THE GAS QUESTION.

Otago Daily Times, Issue 3245, 1 July 1872, Page 3

THE GAS QUESTION.

The following correspondence haa been handed to v* for publication by tho proprietor <d the Dtinedin Gas Works :■—

City Council Chambers, Danedio, 20th. June, 1872. W. J. M. Lamach, Kw}.

Sir-—I have the honour, by instruction of the Council, to acknowledge the receijit of your application through Mr J. I*. Mackenzie, a« r>er Jetter tlatw! JOth inetant, for payment of the City Oas supply accounts for rnoxitha of April and May, addmg that you have »o objection toallowthe account tostand over, if such a course would be a convenience to the Corporation, upon payment of interest. In reply, I am requested to state that the Council declines to pay any further cum under the new contract until the contract has been duly signed. ' Immediately thereafter the Council will j :be prepared to pay any sum which maybe: <\au, and will not require to ask that the account may stand over. The Council camiot admit any liability in respect of interest. I am further directed to ask you to be good enough to inform the Council as soon a« convenient (if possible, by to-morrow, at 3 p.m.) whether you still object, m Mr Cook has intimated to Messrs Smith and Anderson, to the covenant in ..the draft agreement, binding the lessee not to charge consumers who pay their accounts monthly and punctually by the loth of the rnonfch, n higher price than twelve shillings and sixpence per thousand cubic feet.—l have, &e M JT. M. Mahsby, Town Clerk, Dunedin, 21»fc Juno, 1372. J. M. Ma«aey, .Esq. .Sir—l have the honour to acknowledge receipt of your letter of .yesterday's date, relative to the amount due by the Corporation to me on new lighting contract, and the agreement entered into under the same for a term of three yearn. I beg now to inform you. that I have referred your letter to my solicitor to reply to, with a request that be will attend to it during to-day.—l remain, &c, ,H. A. Hankkv, By his Attorney, , •■ ■ . W. .1. M. LuiKACH.

Duuedin, Juno 2let, ,1272. J, M. Masscy, Town Clerk, Duncditi.

Sir—Mr Larnach has handed to me your letter to him of yesterday to answer.

My objection** on the part of Mr Hankcy to t)ie draft contract appear ho fully by the alterations I have made in it, nnd by my' marginal notes, and my letter to Messrs Smith and Anderson, of the I.9th mat., that f do not see that I can add anything fm-thcr upon the subject, except to reiterate the wilHugncfts of Mr Hanbcy to cirfy out fjiirly his engagements with the Corporation, and with the citizens.

Until he shows a disposition not to do so, I scarcely see that the Corporation can properly withhold payment of the arrears of gas rates due from them, and I nuist aalc that they will accept this letter as a formal notice under the statutes that Mr Hankey will charge them wifch interest at £S percent, per annum from this day upon the arrears until they are paid. Adverting again to the draft contract, the Council surely do not suppose that Mr Hankey is prepared to sign anything that the Corporation solicitors may choouc to prepare, or that the Corporation may insist upon, and to be told tlmt until he docs so, he is not to be paid what ih admitted to be due to him for gas actually supplied. As the Council appear to desire it, and to avoid any misinterpretation of my remarks upon the draft contract, or of what I have said in my letter to Messrs Smith arid Anderson, I may state emphatically, that Mr Hankey will- not in any form of words contract with the Corporation for the supply of gas to the citizens—each citizen might as well ask Mr II an key to contract with him to supply the Corporation upon the terms agreed upon with them.—l am, Ac,

Gkokok Cook.

City Council Chambers, Dunedin, 21st Juue, 1872. W. J. M. Larnach, Esq.

