The Evening Star MONDAY, JUNE 13, 1887.

Evening Star, Issue 7237, 13 June 1887, Page 2

The Evening Star MONDAY, JUNE 13, 1887.

Although deposits of liquid hydro-carbons have been known and utilised in various parts of the world for ages, it is barely thirty years since the immense supply from the American oil-wells brought the price so low, in competition with other modes of lighting, as to lead to their almost general adoption for domestic use. Like all other useful discoveries, petroleum lighting has its drawbacks, which, however, we have no hesitation in saying may be easily grappled with and overcome by scientific construction of the lamps necessary to produce its brilliant light. The dangers incident to the use of hydro-carbons for lighting purposes are, that under certain conditions the lamps are liable to burst, or to break in case of an accidental fall, when, because of the almost certainty of the oil falling upon the clothes of any person near it, should thisoccur, serious injury, if not loss of life, would ensue, and most probably the building set on fire. For this reason, wherever there are lively, romping children, ordinary lamps of this class should not be used. Wo have had our attention drawn to this subject through noticing the great number of accidents and fires that are attributable to lamp accidents, and in which New Zealand is by no means exceptional in its experience. According to Mr Charles Marvin, who publishes an article on tho subject in * Time,’ “ hundreds of people are “killed or injured by paraffin lamps, and “ every year hundreds of fires are made by “ them.” And this is found to be the case not only in Great Britain but in all countries where mineral oils are used for lighting purposes. It appears that Mr Marvin, in view of the frequency of these occurrences, wrote a'pamphlet entitled ‘The Moloch of Paraffin,’ which, though widely circulated, has not fallen under our notice. Not only was it extensively read in Great Britain, but it was translated into some foreign languages, and was commented on favorably by some colonial journals. The Cape newspaper, tho ‘ Port Alfred Budget,’ says : “ Even in our “sparsely-populated country lamp accidents “ are far too common.” The ‘ Baku Investie,’ the organ of the Russian petroleum industry (Russia manufactures 125,000,000 gallons of lamp oil every year), said, in reviewing the pamphlet; “There are as “ many lamp accidents in Russia as in “England, The bloody victims of the “ kerosene Moloch may be counted by “ hundreds yearly. Why, therefore, should “ Russia not do her best to put an end “to the kerosene Moloch?” Mr Marvin adds that “ tho distribution of my Moloch “ pamphlet among the Russian Ministers “ has been followed, according to the news- “ paper reports, by the appointment of a “Government to investigate lamp acci- “ dents.” The publication of the pamphlet in Great Britain did not ensure for it so favorable a reception. The Scottish Mineral Oil Association, in reply, asserted that “ for “ thirty-seven years none of tho members of “the Association” have “over known an 11 accident to be due to paraffin or paraffin “ lamps.” Bather a startling assertion, supposing those members to have had access to and being able to read a newspaper. But the extensive use of mineral oils has raised up a new industry, which is carried on

mainly in Birmingham the manufacture of lamps of glass or china for burning mineral oils. Many of these are very elegant, and employ In their construction a large number of hands. Naturally, therefore, an outcry was raised against Mr Marvin’s allegations, and we learn from the article before us that his pamphlet “ provoked a bitter controversy,” yet afterwards : “ The Birmingham Town Council in its fire; “reportfor 1886)” said that “so long as “cheap lamps, constructed oh Wrong principles, are allowed to be sold, fires and: “fatal accidents Will continue to occur.” “About the same time Mr Braxton Hicks, “ the coroner for Surrey, in holding an in- “ quest on a victim of the Moloch of paraffin, “said that 'Lamp containers ought not to “ 1 be of glass, because if it fell there was no “ ‘ chance of escape for the person near it, for '"the glass broke and the oil poured over “* them. Nearlyeverycoronerin theoountry “ ‘ hadheldinquestsonbodiesterribly burned “ ‘ through lamp accidents, and he thought “‘ it would be well if it were made a “ ‘ punishable offence to make glass paraffin “ ‘ lamps.’ ” It must be noticed that these condemnations are not against the use of mineral oils themselves for lighting purposes, but against the material of which the reservoir containing the oil supply is made. “Of what avail,” asks Mr Marvin, “is a “lamp that is only safe with the best oil, “ when at any moment an inferior oil may “be palmed off on the unsuspecting con* “ sumer? A safe lamp ought to do what “ the Defries’ lamp does—burn a bad oil as ‘' safely as a good oil; and, moreover, bum it “without dtmgelr.bveh should the oil get boil* “inghot, lit upset, the light ought to go “out at once, and it ought to be possible to "safely extinguish the lamp—as I can do “ the 62-candle-power Defries lamp hanging “over my table as I write this—by the " common practice of blowing down the “chimney.” The conclusion at which Mr Marvin arrives is that the reservoirs of lamps should never be made of glass or china. The drawback against the use of metal lamps is the higher cost; but that should really weigh nothing against the higher consideration of safety. Mr Marvin says “a good metal lamp, with a sound, “strong burner, is worth its price, and must “always be dearer than a lamp constructed “of fragile materials. . . . During my recent “ investigations I have come across several “ instances of working men displaying a real “anxiety to replace the rubbishy half-crown “ lamp with a dearer but safer article. And “ who can wonder at it, seeing how much “ they suffer from the scourge of lamp explosions, and are exposed to perpetual “ peril in their households. To expel that “peril one must go to the root of the evil. “ It is a waste of time to attempt to educate “how to use with safety the present break- “ able lamps in their homes. Far better to “help them to replace those lamps with “safety ones, requiring no education at all.” We think everyone will agree with this view of the case. Were this simple and safe remedy adopted, instead of frequent records of lamp accidents such an incident would be as rare as if only common candles were used.