GAS V. ELECTRICITY.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LI, Issue 15552, 9 March 1914, Page 9

GAS V. ELECTRICITY.

Sir,On arrival at Hamilton ou my return from Wellington, the first thing I do is to make a bee line for thy bookstall to get a Hkuald, as all the news in the Southern papers is nothing to me until I have seen it in that best of newspapers. On Friday last, having got my paper, I turned to lunch, and, on opening the : familiar pages, I found a long contribu- i tion, with the above title, which served as an excellent sauce piquante to my humble meal. I now venture to ask fur a little space in which to reply. His Worship the Mayor said that " Mr. Upton had gone out of his way to criticise very severely the electricity department of the City Council. Now, sir, I neither mentioned nor referred to, directly nor indirectly, the said department. Had I done so, the first thing I should have said would have been to pay. a Welldeserved compliment to the engineer of that department, and to the skill with which he conducts it. .The limitations involved in this matter do not lie in Mr. Wyllie, nor in his department; they lie in the essential inferiority of electric lighting to gas lighting for ail street purposes, and for most interior purposes also. In the chairman's speech, I mad© four statements and uttered one general reflection. First, that the Gas Company obtained the contract in open competition. Mr. Wyllie says the council did not tender. J thought they had done so, and Mr. Elliot informs me that they did. I fear Mr. Wyllie's memory is defective. Second: I "told the shareholders that there was no need to fear competition from electric light; that gas was the cheaper illuminaut on the basis of "an equal amount of light for an equal number of hours at an equal cost." That statement is not mine merely, but is the result of a scientific test it has not been, nor can it be confuted. Third: I stated that for health and ventilation gas was' much superior to electricity. My authority, or rather one of my authorities, is Professor Vivian Lewes, professor of chemistry- at the Eoyal Naval College.' His conclusions are beyond question. I hope I mjay shortly describe one of his methods of investigation. Professor Lewes took a room 12ft square and 12ft high', He had it thoroughly cleansed, and then he analysed the air of the room, andnoted the analysis. . He then placed in the room two adult assistants for a certain number of hours, and then again analysed the air, and noted the result. The room was lit by electricity. He then had the room thoroughly cleansed; again be analysed the air, "but lighted the room with incandescent gas light. He placed in it the same two assistants for the same length of. time, when he again analysed the air. He found an increase of impurities, mostly organic, in both cases, but greater during the electricallylighted period. Now you have only to multiply the excess of -organic impurities so found by the proportionate excess of the number of people in the Town Hall as compared with' the 12ft-room, viz., by 1750, and you have the disagreeable condition of which His Worship the Mayor l has more than once complained. Mr. Wyllie says this is absurd, but denial will not alter a chemiical analysis. Fourth : I stated that the metallic filament and the arc lamp produced an injurious inflammation of the eye. My authorities were Dr. J. Herbert Parsons, ophthalmic surgeon at University College, and D». Brindley James.: These fentlemen have since been supported by >r. Hogg at the medical- conference lately held in Auckland. None of these statements are even considered by Mr. Wyllie. Merely to say it is not so is to imitate the ostrich. -

My general reflection was that the large capital expenditure of the City ■Council would fully justify that body- in keeping itself acquainted with the pro- ; grese of events. On this head the Mayor' charges rrie with want . of" good taste. . I do not know tEat there is an ex cathedra canon of good taste, but, as representing a payer of rates to the tune of nearly £3500 a year, £2700 of which is paid within the city, I must confess it never occurred to me that an inquiry as to a capital expenditure cf between £300,000 and £400,000 to be employed in direct competition, to the company's business could be considered an improper inquiry. If such a subject is not to- be talked of at a meeting of shareholders, of "a company which has expended upwards of £750,000 in the same business, then are we dumb dogs indeed! The indefensive eel when being skinned may, as he catches the steely eye of the operator, recognise the' futility of resistance,' but, at least,' he may be permitted to wriggle his tail without violating any canon of good taste; and so I, when I catch, the cool, grey eye of Mr. Hickling, with his valuation book under his arm, may feel powerless to resist, nor can I, for obvious reasons, wriggle my tail, but it may be permitted' me to speak with, my mouth, I hear it stated that Mr. Parr will be invited to contest a seat for Parliament. I sincerely hope so, and whenever and wherever the occasion may come, Mr. Parr will have my strenuous support. But when.elected he will find that at least nine-tenths, of his duty, will be to inquire whether the taxes collected from tihe people are properly and advantageously" expended. A word in reference to Mr. Wyllie's statement. He says the lighting of the Exhibition is not wholly by gas, and that 80 stallholders use electricitv. The Exhition is, in fact, lighted wholly by gas, and stallholders may, in addition, use what they like. As a matter of fact, there are in the Exhibition, apart from its proper lighting, not 80, but 138 who use current for one purpose or another, including motors, etc., and there are 175. who -use gas for lighting and, heating. Mr. Wylhe further eays the Gas' Company applied fur current. 'Again his memory has' heed* treacherous. The Gas Company had made arrangements to produce its own current before it tendered? When its tender was accepted, the cony, pany was asked by certain electricians to consider town current. Mr. Stewart re. plied that we would consider' any pro* posal Mr. Wyllie might make. He proposed a certain basis, whi«h we consentedto, and accordingly we cancelled our previous arrangements. Mr. Wyllie says the verdict of 1500 consumers of current proves the' superiority of that mode of lighting; but how about the verdict of over 25,000 consumers of gas? Only one more remark. Mr. Wyllie says our lighting is not such as 1 described it, viz., "a pleasant, bright, steady, -white light." . Let any of your readers leave the Exhibition and pass along Karangahape Road, and then compare our lighting with that ghastly display, and form their own opinion. Then, do I argue that the city should not have set up electrical works? Not at all. There is plenty of use for a? moderate establishment. For propelling a tramcar, for lifts, for working linotype machines, for driving factory machines of various sorts, for turning that infernal thing the dentist puts in your tooth,. and for some cases of illumination, electric light is the best power, but a capital expenditure suqh os I have named is not necessary, and is a burden on the ratepayer, whether he be a gas manufacturer or not. J. H. Urrox. .