WELLINGTON GASWORKS.

Dominion, Volume 1, Issue 66, 11 December 1907, Page 8

WELLINGTON GASWORKS.

A MILLION FEET A DAY. PROPOSED NEW BUILDINGS . AND .PLANT.' An interesting feature of. the work of the Wellington Provincial Industrial Association consists of paying visits of inspection to local industries. At last night's meeting of the General Committee of the Association, the secretary (Mr. *11. F. Allen) read a description of the. visit paid, by a sub-committee consisting of Messrs. Thomas Ballinger, W. H. Bennett, and Hardie Shaw, to the premises of the Wellington Gas Company, Ltd. The visitors viewed the site on which a building to cost about £15,000 is to bo erected. It will contain the engineer's office, foreman's office, and a fitting shop. The' Wellington Gas Company's buildings cover an area of about three' acres of land. Then there is the large section of . land -, in ToryStreet, on • which is one of the large gasometers and the stables. The gasometers, have a holding capacity of about '650,000feet of gas. The Company is about to erect a new gasometer to hold 1,500,000 cubic feet of gas. It is to be a three-lift, telescopic, with st-eel. tank, and will be of the highest special design, so .constructed as to resist wind and earthquake shocks. This gasometer will be the largest and highest in the Dominion. The Wellington Gas Company, employs about 350 men; 2000 tons of coal (mostly Westport) is regularly kept on hand. Buckets on an endless chain carry [the coal from the sheds up to' Any' part of the retort house, discharging it into hoppers from there, into scoops wTiicn measure aWit 9 .feet in., length. Three men shoot the scoops of coal' into the retorts. In describing the process of gas generation, the report states that the retorts are charged with 6 cwt. of . coal evory six-hours. The gas pumps, and, indeed, all t.lie .Company's machinery, is in duplicate. In the pumping house is an inferential photometer, having a flame which'denotes the quality of the gas. In the laboratory are many scientific apparatus for light testing, for ammonia test, neat test, etc. Here visitors were' shown samples of' many oils which aro abstracted from tar, and also samples from naphthalene, which is a white crystallised powder. In the Company's yard are stacks of pure carbon. In Europe, this is largely used by electric light companies. "Crystallise thosis lumps," remarked Mr. Ford, "and you can set up as a diamond merchant." Barrels of concentrated ammonia; almost in the solid, which is obtained from gas, were also shown. This product is shipped by the Company to . Australia, where it. is mnd.e into. sulphate of ammonia'.. It will surprise many to.learn that the Wellington Gas Company, Ltd., manufactures 1,000,000 feet of gas per day. There are governors regulating the supply of gas supplied to the city. In the metertesting and repairing shop, the gas meters are subjected to a standard test, in order that their accuracy may bo assured before they are fitted up, although all meters have to pass the Board of Trade test and are stamped and certified to as to their accuracy prior to exportation. The show-room is renloto with the latest gas appliances of every known description. The Company anticipates erecting a new section of works at Miramar. at no distant

:lato. ' These works will embody the very latest machinery and processes in gas manufacture.