsion, and could make none. His contention was that no person having a property should refuse to part with it without some consideration ; and that consideration might be some reciprocal right given to the grantor. It %\ould be -grossly unfair to make the city enlarge the monopoly of a wealthy company, without adequate consideration, and without due deliberation, and without the approval of those to whom the rights belonged. Mr. Hislop also stated that when the clause in the Act was introduced in Parliament the Wellington members were misled as to what the clause meant. When he (Mr. Hislop) went to Parliament House, on another matter, he was shown this clause by the Hon. T. K. Macdonald, M.L.0., who asked what it meant. Mr. Hislop said then what he had maintained ever since, and what events have proved to be correct. Mr. Macdonald at once explained that ho had been told the clause was meant to meet the unreasonableness of the Miramar Borough Council. When Mr. Hislop saw the 'Prime Minister he found the same impression in Sir Joseph's mind. Had not the clause passed both nouses of the Legislature, previous to this, it would have had no chance of going through. The manner of its passing was tho special point that all citizens should remember. Who would look for anything affecting Wellington City in a Bill entitled Tho Reserves and Otner Lands Disposal and Public Bodies Empowering Act, which had not been sent to anyone outside Parliament? The assertion that the Gas Company erected its works at Miramar in the belief that the Order-in-Council authorising the main would be issued without demur was erroenous. Until very lately the company contended that it had ample power, under its original Act, to go through Melrose. To say that it, relied upon the Order-in-Council was to assert that the Prime Minister had an Cnderstanding with the company — an nbelievable thing. Mr. Hislop said he noticed that Mr. Ferguson stated that he could only apply for this Order-in-Council when the works' had been erected. What was the use of him saying that? As a matter of fact, the City Council received a letter from the Prime Minister &ome eighteen months ago, stating that the application had been made, and asking the council to express its opinion with regard to the application. Concluding, Mr. Hislop said : "The finst issue is whether the citizens are to be compelled to give to the Gas Company, without fair equivalent, something that will increase the value of ,the company's monopoly and add to the selling value, which the corporation would havo to pay for in full, seeing that the enabling legislation to be passed by the Government would* be based upon valuations to be decided upon. The second issue is clear, also : it is whether it is right tor the Government to net upon legislation which had been passed without one side — and that side the one most affected — being heard against it."

Whitebait fishermen are warned that the regulation size of nets is 7 feet. A local journal states, that in the past whitebait nets 17 feet square have not been uncommon in the Manawatu. Samuel Plimsoll, "the sailor's friend," is to have a place of honour in the sailors' homes of New Zealand. A Gisborne resident was the means of bringing the matter under the notice of the director of the Auckland Home. He obtained from England a portrait of the benefactor, enlargements are being made, and n copy is> being sent to the Auckland Home. A boy of seven years named William Edwards was admitted to Sydney Hospital recently for treatment. It appears that he put a florin into his month, and accidentally swallowed it. There i.s a constant slieam of large families coming before the Dunedin Benevolent Trustees. Last week, the Daily Times states, there were four applicants who had 37 children dependent upon them, and on Monday four others with an aggregate of 36 children. Mrs. Henry Patten, one of the Canterbury Pilgrims, died last week. She landed in Lyttelton in the Cressy — one of the first four boats to reach the settlement — with her parents, Mr. and Mrs. Moundey. Captain Hooper, of tho Amokura, will return to Wellington from Dunedin on Friday. The man. John Frederick Crook, whose death sentence has been commuted to that of imprisonment for life at Sydney, New South Wales, where he was found guilty of the murder of ■Mr. Russell Sinclair, was, during the early part of the present year, a resi- ! dent of Cambridge, (Waikato, being employed by a local townsman in digging potatoes. He was the shorter of two men who frequently visited the town between the hours of sunset and 10 p.m. without their coats. Immediately after leaving Cambridge he went to' Sydney. Mr. S. Carroll, secretary of the Wellington Chamber of Commerce, has received intimation from Sydney that the visiting delegates from Britain to the forthcoming trades conference, to be held at Sydney, will meet with a very hospitable reception. Extensive preparations are being made in all the States for the visitors' arrival. Tie letter also states that the Union Steam Ship Company has promised a concession of 20 per cent, off tho delegates' fares, a conceasion which will also be extended to their vrivea.