A NOTABLE JUBILEE.

Press, Volume L, Issue 14888, 30 January 1914, Page 2

A NOTABLE JUBILEE.

CHRISTCHURCH GAS COMPANY. FIFTY YEARS' WORK. Fifty years ago the first eupply of gas was distributed in ChristchurchThe supply was from what was then a new and struggling company, the Christchurch Gas Company, which had been formed the previous year. Since then the company has grown and prospered, and is now one of the foremost business organisations in the city, to whose advancement it has contributed greatly. The proposal to form a Gas Company to provide the city with a better illuminant than then oxisied was made in the early sixties, and in October, 1802. ;i preliminary meeting was held. Another meeting was held in the following month, and it was then decided that the company should Ibo formed. A few days afterwards a prospectus was issued. The capital of the proposed company was £ 10,000 in 1000 shares of .£lO each. It was, however, five- years before all this capital was called up. Strange as it may seem now, the directors then found considerable difficulty in getting the shares taken up, so ir.ucn so that they had to make a personal canvass for the purpose. The company was registered in 1663, and the first meeting of directors ->vas held on May 19th, 1603, at the first offices of the company, at Messrs Harman and Stevens's premises, Hereford street. The first chairman of diroc- , tors -was the l&to Mr J. M. Hey wood, the first engineer was the late Mr K. G. Wright, who afterwards, from 1877 to 1902, was chairman of directors, and the first secretary was Mr (now the J Hon.) E. C. J. Stevens. Financial affairs in those days caused the directors some anxiety. This seemed to bo the common experience of those in control of early undertakings in the j city, which have turned out so successful afterwards. It is on record that the directors of the Gas Company had to give their personal guarantees to the bank to tide them over a period of difficulty. Tho capital of the company has subsequently been increased, and now stands at £240,000. COMPARISONS. Tho company secured a site in tho south-eastern part of tho town, where the present works are now situated, and set to work to erect the plant. In 1861 tho first gas was available. The whole affair was then a tiny undertaking compared with what it is to-day. Tho capacity of tho holder was ,lu,(JOO feet. Tho holder capacity at the present time is nearly two and a-half million feet; ono holder alone, the big one, will contain nearly one and a-half million feet. When the gas was first produced there were only two or three miles of mains laid along certain of the city streets, ond for the first seven years afterwards tho extensions amounted to only one and a-half miles. Progress at first was decidedly slow. Since then, however, tho operations of the company havo received a decided acceleration, and at the present time the ;mains laid in the city and suburbs Tun into tho immense length of 200 miles. During the first year.of: active work fw-o and a-half million'feet of. gas- was sent out, last year the, amount produced and, distributed.was., 355,000,000 feet —an , astonishing difference. In 1866 the distribution for a four-weekly period was 87,000 feet; in 1913 for the same four weeks the distribution was 36,000,000 feet. In 1871 tho largest daily output was 23,000 feet; now one and three-quarter million feet can be produced in a day.' The price of tho pas when first distributed was 20s a thousand feet,; now »the price is for lightinsan»fe for Wrer. - The slcters in u&\tord,ay£reach a total A of from.U,ooo fy 15 l ■coal carbonised rntis'intb'nearly 25,000 tons "a year. • . ~ 1 EVOLUTION" AT THE WORKS. ' In the early days of carbonisation the rotorts were charged with the shovel. In course of time this was changed to what is known as the scoop, but during the last, few years mechanical stokers have been introduced which have greatly simplified the work, and made it much easier for the stokers. Coke conveyors have also been introduced to carry away the coke from tho discharging side of the retorts. The coal for tho charging machinery is also taken up by conveyors into the hoppers, and from'there *is fed by gravitation into the charging machine. The setting or the retorts has been very much improved, and better methods are adopted for carbonising and utilising the heat. The actual process of gas-makmg is, however, the same now as what it was when tho company first started; what has been done, however, is to effect improvements in the plant and apparatus to expedite the work and make it easier for tho staff, and also to turn out a better product. . There are used at the works to-day eteam boilers of a capacity of 500 horsepower; and a 40 horse-power locomotive is used for haulage .purposes inside tho works. • - The company has had a very tortunate career, the works have never been stopped on account of labour troubles, coal shortage, or from any other cause, and during the fifty years only one life has been lost, and that, singularly enough, only last year. For forty-nine years there had not beon a single fatality at the works. In addition to being purveyors-, of light and power, the company have also established quite ft big business in byproducts. Aninionia for freezing works and creameries is produced and disposed of in "large quantities, and a considerable quantity of liquid ammonia is also sold for wool-washing purposes. The company have made a. specialty of gas-cooking, and great headway has been made during recent years in this branch of the work. A demonstration room under the charge of an expert lady demonstrator has been opened in the company's premises, and free lectures and demonstrations aro given regularly. The Weisbach burner and mantle was first introduced in 1893. At first only a few were used, but the advantages of the new apparatus were appreciated, and at the present time there are about 80.000 in use. In 1903 the company introduced the system of providing mantles freo under very generous conditions, and the mantles given away in this way total over 100,000 per annum, representing a cash value of £2500. CHAIRMEN AND SECRETARIES. Tho company has had eight chairmen of directors since its formation. The first was Mr J. M. Heywood. He was appoinied on May 19th. 1863. Since then the chairmen have been: —Mr Isaac Luke, appointed July Bth, 1863; Mr W. H. liaue. March 23th, 1867; Mr j John Lewis, March 10th. 1869; Mr W. H. Lane, March 7th.. 1870; Mr E. G. Wright. March Ist, 1877; Mr Geo. G. Stead, August 28th. 1902; and Mr F. Graham. 3lay 14th, .1908. Only three secretaries havo held ofßce from 18(33 down to the present day. The first was Mr E. C. J. Stevens, who held the position from 1863 to 1866. He was followed by Mr C. W. Bishop, who discharged the duties from 1866 to 1834. Mr Bishop was succeeded by his son, Mr R. O. Bishop, the present secretary.

Cathedral squaro, near the "Lyttelton Times" office. In ,1867 another change was made to Gloucester street, adjoining tho present .Rink Stables. In 1880 the office staff crossed the street into premises at the corner of Gloucester street and Chancery lane, and in 1902 the present imposing block of buildings at the corner of Worcester stTeet and Oxford ten-ace were erected and occupied. This building, a familiar one to people of Chris tchurch, contains three floors, each of which is devoted to different sections of the work of the company; Tho ground floor contains the offices and the showroom. The latter holds a bewildering display of fittings, including lamps ranging from 1000 candle-power to the latest light, the "Baby Bijou," which gives a bright light with a consumption of only three-quarters of a foot per hour, which works out at 900 hours in the month for 4Jd an hour. On the first floor there ie a set of offices for the inspectors, canvassers, and the maintenance and distributing staff, and the demonstration room is also on this floor. Above is the bulk store, v/here a vast stock of fittings and appliances is kept. At the -back of the main building are situated the workshops, where repairs and the work required for extensions or fittings are carried out.