Sir—l have the honour, by instruction of the Council, to acknowledge tho receipt of a letter from Oeo. Cook, Esq., your solicitor, of this day's (bite, in reply to my letter of the 20th June, on the subject of the unsigned gas contract, in which the Council is informed that you decline, in any form of words, to execute a contract with the Corporation for the supply of gas to the citizens at a given rote. This being the case, I am directed to intimate to yon that any pemiisaion granted you by the City Corporation of lJunedin to open up auy streets within the city of X)unedin, in order to lay or relay gas pipes, is hereby withdrawn, and that the Council will not permit any such opening until the lighting contract has been duly signed.—l have, &c, t (Signed) J. Jtf. Mahsky, Town Clerk. Dunedin, 22nd Jmio, 1872. J. M. Ma»Boy, Esq. Sir—l have your letter of yesterday, in reply to one addressed to you by my solicitor, Mr Cook. You are in error in stating that I have declined to cany out the contract for lighting the city lamps as arranged between the Council and myself. I Bhall bo ready at any time to complete the contract, when approved of by my solicitor, as drawn, upon mutually fair terms. [Regarding the two months' lighting rates due me by the Council, with a third month nearly due, I must ask yon to send a cheque to the office at Temple Chambers without further delay, and in order to save trouble and expense on both sides. I notice j'onr intimation that the Council intend to prevent me from laying pipes and services for the future, until the lighting contract, as drawn and approved by the Council, is signed. I doubt whether such a course is likely to bring about a settlement of our misunderstanding. I nm aware that considerable powers have been couferred upon the Council by Act of Parliament, which I trust will be used wisely and judiciously in the interests of the citizens. The opening up the streets for repairs or relaying of pipes and services is a tuatter that concerns the citizens ircore than it doea me, and lin their hands I am content to leavo the question,.—l remain, &c, ! Hbn-rv Aly.kx Hawkey, By his Attorney, W. J. M. Laiinacji. City Council Chambers, Dtinedin, 24th, Juno, 1872. Sir—l have tho honour to acknowledge the receipt of your letter of dato in margin, in reply to the Council's communication of 21st June. You appear rather to have misapprehended the point of my letter of the 21st inst., wherein it was stated that, as your solicitor had expressly :ntimated that "you declined to covenant, in any form of words, for the supply of gas to the citizens at a given rate," the Council declined to permit any further opening of the streets of the city for the purpose of laying or relaying gas pipes, pending the settlement of your agreement with the; Corporation. ; The memorandum signed by yon in the' Council Chambers oh the 13th February, 1872, a copy of which has been exhibited'to. your solicitor, and which was distinctly alluded to in the Council's letter (6403), February 17, 1872, accepting your proposal, sets forth that in consideration of the Ooun-:; cil's agreeing not to build gas works during the period embraced in the new contract, you agree to supply all private consumers who nay their gas rates by the loth of each month, at 12s M. per 1000 cubic feet. The Council's complaint is, that now you refuse to ratify, that agreement—not that you have declined to carry out so much of your

contract as relates to the city lamp*.— I have, &&, (Signed) J. M. Massbv, Town Clerk. W. jTM. Larnach, Esq. Duncdxn, 25th June, 1872. J. >L Masuy, Esq., Town Clerk. Sir—l have to acknowledge the receipt of your letter of yesterday, in reply to mine of the 22nd inst. I beg to assure you that I quite apprehend the x>°l!lt of your letter of the 21st instant, wherein yon stated that my solicitor had intimated my disinclination " to covenant in any form of words for the supply of gas to the citizens at a given rate, and therefore " the Council declined to permit any further, opening of the streets of the city for the par-. pose of laying or relaying gas pipes," pending the settlement of an agreement drawn by the Corporation solicitors, and which has , been objected to by my solicitor aa wanting in "mutuality." ! lam sensible of the memorandum aigriwl by me in the Council Chambers, by which I undertook not to charge any consumer moro than 12s Gd per 1000 cubic feet, who paid the rates due before the 15th of each month. I at the same time agreed to enter into a contract with the'Council'for lighting the city lamps for three years at a reduced rate, and I agreed to give the Corporation power to purchase the whole of my gaa property any time during the contract term after the commencement of .September next at a valuation, as any other bnsmeus. I have fairly fulfilled my promise to the citizens, and I am ready ami willing to bind my administrators and assigns to uphold it with any citizen dctiirouu of liaving an agreement from me direct, but I object in UjU) to accept the Council as sponsor for the citizens, unless I have a warranty of the Council's power to make contracts on their behalf. In other words, could an- citizen be prevented by the Council from taking gas at a lower rate than 12s Gd if obtainable, during my contract with th» Corpsration ? it not, I fail to sect the object of your Council trying by threats of using its poweni to stop the progress and working of my basinet, and compel me to sign a contract that would Iks subversive of all equity in the arrangement, and which I can never consent to.

If the citizens .ire in any way dissatisfied with their bnnincss relations with me, I am prepared to do the utmost in my power that is fair between buyer and seller, to give them satisfaction; but I will not sanction the Council interfering between me and my cousmners, unlcs-s in cases where proper powers •of attorney can be produced. All that lam prepared to do for thfc citizens, by way of good faith, i» «cfc forth in my " public ■notices," in each of our daily papers ; and 1 :apprehend thafc the • itucens will not ask more of me.

Regarding the Corporation contract, I am prepared at any time to sign it, provided its terms are confined to its own business—the city lighting, and the power of purchase as formerly aereed upon, with any fair and reasonable clauses usual in similar municipal contracts.

In conclusion, I have to make a final request, that you will pay to my collector upon his next applying afc your chambers the amount in arrears for lighting rates, the accounts for which have already been admitted as correct by you.—l remain, &c, Hknry Alkjw Han key, By his Attorney, W. X M. L.UINACIL