COUNTRY HOUSE LIGHTING.

Timaru Herald, Volume CV, Issue 16082, 2 October 1916, Page 11

COUNTRY HOUSE LIGHTING.

Most household. inventions such aa tlio sew.ng mach.nc imd modern cooking ranges benefit all sect oils of the community and tho man out Hack (provided liie circumstances permit; is able to make his homo almost as up-to-date and comfortable as that of his city cousin, while tho advent of motor cars t-lio last drawback of country life, i.e., isolation.

In the matter of house lighting, howevre, tho country liouse-holrler has been at a serious disadvantage. Coal fas and electric light are in universal use°in all large towns, and the city housewife would rather part "with her sewing macliine tflian lose her gas otovo and go back to kerosene lamps, which are used m mcst country homes to-day. A number of self-contained ga-sl glvtng systems are of course, obtainable in New Zealand at present, hut tlio majority of them are far from being an efficient substitute for coal gas, or electric light.

Acetyl no gas is a great improvement on kerosene lamps, but its objectionable features are well known. The gas is highly explosive and therefore dangerous besides having an objectionablo smoll, while the cleaning and filling of the carb'do trays, which have to be attended to almost every day, is a most disagreeable operation. The average life of an acetylino plant is usually only about- four years, and tho present high cost of carbide makes the running expenses almost prohibit've. Hollow-wire lighting systems which generate gas from benzine and air are in great demand at present. There are two kinds of hollow-wre p 7 ante on tho market, but the one adopted by the New Zealand Government for use in country Post Offices, "Wireless Stations etc., vizi, the famous W'zard, is the most up-to-date and efficient. Over 1.500 eomp'iete "Wizard systems hnve been sold in NW Zealand witlrn the last 12 months. Tho initial cost is small, and la.'nps are lighted bv an 01d'narv wax match, and inverted gas mantles are used. The small generator, in which the gas is generated, is fitted with an automatic cleaning attachment which tho Wizard alone embodies with their lamp, for keep:ng the gas tip "clean, while for quality and general convenience tho light compares very favourable _ with cif.v gas. Excellent cooking facilities in the way of stoves a;nd ovens are obtainable) aud any grade of petrol or bezine can lie used, the plant requiring practically no attention.

The lorn] Acents for the W-'zard system, F. Murdock Arcade, T-'mnm, yv-ill lie pleased to furnish tho fullest inform at'on and arrange fot" a demonstration free of obligation at any tinio oil request.