THE GAS INDUSTRY.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXIV, Issue 19713, 12 August 1927, Page 13

THE GAS INDUSTRY.

COMPANIES IN CONFERENCE. QUESTION OF TAXATION. HANDICAP IN COMPETITION. The eighteenth annual conference of the New Zealand Gas Companies' Association was held yesterday, the chairman, Dr. C. P. Knight, presiding. It was the first occasion on which the association has held its annual meeting at Auckland. It was reported a statement had been made to the Tariff Commission protesting against the duty on gas mains and appliances being higher than that on electrical goods. As gas and electricity were in active competition it was considered unjust that electrical goods should be given preference. It was decided to forward a resolution to the Minister of Finance condemning the existing system of taxation whereby Government departments, municipal trading departments, and power boards are exempt from the gross taxation payable by other undertakings. It was stated that two recommendations by the Taxation Commission that State and municipal enterprises should pay income tax had not been put into effect. A paper on the prevention of the corrosion of gas mains and services was read by Mr. 11. Rands, chemist to the Wellington Gas Company. The delegates were entertained at luncheon bv the directors of the Auckland Gas Company at the Pitt Street demonstration rooms. Mr. J. H. Upton, chairman of directors, presided. In proposing the toast of the "Gas Companies' Association," the chairman welcomed the delegates to Au(4iland. Ihe ■purpose of the gas companies was to serve the public. Co-operation was their ideal, and inventions or improvements in the process of the manufacture of gas discovered by one company were shared among them. Any impression that the purpose of the association was to increase prices was wrong; the aim was to improve the methods of production. In responding to the toast, Dr. Knight said that although the companies had a monopoly a reasonable profit was all they desired to make.