GAS IN THE EAST WARD.

Taranaki Herald, Volume XXIX, Issue 3794, 25 July 1881, Page 2

GAS IN THE EAST WARD.

TO THE EDITOR. Sir, — The writer of " Current Notes" in: the News of Saturday last, asks " why the West End of the town has been neglected by the Gas Company, while Mr. Fookes, who was Mayor when the company started, Mr. King, Chairman of the company, and Mr. C. Eennell, Secretary thereto, have lamps at their very doors ; will the ratepayers of this ward have to contribute their quota ?" As Messrs. King and Eennell both live at the West End of the town, he appears to have barked up the wrong tree with regard to them, and in their affairs I shall have nothing to say. It is true that I was Mayor when the company started, hut this appears to be the only bit of truth in the paragraph as applied to me, and when the arrangement was made for bringing the gas into our part of the Borough I was not Mayor. It is not true that I have a lamp at or near my gate or door, as the writer in the News will find to his sorrow if he will come and call upon me on a dark night, when the ground is wet and slippery, and the fact is that by the direct route, which I almost invariably use in going to, or coming from, town, the first lamp I get the benefit of is that near the Eed House, in Devon-street. Assuming that " Sigma," or those for whose benefit lie writes, dwells in the West Ward, I have no desire that he or they should be rated for my benefit, and to prove my friendly feeling I will tell him exactly how we got the gas to our houses in the East Ward, and then he can follow our example or not as ho chooses. When the company laid the main as far up the Devon Line as Elliot-street, a resident in Elliot-street and I waited upon the Directors at one of their meetings, and inquired upon what terms they would bring the main along Elliotstreet and Pendarves-street and up to 'my house. They replied that provided a certain number of householders on that line would guarantee to take gas, and the Borough would place a lamp at the Elliot-street station and another at the corner of Elliot aud Courtenaystreets, that they would lay the main as required, but would charge £7 for a special pipe from York Terrace to my house. We then waited upon our neighbours and secured the requisite number of consumers. We also waited upon the Works Committee of the Borough Council, aud secured their co-operation with regard to the two street lamps above mentioned, and I undertook to pay the extra £7.

Upon these conditions, all of which have been fulfilled, we obtained what we desired ; and with these facts before them, I don't think the public will say we have been specially favored. The only street lamps that we asked for are those two mentioned, which are as necessary as any in the Borough, for the convenience and safety of passengers and passers-by at the railway station and crossing at Elliot-street. The other lamp in Elliot-street was placed there, as far as I know, without any one asking for it, and it also is, of course, acceptable to those who use Elliot-street. — I am, &c, A. Cracroft Fookes. New Plymouth, July 25, 1881.