THE LIGHTING QUESTION.

King Country Chronicle, Volume V, Issue 392, 2 September 1911, Page 5

THE LIGHTING QUESTION.

To the Editor. Sir, —Several remarks in His Worship the Mayor's letter in your columns of August 26th, re lighting question, I cannot allow to pass un challenged, besides beitm erectly surprised at the tactics followed in his assertions, when he Inldly states that some of the old Councillors had endorsed his, or the first Council's recommendation and had no»v doubled on their tracks and joined the ranks of the opposition, presumably to Dreadnought Gas. Well, who was the mover at the last meeting of the old Council that the question of light being an imporant one should ha decided by the new Council, and further after the election that a commission] be set up to proceed to Eketahuna, j Waipukarau, and Waipawa, and report |on schemes? —The Mayor! Now I , take it quite coolly that His Worship ; has dropped a shell at me, as one of j the old Council who performed the monstrous feat mentioned, and further, ; being the writer of the report he men- ! tions, fully bears that out. He than I goes on to say that surely evidence j of that sort from its bitter opponents must convince all unbiased minds chat ; in recommending this light the Coun- j cil made no mistake. I ask the Mayor j how he sums me as a bitter opponent. | I have never belittled Dreadnought, : only on the score of cooking and power j • —both valuable advantages. I claim ; without fear or favour, being an old i Councillor, that the question of light- ; ing by the first Council was ridicu- ; lously considered, as far as the merits of electricity and coal gas were concerned. In fact the only two lights properly considered were acetylene and p«trol gas. What a ton of coal : could produce in gas and bye-products ; was an unknown quality. Suction gas as a power of reliability to belt on to electric dynamos, was never mentioned until recently. The Mayor advocated Dreadnought Gas when speaking at the public meeting prior to the ioan ballot, because he knew it ; to be a good light and cheap one.. But that loan was for lighting the town, not specifically Dreadnought, j and left it, as I said, on his own | motion for the new Council to decide, i Why then did he set up a new lighting committee and move that a visit to the three lighted towns and report, if Dreadnought was the light elect? I sav, Why? Personally I intend to support every move that wili tend to have the merits of electricity and coal sas further well advised and reported on both as lighting and power agents for our town, and have advocated it without prejudice and in a straightforward manner since the new delega- ! tions took place on light. After the reports are submitted and if considered to be too expensive and beyond our means, I will be the first to drop them. But not until I am fully assured by an ■ expert on both. I have claimed that we can get the greatest consumption I and more efficiently and effectively light our town by electricity than any j other light, and be able to extend our mains at one third the cost of pipes ; and not intefere with our roads or j footpaths, everlastingly, as will be j the case with gas pipes, and take our wire mains where at the present time it is unsafe to walk. Second, that coal j gas is a more efficient lighting agent j than petrol, and worthy cf a report | to place a scheme before the Council j from an unbiassed standpoint to prove to the ratepayers, either that it is beyond our means or within. Third, that ; where to our knowledge many muni- j cipalities under our notice have paid j dearly after their installations have j been in, that we are entitled to have I sound and unbiased report to light our j town, with the two best lights yet j produced in the world. Our delibera- j tions have had a splendid pffect in in- | ducing the Dreadnought Gas Company to offer power, and they also being i willing to meet us if we so desire, if j all other lights fail to satisfy the op- j position, whom. I am proud to belong 1 to, so that we may shine as a comet j for the Dreadnought Company. I am, : etc., I D. J. YOUNG. |