RATEPAYERS' OR CONSUMERS' GAS WORKS.

Wanganui Chronicle, Volume XLVIII, Issue 12364, 2 December 1904, Page 7

RATEPAYERS' OR CONSUMERS' GAS WORKS.

To the Editor

Sir,—The endeavour to.abcnr that the profits of the gas works 'beloing to the consumers is "too thin" ailtogether. All the works undertaken by the Borough are for the public, welfare in its widest sens©.'" Many-of them, and amongst ;them the' ' ; mosb n-sccGsary—including thiooa coiuiceccd with the public health— aro non-productive; and rightly so, becau:jo they affect the whole coonmuiiity, '-wHioreas the" gas works were purchased and are being run. on commercial lines by tho rateipayers, in. -order to supply consumers Ijotli in and out of the borough at a fair price, and if by reason of their excellent management tihey can produce a profit, so much the better for them, aa they can utilise it for the benefit of tho ■com.munity in keep ng down, or raduc'-ng, rates, end in providing improved be-rough services generally. The position is: The consumens- require gaa as being the cheapest and,best illuminasnt, ■cooker, and light power praduc&r, _ amd the ratepayers, being in ■■ the" business, supply t3iem at a-^ery low pric>3 and invest any profits for the generasl go-cd. Gas consumers may be ratepayers; but all ratepayers aro not consumers, and p"i>ofrba 'belong so'ely to the owners^—the ratepayers. To suggest otherwise is monstrous, aaid I give the gas consiunera ac a body full credit* for knowing better. The suggestion is probably j>ut forward by a few largo consumers (the proprietors of the "C'hronic:e," for iustanco), who may be quite unwittingly. bias:cd. —I am, etc., CONSUMER AND RATEPAYER.

[This correspondent overlook.'-! the fact that the gas works are boinig bought and paid for by the Borough with money derived entirely from a traction-of the community, to wit, the gas consumers. He'overlooks, also, tho fundamental principle of municipalieation, which is to cheapen the product municipalised. So faT as the impudent suggeetdon _ with \v-bichc tho correspondent cl-or-ee his letter is concerned, our only regret is that we are asked to publish it .under cover of anonymity. ILid ho sgned h-is^'namo our readera would have been* able to appraise his weeds ab their proper worth. —Ed. "Chronicle/] ,