Grey River Argus and Blackball News SATURDAY, APRIL 1, 1922. RETAILIING GAS

Grey River Argus, 1 April 1922, Page 4

Grey River Argus and Blackball News

SATURDAY, APRIL 1, 1922. RETAILIING GAS

K.!..,!. >e P .-va. RurtL k*< a. r ’ . VHtna- .< DuwJlx.trt h., •• K s \h.ie: i ! lean, tug*, Siulwztet \\ ?. k R;pua. Mjganui, H n Hu.. ;£_•, W- >. l-.a. Rewanui, Otira. inaaf/ihna June!:. mi. Wc-Ijaml. XVa'nianftaroa, Denniston, Granity. Millerton. Ngaicawax Hector, Seddunville, Cape Foulwind. and Karaiuf'

Locally th© question of soiling gaa lias at times been raised, and this lends interest to the adoption ot new methods by which a, more equable system of sei bug gas was arrived at in Britain. Under the ordinary motor system of measurement (still in vogue in New Zealand) gas was measur ed by volume. This system lias proved unsatisfactory m jiroctice, owing to the fact that the constiuents of coal gas may vary very widely, and that the lighting or heating service rendered depends upon other factors than mere volume. A better commercial standard was sought for by the Fuel Research Board, which found what it wanted in a. device called the “Simmance total heat-recording calorimeter.” This device proved its value in a. series of tdsts undertaken before its official adoption. At the outset in Britain, the gas companies wore subject to tests of calorific value wt stated intervals, and it was the habit oi some of them to send a wave of rich gas at the time the tests were known to bo taking place. A Simmance calornietcr was installed secretly by consumers in one district, and its continuous record of calorific value proved the fraud without a. shadow of doubt. The installation of Simmance calorimeters has notv been made complsory; and this it nowconsidered to be an arvantago to the gas-producing companies in that it gives them wider range of material on which to work, the only limitations being that they must undertake to deliver to the consumer a. gas free from sulphuretted hydrogen and not containing more than 20 per cent of inert constituents during the first two years after installation, 18 per cent for the next two years, and 15 per cent there after. The gas company must declare the calorific value of the gas it intends to deliver; and adjust and, if necessary replace gratis the burners in consumers’ appliances with all reasonable speed, so that gas >as delivered can be burned in these appliances with Safety and efficiency. 1

In New Zealand the whole position as between gas companies and. the consumers is most unsatisfactory. The sole right of inspecting and regulating meters (which measure only volume) is handed over by law to the companies. 'Tests undertaken m war time of the calorific value of gas supplied in various New Zealand centres showed a considerable degree of variation. As matters stand in this country to-day a gans company can charge what it likes and measure gas as it likes, with the full support of the law behind it. In Britain ,its profits are controlled by law, and the State protects the interests of consumers, by a continuous recording test of the calorific value of gas supplied.