THE USE OF GAS

Hokitika Guardian, 17 February 1932, Page 3

THE USE OF GAS

AN EVERYDAY STORY OF ITS SERVICE. Where gas is obtainable, it is taken 5 by the man in the street as a matter . ot course, he has little idea of the sei- . vice it gives in the home and indus- , tries, of the enormous amount of capital invested, or the high standard ot engineering skill required to maintain r the supply of this essential commodity ! for lighting, heating and power. : The spirit of coal, released iii 1792 by William Murdock, is one of the greatest benefits even given Jo the world by science. Since that date .the' use of gas has developed enormously for lighting, heating and power. Progress in the manufacture and usy'of gas in the last twenty years has been phenomenal and has increased all over the world in an astonishing degree. Gas is the’- purified spirit of. : coal scientifically extracted at the gas works, delivered right to the ..consumer, available at all times for. light, heat and power. The valuable byproducts of carbonisation are recovered at the works, and made available for commercial use in many ways instead of being wasted. Gas, the spirit of coal, renders a service of incalculable value in our homes and workshops It lightens domestic labour by supply heat for cooking, water heating, laundry, etc., also it supplies power and lighting. An enormous advance has. been made in the use of gas for manufacturing purposes. Gas is now largely used to mol.t metals, for annealing and heat treating of steel, and for a great variety of manufacturing operations in all industries. Modern. automatic ovens. 70 feet long, for bread, baking, now use high pressure gas for heating. Practically all manufacturers. require gas for some purpose, and most professions could not carry on without it. Temperatures as high as 2200 Fahrenheit are readily obtained hy using gas under pressure. Perhaps one of the most remarkable achievements is to freeze bv gas. A refrigerator is now being sold for freezing and cold storage by the usoof gas. The spirit of coal not onlyprovides heat, hut when required willprovide iee, and .with greater conveni-j enee than any other method as there are no moving parts to get out of order. 1 Electricity has been specially favoured by concessoins granted by unfair and unbusinesslike legislation. On the other hand, gas, .entirely . unassisted by any legislation, and hindered by unnecessary Government regulations lias won its place os the premier fuel b\ the merit of tile excellent service it. is rendering in homes and industries, and it is interesting to note. New Zealand repeats the advance which has been made, of late years in, Britain, and other parts of the world. . ... Tt- Ls astpniSUi;ig ,tP, ju l d„t!V? t ftY&CC America, that country of electricity, and progress-.- there are,, according to statistics, twenty-five cookers to every electric cooker, in use to-day; We need only turn to-the New,Zealand Government statistician’s returns for March, 1931, to see the position in this country. ■: - -.. For the year ending March 31. 1931. there were 3,594,600.000 cubic feet of gas sold, the total revenue ..bping £1,578,137. The .capital value of the plant in use was £5,031,521. Goal to the extent of 190,209 tons from the New Zealand mines and 49.579' tons from overseas were l used. There were 114.634 gas stoves in use at March, 1929. a year later 124,272. an' increase of 9638; and this year 132.550. an increase of 8278. Electricity supply statistics show 20,254 electric ranges in 1929, a year later 25,997. showing an increase of 5743: and-this year 29,480, an increase of 3483. - Comparison of these figures : .show that in 1929-30, for every 100 electric ranges installed, there were 168 additional gas stoves; in 1930-31, the proportionate increases were 100 electric ranges to 237 gas stoves, -nearly two and a-hia-lf times as many .-.as electric, and it must, be remembered that gas is available only in tbe larger towns, a comparatively small area, compared with electricity, the wires of which reach over the greater : part of the country, as well as all towns. The glamour of something new. assisted by tbe enormous amount of free publicity given by the newspapers to electricity, is liable to mislead some people and prevent them making a true comparison with, the use of gas. Tbe figures are proof and those wlu< experiment usually admit after expensive experience that gas is sms erior to all other fuels for lighting, cooking and heating. Tbe use of gas has passed the experimental stage Science and experience has proved beyond doubt that forsafety, reliability. convenience and-' adaptability, no fuel can compare \vith gas, so why not you use gas and have the best..