ELECTRIC LIGHTING.

Tuapeka Times, Volume XXV, Issue 4253, 29 June 1895, Page 3

ELECTRIC LIGHTING.

The superiority of electric lighting over all other illuminants, as well as its safety and its value from an economical standpoint, has been fully set out in a small pamphlet of which Mr A. Suckling-Barron, managing director of the New Zealand Electrical Syndicate, Wellington, is the author. The cost per lamp per hour is stated to be less than that of gas owing to the far greater facilities for switching off the electric light when it is not wanted, when gas would have to be left burning. The electric light bills will compare most favorably with former bills for illumination of any kind, without taking into consideration the saving to health and the increasing comfort it gives. It can be made available at any hour of the day or night, and may be paid for at so much per,lamp per annum, in which case the consumer can burn his lamps as long as he pleases ; or he may pay by meter, which is placed in the circuit at the entrance to every house to which the light is supplied. The electric meter, which is very reliable, records the number of electrical units burnt in the house. The master of the house can himself calculate and check each month the expense of his electric light. As regards the popular Motion as to the danger supposed to arise from 1 elecfjric lighting by causing small fires occasionally,it,may be well to explain that the insurance offices, who are the best judges on this point, make no extra charge whatever for insuring electrically-lighted houses, and, in fact, in many cases, give certain reductions. In the early days of electric lighting, much importance was attached to the danger arising from touching the wires conveying electricity. The incandescent lamp used in house lighting only take a few tension current, which is absolutely innocuous, and the wires being covered throughout with an insulating material, make it impossible for anyone to come in contact with them. The lamps can be placed in any position and used in any place, '-even in close proximity to combustible materials, such as cambric, muslin or bed curtains, without doing any harm, and without incurring the slightest risk. If by accident a lamp should be broken the oxygen of the outside air rushes in and instantaneously extinguishes the light before even the most inflammable material can be set on fire. The lamps are very durable, and usually last a thousand hours, and they can be bought at from 4s 6d each according to candle-power. Portable lamps may be used in any part of any room by flexible cords, attachable to contact pieces fixed in convenient positions on the wall. The light can be turned on and off by the movement of a switch, which a child can handle without the slightest risk. A room, passage or staircase can be lighted by a movement of the hand before entering it, and left in darkness by the same means on leaving it