OUR GAS.

Marlborough Express, Volume XLI, Issue 179, 31 July 1907, Page 5

OUR GAS.

TO THE EDITOR

Sir,—Can you inform me why the gas that we use in our offices and homes is so evil-smelling and gives so uncertain a light ?. T say uncertain, for. .'on some evenings the light given is almost good, while on others the room is lit with a /'dim religions " light which comes arid goes; fades and brightens, in a wave-like, way. This is pa,rt ; icularly annoying to anyone wishing to settle down with a book for a long evening's reading.' More than once I have had to use.my oil lamp to obtain a decently steady strong light. At the office we have the same trouble, and are constantly replenishing.,; our mantles in order to improve matters— for anybody knows that a mantle gives its best light when new. Some time , ago.l inquired as to the cause of,this , bad gas, and was told that the retorts were worn out, and that as soon as the new ones arrived and were installed we should have nothing to complain about. The new retorts are an established fact, and the gas is even worse than ever. I asked again, and was 'told this time that the "purifiers" I were at fault, did not separate the sulphur from the gas; hence the smell and the inadequate light. I don't know whether my informant meant that the scent was so strong that it dimmed the light: but anyway, if the fault does lie with the purifiers, why not remedy it? We have to.pay.ai the rate of Is 3d per 100 feet for this "apology for gas, which is absolutely the worst I have, seen or smelt in the colony. This lam sure of, that if the remedy is effected, and good gas is turned out at the works, the consum-/ .ers'. list will increase largely. , Surely Blenheim is big enough and old enough to own a good, working, up-to-date plant, and supply its ratepayers with a respectable light. INHABITANT.