OUR GAS SUPPLY.

Evening Star, Volume 12869, Issue 12869, 19 July 1906, Page 6

OUR GAS SUPPLY.

THE COMPLAINTS BELITTLED

THE CORPORATION'S DEFENCE.

.After the serious complaint® mad© of the bad quality and insufficient pressure of the gas supplied 10 the public from the City Corporation gasworks it was expected that *vme official statement in reply or explanation would be .made'at'last night's meeting of the City Council. This expectation was realised when the report of the Gas Committee came up for consideration. Or Walker (chairman of the Gas Committee), in moving its adoption, eaid that, as the Council were aware, on Monday night complaints were made' in regard to the state of the gas, and Mr Campbell, of His Majesty's Theatre, idso complained that be had rung up the gasworks without success. The extension telephone bell at the gasworks was at the i»anager's house, but the next morning he (Or Walker) and tlie mayor had decided that in future it should be connected to the retort-iiouto at n 'ff They had also arranged that there should be someone in charge up till midnight. Mr Huugerford (continued Cr Walker) had taken bra present position as manager at the worst possible time. The present output, of gas was larger than ever before, the condition of the works was unsatisfactory, and the manager had to k«.ep on men who, in some cases, were not experienced, and who would perhaps cause him a ceijtain amount' of trouble. The 'Star,' in a startling article, had referred to Mr .L Morris having to shut up liia factory and put bis hands out of employment through insufficient gas for his en-» gme. There were 186 gas engines now at work m Dunedin. The onlv complaint made was by Mr Morris, who rang tho gasworks.'up that morning and aid his engine would not work. Mr Dow had replied, and had asked if there was anything wrong with tho engine. On Mt Doiv's ringing up again a quarter of an hour later, Mr Morris replied that the engine was working all right. If the papers wrote those articles they should first have conclusive facts before them. That sort of thing did a certain amount, of damage to amamiißuch a position as Mr Hmnxerford's. That gentleman had onlv been leven or eight days at the works, and had been doing his utmost during that time He did not think the citizens would have furore complaints to make about the gasworks, lhe whole trouble on Monday evening arose through Mr Hungerford going in for smaller charges and more frequent ones. This system worked well through Monday, and "at 6 p.m. Mr Hungerford left the works and .^h^ 1 on - On© of th* men ?L f^ K was Tlie work of too shift was disorganised to a certain extent, and the "charging" was improperly done; oanseqnattly a lot of bad gas got into the retort It had to be remind mat the daily output of gas was 200 000 cubu leet m excess of the holding or Coring capacity of the plant and 100,000 cubic feet in excess of what could be made (the manufacture of gas for use at night be : H2 unboned in the daytime). of M? Morns-s gas engine seemed to him to show that there was something wrong with the engine itself. He had made inquiries from owners of other engines, and they said they had had no stoppage whatever. Or Loudon: There was another case. Or Walker: 1 don't think it is a bad 10cord. People complain of the quality of the gas, and the citizens have'had to put up with a quality that is not what itehould be dnruig the last two nights—seventeen or eighteen candle-power. Cr Walker continued that if things went wrong in the future it would be open to blame Mr Hungerford. He also pointed out that m some cases consumers' fittings were defective. One complained of bad gas, and said that between 5 and 6 p.m. he could not get any pressure. That proved that his fittings were defective. He challenged that man to have a test of pressure after his fittmge were put in proper order. If other consjaoer* in the City could light up letween the hours mentioned, surelv this one could In conclusion, Cr Walker promised that Mr Hungerford would bring forward a full report in time for the next meeting of tho Gas Committee. °

Cr Wilson seconded the adoptiw of the report.

Cr White said that he had heard of two o: three" cases of complaint about the <ras. One was that of Mr EUbtt, a butcher* of South Dunedin, who -was majiy pounds'out of pocket through cot being able to get his gas engine to work a machine. A Councillor: Pounds of money or pounds of sausages?—(Laughter.) The report was then adopted without further discussion, and other business was picceeded with. OR WALKER IX ERROR. The ** startling article " referred to above by Cr Walker appeared in last night's issue. It began: Complaints continue to reach us of tJae defective gas being supplied in this City. We barn that at 9 turn. yi«terday (Tuesday) it was found accessary to closo down the premises of L. Morris and Co.p> clothing manufacturers, Moray place, and to give soii>e 110 hands a. holiday, in consequence of the failure of the gas to drive the machinery.

Cr Walker disputed this statement List night. He specifically told the Council that all thai had occurred in connection, with Mr Morris's gas engine was that on Wednesday morning Mr Morris had rung up and complained that his engine had stopped owing to insufficient pressure, and that later, when asked from the Gasworks if his engine was going, he replied in the affirmative. Cr Walker denied the truth of the- statement that on Tuesday Mr Morris had had to close down his establishment and give his hands a holiday through the engine not being able to do its work on the gas supplied, and he advised the ' Star' to make sure of their facts before publishing such damaging statements. To make assurance doubly sure, a visit was paid this morning to Mr Morris's premises, and Mr L. Morris was seeji in person. He definitely repeated the statement that he had had to close down his factory all day on Tuesday owing to insufficient pressure to work the gas engine. "On Tuesday we stopped all day," he said. "At first we thought something might be wrong with the shafting. Wo got an engineer up, and he found there was nothing wrong M'ith the shafting—the stoppage had nothing to do witli it. To show how bad the pressure was, when we set the engine to work the shafting only, without any of the sewing machines being connected, the engine pulled up. It would not drive anything." When it was remarked that Cr Walker had said that there must have been something wrong with the engine, Mr Morris pointed to the way it was working this morning-—runmng as sweetly as could be wished. One of Mr Morris's employees in whose charge the engine is accompanied Mr Morris and the 'Star' representative to the engine lon\, and he said that nothing had been done to the engine. It needed nothing. The engineer who had been called in on Tuesday, he added, had said that the engine (a. S| h.p. gas engine) was in grand order, and should run for months without needing an overhaul. "The same thing occurred twelve months ago,'' continued the employee. "In damp, dirty weather the engine gives trouble. On a fine day—like to-day—it goes as sweet as possible. No; it is the gas supx>ly that is the trouble—it varies so." As to wliai happened yesterday morning, Mr Morris said that' though hie had not rung up; the Gasworks to complain" on Tuesday morning, he had done so on Wednesday, as on that morning the engine stopped twice between, eight and nine o'clock. From the previous day's experience he knew it could, .only be through the poorness of the gas supply, so he asked for more pressure. This the Gasworks gave, and since then tho engine had gone all right, except that it stopped once this morning. In view of the above, it may not be out of place to apply the "tu quoque" argument to Cr Walker in regard to making sure of facts beforo publicity is given to them.