A GIANT GASHOLDER.

Dominion, Volume 3, Issue 816, 13 May 1910, Page 6

A GIANT GASHOLDER.

c6nnected with city works, holds I,soo,ooo'cubic feet of gas. Wellington burns 1,000,000 cnbio feet of gas per day! This, interesting fact was stated yesterday by Mr. William Ferguson, managing director of tho Wellington Gas Company, when interviewed by a Dominion representative. It sounds a lot, and is a lot for a city the size of Wellington, and is the'best proof, according to Mr. Ferguson, of the popularity of gas as an illuminant in Wollington. On Wednesday last the big new gasholder at Miramar was connected np with, the gas-manufacturing works in Courtenay Place, and' yesterday a 6tart was made to pump gas through to tho suburban* reservoir, which is slowly and majestically rising within its encompassing frame into the air as the buoyant coal- gas is forced into its capacious system. The new gasholder is the largest in the Dominion, if not in Australasia), having a capacity of«l','500,000 cubic feet of gas—a day and a half's supply for Wellington city. Some idea of its size may be gained when it is stated that when full the top of the holder is 120 ft. from the level of the ground, and is no less than 150 ft. in diameter. A further interesting comparison can be made by those intimate with the capacity of tho gasholders in town. The large holder in Taranaki Street has room, for 390,000 cubic feet of gas, the two at the main works hold 180,000 feet and 45,000 feet respectively, se that all three together are incapable of holding half as much as the new tank at Miramar.

The new holder is connected with tho works in town by 4J miles of 12-inch steel pipes, through which the gas is being pumped at the rate of about 60,000 cubic feet an hour (when available) by a Br.van and Donkin's rotary exhauster, which sucks the gas in at one end and forces it out at the other into a largo boiler-like cylinder, which ensures an even pressure throughout its journey to Sliramar. Tlie pumping plant is in duplicate, to provide against accident. Mr. Ferguson states_ that the pipes for tho reticulation of Miramar are now on order, and as soon as they arrive the work of reticulating the borough will be commenced.