THE GAS INDUSTRY.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXVI, Issue 20331, 12 August 1929, Page 6

THE GAS INDUSTRY.

POSITION IN BRITAIN.

EXPANSION CONTINUES,

BRIGHT FUTURE PROSPECTS.

BY Pllt DAVID MILNE-WATSON, bb.D., r.L.,' Governor of the Ga?. Light and Coke Company; President of the National Gas Council of Great Britain and Ireland.

Ono of the most remark able and interesting facts in flic industrial history.;of this century has been the parallel expausion of the two great public service industries —gas and electricity. As far back a3 50 years ago there were,, people who prophesied the immediate extinguishing of gas by electricity. Periodically such people recur, and recent Government. action to stimulato the expansion of the electrical industry has led many to think that the end of gas is in sight. But gas lias proved to be extremely full of energy and very hard to kill. The more it was supposed to be dying the stronger it proved to be, and that is moro true than ever to-day, and will, I am confident, bo true in the future. In ppite of all the many inventions - that havo made for economy in its use; in spite of the super-heater burner that gives 30 times as much light per cubic foot of gas burnt as did the old flat-fiame burner; in spite of the modern gas fire that gives twice the heat for the same consumption as its predecessor; in spite of every increase in the efficiency of utilisation, the sale of gas grows in amazing fashion for an industry well over a century old. In tho past' 27 years the sale of gas in this country has doubled. In 1927 it amounted to 318,500 million cubit feet. In 1900 it was only 159,500 million cubit feet. Of the increase in 27 years no less than one-third was recorded in the last six years; and to-day every gas undertaking iri tho kingdom is registering record outputs. So much for the. gas industry being moribund! Mutually Complementary. Tho fact is, of course, that to a large extent tho two public services which supply light, heat and power are mutually complementary and not mutually destructive. One of our largest consumers of gas is a firm making electric lamps and apparatus of world-wido renown; and all tho great electrical manufacturing firms use huge quantities of gas. Conversely, we use largo quantities of electricity for operating our stoking plant at Bcckton and our other works. In tho home, the moro people learn to save labour by using gas cookers, gas fires and gas water-heaters, the more ready they are to use electric vacuum cleaners, se\ving machines, washing machines, and so forth. As tho standard of comfort, convenience and cleanliness in the homes rises, both industries benefit.

Similarly, in the factory the labour-sav-ing, cleanly, easily-controlled and continu-ously-reliable gas furnace often co-oper-ates with the electric motor in improving output, reducing costs and preventing smoke nuisance; elsewhere, an electric furnace may be found alongside a gas engine. Circumstances and requirements differ, but the two services have their many aud varied uses and are frequently found co-operating in the progressive factory as in the up-to-date,home. Great Field for Lighting. Gas, moreover, still continues to provide artificial light in the homes of the great mass of .the people, for it is nob only the cheapest to instal, use and maintain, but provides warmth as well as light; and there are millions of homes in which getting value for both sides of the penny is a great consideration, and where a too costly illuminanfc means inadequate lighting and consequent strain on the sight of mothers at their sewing and children at their lessons. So, too, there is a great field for gas lighting outside shops and in the streets—Pall Mall, Whitehall and Regent Street are three of the best-lit streets in the world, and it is interesting to remember that Pall Mall has been continuously lit by jjas ever since 1812, or for 117 years. There is also scope for gas in churches, factories and workshops, where its help in keeping the air .freely circulating, as well as moderately warmed, is much valued. Gas as an illuminant still has a big field, though the growth of its use for fuel purposes in the past 25 years has led to the position that now at least 80 per cent, of the sales are for heat uses. Ob- s. 4 viously, if 50 per cent, of the gas sold in 1900 was for lighting and as much were still used for lighting in 1928, while the totalsales had increased 100 per cent., tfio lighting proportion would have fallen to 25 per cent, automatically; and, as a matter of fact, some of the lighting load has been lost in the intervening years. Seducing Smoke Nuisance. This great growth of the use of gaseous fuel, in home and factory has been of public benefit in more ways than one. Notably it has done a great deal to reduce the urban smoke curse, to the marked advantage of the public health as well as the public pocket. The cost of smuts to Manchester, for example, in its laundry bill alone has been estimated at £250,000 a year, judging by the experience of less smoky Harrogate; while a comparison of the vital statistics of the -Cotton City with those of its sunnier suburbs is a striking proof of the health value of sunshine and the mortal cost of burning crude coal. There is but one thing needful to the full expansion of gas in the service of the nation, and that is the removal by legislation of some of the obsolete, unnecessary shackles that at present fetter the industry in its operations. The need for that removal is now recognised by the Government, although somewhat tarrfily, and a bill is about, to be introduced in the House of Lords to remedy some of the grievances of the industry. It is to bo hoped that the more our legislators study the services which the gas industry has rendered—and, given reasonable freedom, cau render in the future in increasing measure—the nroro ready they will be to give free passage to the measure of emancipation which, as I have said, is shortly to be introduced in Parliament.